I Belong To My Three Forbidden Masters

Chapter 74: Chapter 74

Lysander’s pov

It’s been a week and nothing has changed here. Morning in the upper valley didn’t bring sunlight; it brought a dense, silver fog that rolled down from the pine ridges, pressing thick against the double-paned glass of the compound’s central courtyard.

I walked slowly down the wide slate corridor, my bare feet quiet against the heated stone floor.

I wore one of Drake’s oversized black cashmere sweaters, the hem falling past my thighs, the collar wide enough to leave my shoulder bare and with it, the dark, violet marks on my collarbone was exposed.

Back in his house, I had been isolated for my safety so I never stepped out, not even for classes. That idea was a bust anyway. I couldn’t go around walking freely when there were people who wanted to kidnap me every second.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Gideon had issued a manhunt in school just to catch me. The compound wasn’t just a safe house, it was a sanctuary and home to a dozen ancient families and their human companions.

And it was beautiful. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen, not that I have seen a lot. I stopped near the glass balustrade overlooking the indoor garden, which was a vast, sunken atrium filled with pale orchids, black ferns, and winding gravel paths.

Below me, a tall vampire stood in the middle of the greenery. Kneeling at his side, holding a small silver tray with a crystal decanter, was a young human woman in a silk tunic.

I watched the vampire reach down, his long fingers cupping her jaw gently before tipping her head back to trail his lips over her throat.

She leaned into his touch, her eyes half-closed, her body melting against his knees in surrender.

Further down the path, near the stone fountain, the dynamic was different. A female vampire with dark, braided hair stood over a young man who knelt flat on the cold gravel, his hands bound behind his back with leather cords.

She pressed the toe of her boot against his chest, forcing him to bow his forehead to the stone before she allowed him to stand.

I leaned against the cool glass, my fingers tracing the edge of the railing.

There was no fear down there. I was at peace because my kind was here. The violence here was disciplined, structured, and accepted. It was an ecosystem built entirely around power, blood, and the act of devotion.

I felt a strange, quiet sense of belonging.

"You shouldn’t stand so close to the ledge, little bird."

I flinched at the surprise before I turned.

A human guy roughly my age was walking down the corridor toward me, carrying a stack of folded linen.

He wore a simple fitted shirt and trousers, a heavy silver collar resting snug around his throat, engraved with a crest I didn’t recognize.

He had blonde hair, sharp blue eyes. He almost looked just like me but the difference was that he was defensive and jumpy just like I was before I came here.

He stopped a few feet away, his gaze dropping to the dark, fresh bite marks on my neck, then shifting to the heavy signet ring Drake had placed on a silver chain around my throat before he left for the Council chamber this morning.

"You’re Lord Balthazar’s human," he said.

"Lysander," I offered softly, pulling the sweater slightly tighter around my frame.

"Corey," he replied, setting the linen on a stone bench. He looked me up and down, a faint, wry smile touching his lips. "Word spread through the lower quarters the second your car cleared the gates yesterday. Nobody expected Balthazar to bring a companion here. He hasn’t kept anyone at the compound in over fifty years."

A cold, sharp prickle ran down my spine, "yeah, he brought me here to keep me safe."

"Clearly," he said.

I frowned, "Why do you sound like that?"

He looked at me like he wanted to ignore me but changed his mind along the way. He nodded toward the atrium below.

"Look around you, Lysander. You see the collars down there? Half the humans in this valley would cut their own wrists for a second glance from Balthazar. He’s the only pure breed left. His word is law here. Which means your status..." He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly in assessment. "...is higher than half the lower-vampire bloodlines in this building."

"I don’t care about status," I murmured, though my pulse quickened at the thought of competing with lower vampires.

"You will," a sharp voice cut in from the archway behind us.

A young woman stepped into the light, dressed in a sleek red silk gown that dragged along the floorboards.

She was human, but she carried herself like a queen, her dark eyes flashing with a cold, obvious resentment as she looked at me. Her throat bore no fresh marks, only a faded, silver scar near her collarbone.

"Be careful, Corey," she sneered, her eyes locking onto my oversized sweater. "You might make the new pet arrogant. Lord Balthazar is simply keeping him until the dispute is settled. We both know he doesn’t take permanent mates."

Corey let out a quiet, tired sigh. "Ignore her, Lysander. Clara is still upset that her master lost his seat at the Council table last winter."

Clara took two slow steps toward me, her eyes dropping to the bruises on my neck. "Look at him. He’s fragile. He looks like a breeze would snap him in half. Balthazar will tire of feeding on a human who looks at him like a drowning child."

Her attempt to intimidate me didn’t work.

A month ago, a voice like hers would have made me retreat into the nearest shadow, apologizing for taking up space.

But as I looked at Clara, I felt nothing out pity for her. She was lashing out because life isn’t going the way she wants it.

I took a step toward her instead, lifting my chin so they could see the mark more.

"He didn’t bring me here as a pet, Clara," I corrected her. "He brought me here because I am his. And if you have a problem with where he puts his teeth, you can take it up with him when he returns."

Clara’s mouth parted slightly in surprise. She glared at me, her chest heaving, but she didn’t step closer.

I suspect challenging me would make her and her master quickly lose their standing entirely. She gritted her teeth at me, expecting to scare me but I just rolled my eyes at her.

She was dramatic, I didn’t even do anything to her except exist. She turned on her heel and swept back down the corridor.

Corey let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Well. Maybe you do belong here after all."

He walked over to the glass balustrade, leaning his elbows against the metal. "She’s wrong about one thing, though. Balthazar didn’t just bite you to feed. Look at the coloration of those marks."

I reached up, my fingertips lightly touching the sensitive, raised skin near my collarbone. "What about them?"

"Vampires feed from anyone when they’re hungry," he explained quietly, his tone turning serious.

"The venom clears in a day, leaving clean skin. But when a pureblood like Balthazar bites into the primary artery and leaves his venom to settle into the tissue... it creates a permanent resonance. It tells every vampire in a hundred-mile radius that your blood belongs to his line. You are basically his mate."

My breath hitched in my chest. A mate.

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