was imagining herself standing at the altar, repeating the vows that would bind her to the man she loved. A single tear slid down her cheek as her sister's new husband lifted her veil and kissed his bride.
A sharp pain pierced Rayven's heart. Some day, Rhianna would stand at a similar altar and say the words that would forever bind her to another man. He could not abide the thought. The anguish of knowing she belonged to another would be his undoing.
On that day, when he knew she was forever lost to him, he would go out to meet the sun.
There was a party after the ceremony. Creighton York was the only son of a middle-class family. His father, Langston, was the village silversmith. The reception was held in the town hall.
Rayven stayed in the background, relieved that there were no mirrors in the large wooden building. He stood in a corner, comfortable in the shadows as he watched Rhianna move about the room, mingling with the guests, laughing with her sisters, pausing to speak to her mother, helping Mistress York at the table.
She was a vision, his Rhianna, a faerie queen in a swirl of pink skirts. There were other women present - some younger, some who possessed more generous curves - but there were none more fair of face, none as vibrant and alive as she. In a room filled with living beings, her scent, her blood, stood out like a beacon shining across a midnight sea, tantalizing his senses.
Rhianna looked up, her gaze drawn to his like a bee to pollen. Rayven stared back at her, his eyes dark and compelling. Before she realized what she was doing, she was moving toward him, unaware of the people who spoke to her as she passed by.
She blinked up at him. "My lord?"
"May I have this dance, sweet Rhianna?"
"Dance?" Only then did she notice that the musicians were playing, that others were dancing.
She stepped toward him, a sigh of contentment whispering past her lips as he took her in his arms and whirled her around the floor. She had never danced with a man who was so light on his feet, whose very touch made her whole being tingle with yearning and forbidden desires. She looked into his eyes, fathomless black eyes that held her spellbound, until she was aware of nothing and no one save the dark lord of Castle Rayven.
Vampyre.
The arm around her waist tensed as the word crossed her mind. He knows, she thought, knows what I'm thinking. He had told her once that he could read her mind, and she had refused to believe him, but she believed it now.
Leaning back a little, she gazed into the depths of his eyes. Kiss me, my lord, kiss me now.
And, ever so slowly, he lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers.
She gloried in his kiss even as she contemplated what it would mean to live with a man who could divine her every thought. A man who was not a man at all.
When the dance ended, he escorted her across the hall and handed her a glass of wine, then sat beside her while she ate a piece of wedding cake. Later, there were toasts to the bride and groom, and then Aileen and Creighton took their leave. Shortly after that, Rhianna went to bid her mother and sisters good night.
"Come home with us," Ada urged. She slanted a glance in Rayven's direction, shuddered as his hell-black eyes locked on hers. "Please, daughter, come home where you belong."
"I can't. Mama. I've promised to stay with Lord Rayven for a year."
Ada shook her head. "I don't understand you, daughter. What hold does he have on you?"
"I love him," Rhianna said quietly. "That's the hold he has on me. He has granted me a year to be with him, only a year, and I will not leave him one day sooner."
Ada shook her head again. "I fear he has bewitched you."
Rhianna bit back a smile. "I assure you, Mama, he is neither witch nor sorcerer."
"I'll wager he is not a mere man, either," Ada snapped. "He's evil, Rhianna. Why can you not see that?"
"He's not evil, Mama. He's been kind to me, to our family. Have you forgotten that Aileen would have had no dowry if not for Lord Rayven's generosity? Have you forgotten that he provided the means to enlarge our cottage, that he's the one who made it possible for us to keep our land