A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of book two in 'The Consort' series! I'm excited for this novel, and cannot thank you enough for the support you've all given through reads, comments and votes! I appreciate it. And now, without further ado, here is chapter one to continuation of the series....The Consort's Will.

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Chapter 1

As dawn approaches, a wisp of promise dances across the horizon. Tendrils of sunlight spill across the newly fallen snow and welcome in the new day. Hues of orange and pink press against the silky sky of night. It's a silent tug of war, the opposing colors grappling with another until Time intervenes with a steady hand.

I stare at the view in awed silence. So much in this world has changed. So much beauty, hope and love has been destroyed. Yet here – in the stillest moments of the breaking dawn – Nature manages to take my breath away.

A wool blanket is placed around my shoulders, and I glance up in time to see Bogdan taking a seat beside me. The sun gently falls across his face, caressing it with delicate finesse. Everything about him is beautiful.

I study his features – high cheek bones beneath haunting eyes. Each one is chiseled perfection, the flawless molding of an immortal man carved of marble flesh. His muddy, red eyes meet my gaze. The color reminds me of our night together, and the healing bite marks prickle with heat on the side of my neck.

"You should still be sleeping," Bogdan murmurs, breaking our gaze to stare out at Nature's canvas.

"I'm not tired. Besides," I say, clutching the blanket to my chest and nodding to the view. "When's the last time we got to just sit and watch the sunrise?"

As the question leaves my lips, the answer falls into place without my mental permission. It deals with an area I'm choosing to ignore - a topic I'm trying to forget. My shoulders sag. The familiar ache of longing blooms in my chest as the memory resurfaces.

It was a chilly morning, and I remember stuffing my disheveled hair under the hood of my sweater before meeting Bogdan beneath the weeping willow at our spot of refuge in the north. Bright, prickling sunlight splayed across the broken town. It was a beautiful sight, quickly marred by the news that my human friend, Fiona, was working for the enemy. It was also the morning I had to leave my best friend behind without saying goodbye.

"Where are we traveling next?" I ask, pushing the sadness and painful memories to the back of my mind.

Bogdan reaches behind us to retrieve the map and pen from one of our travel bags. Every time I take a breath, the cold air pushes past my lips in puffs of crystalized vapor. I thought it was cold in the north; little did I know that 'north' was only a direction rather than a place.

Now the two of us are about as far north as north can get. We haven't seen any sight of humans or vampires in weeks. It feels like we're in a place of our own, completely alone and forgotten. I huddle into my wool blanket and rest my chin on the middle of my knee.

"We're going to have to travel south again," his deep voice responds. "But rather than heading due south, we'll head southwest and see if we can pick up anything."

His rich voice sends a shiver down my spine. It's a voice I hear every day, yet it still manages to send my pulse into overdrive. He always told me it's because he's a vampire, and vampires are created as predators to their prey – humans. I don't believe it, though. Even if this man reverted back to being human, I'm fully convinced my reaction would be the same.

"I'd rather keep off the radar as much as possible," Bogdan adds, his probing gaze dancing across the map's surface.

I nod in agreement. The two of us have been traveling for weeks, always choosing the path less traveled. Granted, we've covered the same amount of ground it would take most humans to cover by foot in months...but the fact that we're still coming up empty-handed is discouraging.

"If it's possible," I venture hesitantly, "Could we stop in one of the towns to see if I can pick up any more clues?"

Bogdan raises a brow. "As in, another one of your research projects?"

Embarrassment floods my cheeks. The last time I thought it was a good idea to travel through an abandoned town on a mission for answers, I ended up in the hands of Vultures.

I lean towards Bogdan, staring at the map now situated across the tent floor in front of him. My nostrils flare as his natural scent floods my senses. It's a smell I've memorized soul deep. It's the type of scent cologne manufactures would love to get their hands on if they had the chance – a burning mint with natural masculinity weaving through it.

My eyes focus on the areas already marked off in red. I follow the tentative pen markings for our path moving forward before reaching forward and tapping a small dot on the left.

"There's a university in this town," I say. "And where there's a university, there's a library. If you could just drop me off for a few minutes I could get my hands on something, anything that might help us find them."

Bogdan tilts his chin up, and a flicker of emotion passes through his gaze. I know I'm treading a thin line even broaching the subject. But the last time I went to the library, I discovered the secret to Bogdan's past. Sure, the library didn't exactly help me reach that conclusion, but I know if I could spend some time in another I'd find some clue as to the Secondaries whereabouts.

