A quiet morning settles over a modest middle-class home in a kingdom ruled by powerful vampires.

Mallory, a young woman of striking beauty and quiet defiance, adjusts the folds of her finely pressed dress. Her dark hair is styled into an elegant bun, neat yet soft, revealing the delicate lines of her face.

Her expression is calm… but her eyes carry resistance.

From downstairs, her aunt’s voice calls sharply.

“Mallory! Come to the sitting room.”

Mallory exhales slowly,already knowing what awaits her.

The sitting room is formal, slightly tense.

A man sits waiting.

Well-dressed. Polite. Smiling.

Mallory steps in gracefully, her posture perfect.She curtsies lightly.

Mallory said softly“Good morning, sir. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Though her lips smile… her eyes do not.

Her aunt Rosemary and her husband Micheal exchange satisfied looks before excusing themselves, leaving the two alone.

A quiet tension fills the room.

The suitor Mr James Whitemore said “I’ve heard you are well-mannered… and obedient. Qualities I admire in a future wife.”

“ I’ve also heard you are…experienced in marriage,” Mallory said folding her hands neatly in her lap.

Mr Whitemore chuckles lightly and said “ life does not always go as planned”

Mallory tilted her head slightly. “…Yes,” Mallory said calmly, her tone sharp. “I heard both your wives passed away rather suddenly.”The air shifted.Mr Whitemore smiled tightly and said “Tragic circumstances.”

Mallory leans forward just slightly.She looked calm and piercing.“And you had no hand in those tragedies?”

Silence.

His expression darkens, and said “You speak out of turn.”

Mallory sat still calm and said“I prefer truth over comfort.”

The man stands abruptly, anger flashing across his face.He then said “This arrangement is an insult.”and stormed out.

⸻

Moments later, her cousin Lucy and her fiancé entered.

Lucy looks confused.

Mallory doesn’t stay.

She turns and walks away, her composure cracking into anger.

Mallory’s room. Quiet. Safe… for now.She sits, frustrated.Her maid Eve enters gently with tea and biscuits.But Eve is more than a maid—she is Mallory’s closest friend.

Eve said softly

“You refused again, didn’t you?”

Mallory exhales and said “They don’t want a wife for me… they want a transaction.”

They share a quiet understanding.

The door bursts open.

Aunt Rosemary storms in, furious and shouted“That was your FOURTH suitor, Mallory!”

Mallory shouted back frustrated “Then stop offering me to men like I’m something to be sold!”

Rosemary eyes grew cold “You have no choice.”

Mallory then said “I would rather remain unmarried than be handed to a murderer.”

A sharp silence cut through the room

Rosemary’s face tightened with fury. “Ungrateful girl,” she hissed “ After everything we’ve done for you, this is how you repay us?”

Mallory met her gaze steadily, unshaken.

The tension explodes.

Her aunt, furious, storms out.

⸻

Deep night. Silence.Mallory wakes.A sound.A scream.

She rushes out.

The parlor is chaos.

Her aunt and uncle lie dead.Blood.Stillness.

Lucy is on the floor beside them—crying, shaking.Then she sees Mallory.She stands suddenly..

SLAP.

Lucy screamed “YOU! You heard them and did nothing!”

Mallory stumbles back, stunned, confused and whispered

“I—what are you talking about?!”Lucy continued “They were forcing you to marry to pay their debt! You hated them!”

Mallory’s eyes widen and said “What debt…?”

Voices gather outside. Guards,Townspeople.Lucy runs to the door and throws it open.

Lucy said pointing “She killed them!”Mallory tries to speak—but no one listens.She stands there…in her night dress… wrapped in a shawl… completely defenseless.

Hands grab her.She struggles and says “I didn’t do this!”But it doesn’t matter because no one believes her.

A prison door slams shut.Darkness,silence.

———

Moments later, the prison door creaked open.

Mallory was dragged out, her wrists bound, the cold iron biting into her skin. She had been waiting,waiting for someone to prove her innocence, waiting for a voice to speak for her.

Then she saw him.Her cousin’s fiancé Victor Montclair.A nobleman.

For the first time since her arrest, something flickered in her chest. Hope.

If anyone would help her, it would be him.

She was led into the interrogation chamber. Dim light. Stone walls. Silence that pressed against her skin.

He stood waiting.

“Mallory,” he said softly, almost gently. “ I heard about what happened I’m sorry for your loss”

Mallory looked away. “I know,” she said softly. “It still doesn’t feel real.”Her breath caught. “You’re here to help me… aren’t you?”

A pause.

His expression shifted to something unreadable, something colder than she expected.

“I came to offer you a way out,” he said.Relief almost broke through her chest.Then he stepped closer.“But not the kind you think.”

Mallory’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What do you mean?”

His voice dropped. “Stay with me. Become my mistress, and I’ll ensure your survival.”

Silence.

The words sank in slowly, like poison spreading through water.

Mallory let out a quiet breath, steadying herself.

“I would rather rot in prison,” she said clearly, “than be anyone’s mistress.”

Something dark flashed across his face.For a moment, the room felt smaller.

He turned away, as if already done with her“Take her back,” he ordered coldly.The guards moved immediately.Mallory didn’t resist.

As she was dragged out, her last glance stayed on him not with fear, but with something sharper.

Disgust.

And the beginning of something far more dangerous than hope.

⸻

The cell door slammed shut behind her.

Metal echoed through the corridor, then silence returned—heavy, suffocating, alive.

Mallory stood still for a moment, her wrists still sore from the chains. The air inside the cell was damp and cold, clinging to her skin like it didn’t want her there.

Slowly, she sank onto the narrow stone bench.

So this was it.

Her first night in prison.

Somewhere far above, the kingdom continued as if she didn’t exist.

She exhaled quietly, staring at the floor. Her mind replayed everything—her aunt’s rage, the accusations, the nobleman’s offer, his eyes when he said it.

A mistake.

They had turned her into a mistake.

A distant sound broke the silence. Laughter. Chains rattling. A scream cut short somewhere down the corridor.

Mallory’s fingers tightened slightly in her lap.

She refused to break.

Footsteps passed her cell. Slow. Intentional. Then stopped.

A shadow lingered at the bars.

“Fresh one?” a voice murmured from the darkness.

Mallory didn’t look up. “Go away.”

A soft chuckle. “You won’t last long with that attitude.”

The footsteps faded again.

Silence returned—but it wasn’t empty anymore.

Mallory leaned her head back against the cold stone wall, closing her eyes for just a second.

Just a second.

But sleep didn’t come.

Instead, she stayed awake in the dark, learning the sound of the prison… and the truth that no one was coming for her.