Darling

DARLING

Book 1 of the
Beloved Series

By Claudia D.
Christian

Published by DelSin
Publishing, LLC 2011 at Smashwords

Copyright ©
2011 by Claudia D. Christian

All rights reserved.
No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means without prior written permission from DelSin
Publishing, LLC. DelSin Publishing, LLC and the author assume no
liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the
information contained herein.

This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.

Cover Photo Credit:
Andrey Kiselev

Cover Design: CGM
Web Designs

Smashwords Edition
License Notes

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Table of Contents

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About Claudia

Other Works

1

She was born for
him.

Loving him, admiring
him, wanting to be his, Cassandra innocently believed she understood
what it would mean to be the Beloved of a Pureblood Vampire King.

She was wrong.

***

A tall, stunning
brunette burst in with a flurry of silken dresses and matching heels
piled high in her capable arms. “Your lord comes, Mistress
Cassandra! Hurry now or he will see you in disarray!”

“Lord
Constantine is here, Lenore?” Cassandra lurched up from her
chaise, book forgotten as it hit the stone floor. “Are you
sure?”

“Yes, yes! Now
hurry!” Lenore set her elegant burden down on the bed. In a
blur, she spread each exquisite dress out along with its delicate
footwear. “Which would one you prefer, Mistress?”

Cassandra stood up,
anxiety thrumming her limbs but tempered by excitement. “But,
he is not due yet…” She joined the other woman and
attempted to focus on the matter at hand. Cassandra’s attention
jellied.

He has come back to
me!

“Of course.
Who else would he come back to?” Lenore waited until the
younger girl composed herself appropriately. Satisfied with
Cassandra’s compliance, she asked, “Would you like this
one?” Lenore’s bejeweled hand pointed to an ornately
beaded hem. “Lord Constantine has such a fine eye for what
would suit you, does he not?”

Cassandra’s
infatuated grin widened. She attempted to hide it by placing clasped
hands over her rebellious mouth, knowing her companion’s
impatience with her constant lack of poise. “He always takes
such wonderful care of me. I wish I could wear them all at once!”

“That would be
a strange sight to see.” Lenore shook an artfully curled head
of inky hair. Due to her charge’s childish enthusiasm, she was
never quite sure when Cassandra’s words were meant to be taken
literally.

“I suppose I
must choose else I shame my lord with my oddity.” Cassandra
measured each gown against one another. All black, their uniqueness
might have gone disregarded by untrained eyes, but she could
appreciate and worship their individual charms. Enamored by the
bounty spread before her, Cassandra paced around the bed, small hand
hovered over each one for a time. Finally she pointed to the lustrous
confection furthest away from her. “The pleated bodice.”

“You will look
lovely, Mistress. Now come along. It is time for your bath.”

Like the proverbial
moth to an emerald flame, Cassandra trailed behind her elaborately
dressed caretaker into the bathing chamber. The cavernous room echoed
from the sound of her steps—no matter how dainty she attempted
to make them. She shivered before steam quickly appeared to take the
chill off the stone floor. Cassandra’s bare toes wiggled in
appreciation. Stopping at the bathing pool’s edge, she waited
for Lenore to finish preparing the bath.

“Did Lord
Constantine appear in good health?”

“Of course,
Mistress. As if our lord could appear any other way.”

Although sharp,
Lenore’s words lacked bite. Cassandra ducked her head
regardless. “I meant…did he appear…content?”
She held her arms out so Lenore could slip off her dressing gown.
“Did he…”

“You will be
pleased to see your lord, Mistress Cassandra.” She removed the
much younger girl’s fine underclothing with fingers as deft as
the words cutting into Cassandra’s graceless query.

“I am so happy
Lord Constantine is here.” She clasped her hands over her bosom
and made her way into the pool. “I wonder if he will stay
long.”

“How can he
resist his Beloved?”

“Not yet,”
Cassandra stopped and corrected with frown. Petulance tugged at her
full mouth. “I am not his Beloved yet.”

“Officially.
Everyone in the kingdom knows you are to be his.”

Pleasure dusted her
cheeks. Cassandra met Lenore’s eerie obsidian stare. “I
am so very lucky, aren’t I?”

“That you are.
Lord Constantine is a fine choice, Mistress. A very fine choice
indeed.” Lenore nudged Cassandra forward. “We must hurry,
Mistress. Time is flowing now and we do not want to keep your lord
waiting any more than we need.”

Cassandra placed her
fingertips on Lenore’s arm for support and sat down.
Automatically leaning forward, she gave into the soothing strokes of
Lenore’s strong hand on her back. Her speech momentarily lost
its formal edge, rushing forward in a girlish peal of excitement.

“I can’t
wait to see him. It’s been so long and yet not long at all. I
can’t imagine what time must feel like in the human world.”

“It is a much
darker place than here. Time moves too quickly, turning pretty things
like yourself into dust. Tragic.”

Cassandra glanced at
the window. Stretching from floor to ceiling, it gave her a
magnificent view of Constantine’s glittering kingdom. “Have
you ever been there, Lenore?”

