Her Wicked Secret {Sequel to His Mortal Bride}

♱ Chapter 1 ♱

Piper

"Mamă?" I spoke up, just before mamă could get up from finishing my bedtime story. The story was about a princess falling in love with a common boy. It was my absolute favorite.

"Yes, dragă?" Mamă asked as she tucked me in, smiling at me with her loving, motherly smile that always comforted me.

She placed my glass of type A blood on my nightstand. Something she did every night.

"How do you know when you're in love?" I asked, drinking from my glass.

The story piqued my curiosity. All of my bedtime stories involved the two main characters being in love, but never really explained what caused them to fall in love, or better yet, what it was like.

Mamă sighed, bringing her gentle hand to push the stray black strand of hair out of my face.

"You will know when you're in love, dragă. When you meet the one for you, you will be willing to do anything for them. You'd sacrifice anything to be with them, just like the Princess gave up her pride to be with the common boy," She explained. I furrowed my brow.

"How do you know if they are in love with you back?" I asked. Mamă gave a small smile, rubbing her thumb on my cheek.

"That's something we will discuss when you're older," Mamă assured me. This made me even more confused and curious. Why did we have to wait until I was older to talk about this? Was it grown-up knowledge on how to know if love is felt back?

I was a big girl! I should know.

"But mamă-" I pouted, wanting to know.

"No buts. You need to get to bed, Iubirea mea,"  Mamă insisted. I huffed, wishing she would just tell me.

She left my room at that, blowing out the candles as she went. We exchanged "goodnights," and "I love you's," and I found myself falling asleep to the mystery of love.

♱

How do you know if they are in love with you back?

It was the question I thought everyone would ask. Surely, it wasn't that easy to reach into someone's mind and know the answer. Someone whom you had fallen in love with. It would be a mystery until you trusted them enough to believe that they meant it when they said those three words.

At least, that's what I had assumed as a child. The ignorant bliss I had then was gone. No longer did I dream of the love stories I used to hear before bed every night.

At the time, it seemed terrifying, thinking that you could love someone and have no clue if it was reciprocated. Now, I found it intriguing, and part of me wishes that that's how it was.

Yet, it never would be. Not for those of my kind.

As far as I could tell, my species never had to question. Now, I was in the twisted world of Soulmates and unwavering love and devotion. I now understood why my mom waited to explain to me how love was reciprocated. I would have been so confused why I couldn't just be like the princess in the story.

In our species, love between two Soulmates was unquestioned because it became part of their nature. The second the Mortal one was turned, or the ceremony took place between two Vampires, the love was requited.

I'd witnessed this world five years ago when my brother Alec met my Sister-in-Law, Raven. All I can say was that it was a twisted world indeed.

Though I admired their bond, they were much different from the rest. Instead of being turned shortly after meeting, Raven stayed Mortal for a few months. This had a desirable impact on their relationship that I hadn't witnessed ever before, and that I doubt I'd ever get to witness it again.