Upon arriving at the palace gates, the guards opened the gates for us. It seemed they were already aware of who was who and who didn’t need confirmation to be let in. Veronica led her way through the gardens until once more I was surrounded by the brick and mortar of the palace proper.

Once properly inside, the maid turned towards me. “This is where I must leave you miss. I hope you enjoyed your first foray into her majesty’s kingdom. I trust you remember the way to your room?” I nodded in confirmation. “In that case, I shall take my leave. Your instructor should be by shortly after your arrival there to begin the first of your lessons.” With that, she turned around and left for her other duties.

I made my way gradually through the castle, doing my best to follow the path back towards my room. At each guarded checkpoint, the way was opened for me without saying a word. I said my thanks at the first I passed through, but after receiving surprised gratitude for my acknowledgment I shifted to silently nodding my appreciation for their work at the later checkpoints.

As I reached the inner portions of the castle, solid rays of moonlight became replaced by the flickering torchlight of the interior where windows were minimized for safety. Not too long afterwards, I passed by where I remembered the anteroom for the throne room was located. I debated stopping by, but decided against it. Queen Drusilla likely had many more matters to attend to than me, and I knew first-hand what her bad side looked like. I didn’t want to risk getting back to that point now that I was her heiress.

So I continued along the winding corridors until I reached the location of my room. The door had no special marking or heraldry writ upon it, leaving no way except memory to tell that it was my room. Not being completely certain it was mine, I gave a knock should someone else be there.

“Come in!” A gentle but deep voice almost cooed from the other side. Opening the door, I was delighted that I was correct that it was my room, and that the person I presumed to be my tutor had brought a stool up beside my bed to sit upon. As soon as she saw who was entering the room though, she stood and offered a deep curtsy. “My apologies heiress, I was unsure of when your arrival would be, so prepared for your lesson as best I could.”

The tutor was a mountain of a woman, with scars dotting her large muscles. Her clothing felt far more practical, even if it still left little to the imagination. Primarily exposed in her outfit was her toned midriff section, along with slits to showcase her powerful thighs. Her rusty brown hair was kept in a high pony-tail that barely reached to her neck, while her almond colored eyes were sharp as her teeth. She looked as powerful as she was intelligent, a fitting tutor for someone as out of place as I was.

“It’s alright, I wouldn’t want you stuck standing forever after all.” My response still caught her off guard, but she seemed a bit more expectant of such a casual response. She likely knew of my origins. One of the few now who did. It made me remember my past, and the people I had now left behind. Perhaps in time I could bring some of the ones I cared about into the fold. But many were now acquaintances long past. Several were likely to now be my enemy.

“I see we have much to work on. But, we cannot linger forever on what should be done, lest we never actually begin to do it.” Her voice was calm and assured, but held a quiet power behind it. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she was the one who drilled the royal knights.

“I’ll admit, I’m more out of touch than I ever thought I could be. Everything is so different, and not many people are willing to just talk with me.” I looked down towards the floor, not a moment later feeling one of the woman’s powerful hands resting upon my light and fair shoulder.

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“You are in a new realm, a new form, a new culture, and being expected to lead as the next in line to the throne from the very start. The expectations could not be higher for you, but I expect you to rise to them given the right knowledge. They only seem out of reach because you were introduced to all of them at once.” When I looked up, I found her staring directly into my eyes. It took everything I had not to wither under her gaze.

“It is a lot,” I admitted, “but I can’t say I share the same confidence in my capability as you do.” I was still unsure just to why the queen had selected me to become her heiress. After all, I was but an adventurer the night prior. What right did I have to learning king-craft and politics. All I had known was how to keep myself alive despite even the worst of odds.

“Well, let us begin with some simpler lessons then. A way to ease you into your new life.” She removed her hand before gesturing to my bed. “Take a seat, and we can begin.”

I listened to her, and went to sit at the foot of my bed before looking towards her. “I don’t even know where the best place to start would be. It feels like there is nothing to be drawn from my life as an adventurer that would apply to the life of a princess.”

“Then let’s start by helping you feel less like an adventurer and more like a princess. After all, you’re not even accustomed to being a woman, are you?” I shook my head, confirming what she already knew. “Let’s begin with a few lessons in femininity then. Hopefully with them, you’ll begin to fit in more with your body.”

I continued to silently give my affirmation, letting her begin with the lesson. The next few hours were her trying to help me learn a few feminine mannerisms like crossing my legs, sitting up straight, and discretely brushing my hair from my face. Though on the surface they were all simple things, they were still often a struggle for me to actually internalize, and kept catching myself reverting to my old habits when we would move on to the next thing. Eventually though, I found myself beginning to internalize her teachings. It would still be some time before they were second nature to me, but at least I was catching my own mistakes instead of her catching me messing up.

Before long, I felt a pang of hunger echoing through me. It wasn’t the same feeling of hunger that I was used to though. Instead of a rumbling in my stomach reminding me to eat, it felt more like a pull throughout my whole body. My tutor seemed to pick up on my needs, and ended the lessons in femininity.

“I’m guessing that you’re feeling that pull?” She asked it so plainly, as though she had guided countless others through this experience. Given her position as a tutor, she probably had.

“How’d you guess?”

“We all feel it eventually. You just get better at hiding that desire as you grow used to it. Let me get you a fresh bowl for you to drink from and then we can move on to the other lessons I wanted to start you on today.” I nodded once more, clutching lightly at my torso. The pulling sensation beginning to grow more and more intense.

As she got up and left my room, I almost began to keel over. It was an intense want. No, not a want, it was a need. I had to have some. I needed it now, and not a moment later. It was unlike any form of hunger I had ever felt before. I had had my share of foodless nights while out on the road between jobs, but this couldn’t hold a candle to those. Every fibre of my being was crying out for sustenance. Every hair upon my body was standing on edge as I desperately waited for my teacher’s return.

Though not a minute had passed, it felt like it had been over a day when she did return, quickly coming over to offer support and handing me a bowl filled with a dark, red liquid. I took it in my hands and began to greedily drink from it. At first, it just tasted like iron and salt. But, that quickly gave way to a much sweeter taste, a taste of energy, of power. After drinking half of the deep bowl in but a moment, I finally managed to slow myself down and even part the bowl from my now stained lips.

“The first craving is always the hardest to sate, but to many is also the sweetest. You’re lucky you get to have your fill whenever you could want it. Though we’ll need to work on your manners for that before you’re in the public light. Wouldn’t do to have the heiress with constantly blood-stained lips after all.”

I smiled sheepishly as I went to take another drink from the bowl. This time I only kept going for a moment, though it was still a rather messy ordeal. “So then, I’m guessing your next lesson is about what I am now?” My inquisitive nature brought a small smile to the powerful woman’s face.

“Yes, it is. It is time for you to learn the proper details about vampires.”