She scrubbed one arm
and then the other before answering. “I have.”

“Is it as
beautiful as this?”

“No. Too much
light. Lift your leg, Mistress. That’s a good girl.”

“I cannot
imagine losing the moonlight for even a moment.” Cassandra
scrambled out the pool, ignoring Lenore’s stern commands to
return. She pressed against the glass, ignorant to the immodesty of
her impetuous actions. “I never want to go back there. I love
this world, I love you, and I love Lord Constantine! I love you all!”

“Mistress
Cassandra! What would your lord say at seeing your behavior? Anyone
with a mind could see you naked as the day you were given to Lord
Constantine.” Lenore firmly took hold of Cassandra’s
raised arm, careful to keep from bruising it unintentionally.

“Forgive me. I
do not know what came over me.” She giggled once before
dutifully suppressing it. The other woman’s heavy frowns made
Cassandra feel quite the imp. She looked over her shoulder while
Lenore led her back to the bath and tried to imagine a dimension
trapped by broken night. It was terrible.

“Lenore?”

She waited until
Cassandra re-entered the pool before answering. “Yes,
Mistress?” Unsure if her charge would bolt again, Lenore
summoned a water stream and thoroughly doused Cassandra’s dark
hair.

“I will never
have to go back there, will I?”

Long, capable
fingers paused in the midst of massaging Cassandra’s scalp.
“You are Lord Constantine’s Beloved. You will be the
mother of his Half-Blood children. Your place is here.”

“Do you think
he will ever send me away?”

“Mistress,
your fears are unfounded.” She piled the sudsy mass up high on
top of Cassandra’s head before cleaning her dainty ears. “You
look for problems that do not exist.”

“You are
right. I am not sure why I do that.”

I am so afraid he
will forget me every time he leaves. There is such a big world beyond
this castle that I am not part of. Eventually he will tire of the
little human pet he keeps. . .

“Banish those
ridiculous thoughts from your head, Mistress. They serve no purpose.
Lord Constantine would never abandon you.”

Cassandra rested her
chin on raised knees. “Were my fears so very loud?”
Instead of replying, Lenore covered her eyes and proceeded to rinse
Cassandra’s hair. “Your silence answers for you.”

“No fear can
be hidden in this world—except in your rooms. Even those do not
stay secret for long.”

The unspoken being,
Because you do not control yourself as befitting your station.

“I truly am
sorry for annoying you with my insecurities.” She hid her face
but revealed her pain anyways. Tears salted the air and mournful
notes whistled through the walls.

Lenore sighed. “You
could give a demon a conscience, Mistress.” She brought
Cassandra to her feet. Quickly washing the girl’s front, Lenore
attempted to bring some measure of comfort. “Lord Constantine’s
match with you could never be set aside, Mistress. You were brought
here within the hour after your birth because you were born for him.
You have been groomed to be his Beloved—the highest union that
can exist between a vampire and a human. There is no room for fear,
Mistress, even here in this world.”

Cassandra wanted to
curl into an insignificant ball. Shamed, she hissed in an uncommon
display of despair. “Then why does it stalk me, Lenore? Why do
I feel my lord only tolerates me because some committee from your
Nephilim government declared me complimentary to him? What if he does
not believe it?”

The older woman
cradled Cassandra’s face between her palms. She forced her
charge to look her in the eyes. “What exactly is it you want,
Mistress?”

Stripped clean and
unable to hide her longing from Lenore, Cassandra’s façade
crumpled. A woman with adult needs broke through the maidenly
adoration. “I want him to love me.”

“Vampires
should not love, Mistress. Their love is dangerous, expressed in a
way humans do not understand. It could bring out the worst in both of
you.”

Grief tied her
breath in knots. Cassandra fell against Lenore’s breast and
sobbed. The vampiress stroked her head, not bothering to utter
meaningless words, but comforting Cassandra with her solid, loyal
presence.

Am I so wrong for
him? Do I not match him? Am I not good enough for him? Does he not
feel the same for me as I do for him?

Much later, wrung
out from the devastating force of her emotions, Cassandra pulled away
from Lenore’s cold embrace. She rubbed her itchy, swollen eyes
and managed to ask, “Is that why Lord Constantine has his other
companions? Is that why he has not made me his Beloved? Will I
eventually be Beloved in name only but nothing more than a Concubine
in reality? Does my lord favor someone else? Someone who is powerful
and more beautiful?”

“Who dared to
carry tales to you?” Lenore’s eyes blazed crimson. Fangs
elongated and scissored, ready to slice open anyone unwise to venture
too close. A perfect face bleached to stone and the air vibrated from
unholy rage. “What have you heard? Tell me now!”

Cassandra babbled
her apologies, afraid she had disappointed her caretaker. “I am
sorry, Lenore! Please do not be angry with me!”

Lenore’s face
wiped clean. She once again appeared as before, calm and impossible
to disturb. “I am not angry with you, Mistress Cassandra. Tell
me what you know—”

“Nothing.”
She stepped out of the pool. “I am ready to be prepared for my
lord’s visit.”