"It's too dangerous," Bogdan responds icily.

I suck my bottom lip into my mouth, generously chewing on it to try to keep from arguing. The two of has have been searching for the mysterious species for weeks. We haven't found so much as a single clue along the way. Surely reading and researching would help more than simply looking for them by foot?

"You disagree, human?"

I curl the blanket around me and wring my hands together behind the protection of its warmth. Each day we don't find the Secondaries is one day that a different group might. We can't risk having the Secondaries side with the vampires...or the humans for that matter.

"I just...I feel like we're running out of time," I whisper. "And that if we don't find them soon, it'll be too late."

A muscle tics along Bogdan's jaw. Putting me in danger is something he avoids at all costs. As romantic as that may seem, the reasons fall terribly short on the chivalrous scale. Bogdan cares about me. Really, he does. But at the base of his limited affection is a foundation consisting of an instinctual need to preserve my mortality and my blood.

My blood isn't just that of a normal human, after all. I have the blood of a Nirv – a rare type of alluring blood that essentially protects and strengthens a vampire's immortality from all earthly beings and destruction. Since Bogdan was the first to claim it, my blood is now his. And only his.

Should others attempt to drink it, it acts as a poison to their system, tearing apart their immortality within minutes. I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it myself. But when a small taste of my blood took down the leader of one of the evilest leaders of the vampire species, it became hard to deny.

Most humans in my position would turn away from their role as consort. After all, this war centers around the need for humans to shed their roles laid out in the Agreement, freeing themselves of the shackles that bound them to the undead for 29 years of their lives.

Despite what the rules of war might say, I made the choice to remain a willing consort, offering my blood whenever my vampire thirsts for it. Of course...my intentions to supply Bogdan with blood aren't without an ulterior motive either.

Somewhere over the last few months, I've fallen in love. I didn't expect it to happen. I'm not sure I even wanted it to happen. But somehow it did, and now all I can do is hold my breath...hoping he doesn't shatter my heart into a million pieces.

"Alright," Bogdan agrees, pulling me away from my thoughts. "I'll give you one hour. After that we are leaving whether you find something or not. Understood?"

I bite back a grin, leaning into his masculine shoulder and secretly wishing he'd wrap his arm around me. "Deal."

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Bogdan opens a can of pineapple and pours its contents into a wooden bowl. The pale, yellow fruit slushes from side to side as he pushes it towards me. My stomach grumbles at the sight of food, but it's the same thing I've eaten for the past eight meals.

I swallow hard and bring the edge of the bowl to my mouth. The citrus liquid slips past my chapped lips and slides across my tongue with overfamiliarity. I shouldn't complain. There are plenty of mortals right now being taken hostage by vampires, forced to eat whatever molded sustenance they can get their hands on. If they can find anything at all, that is.

At the start of the war, the extremist vampires flexed their strength, pillaging town after town while drinking as much blood as they could along the way. Their path of destruction left its mark. Ghosts from all directions now lie in the wreckage of their carnage. Every night Nature's wind carries the agony and fear left behind from their weeping souls.

As Bogdan and I continued to travel to the outskirts of these abandoned towns, however, we noticed the vampires' tactics changing. We found fewer and fewer bodies drained of blood. We didn't find many bodies at all. Instead of ghosts we found ghost towns. The only proof humans had been there at all were through whispered memories, their strength holding together the fractured homes left behind.

It all led us to one conclusion.

Vampires are no longer draining the humans of their blood. They're taking them as prisoners, drinking their blood whenever they want. I chew on my bottom lip and stare at the far side of the tent. What sort of living conditions do they have now? I learned the hard way how cold and selfishly dangerous the immortal species can be.

"I'll be sure to collect more food when we travel," Bogdan comments evenly.

He glances down at my barely-touched bowl of pineapple. Guilt floods me and I bring the bowl up to my lips a second time, shaking my head in protest.

"I'm lucky to have food at all," I murmur.

Bogdan doesn't ask for more of an explanation and I don't offer one. I gradually make my way through my bowl of fruit. Each bite is harder to get down than the last, and my stomach quivers in protest when I drink the juice down at the end.

But then something happens that makes my stomach churn for an entirely different reason. In this desolate, uninhibited town in the north, the beautiful rays of sunlight become interrupted...as the shadow of a man passes across our tent.