To Hold & To Cherish: The Wedding Vow, #3

Copyright © 2022 NaNaKo Sai Gwin

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious.  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Epilogue

The Wedding Vow Series

Historical Romances by NaNaKo Sai Gwin

About the Author

Dedication

To my husband, who is the reason that I write.

Prologue

It was a moon-less cold winter night.  A perfect night to hunt a black bear.  Usually black bears stayed deep in the mountains, but they moved down during winter because food was scarce.  This meant Vivian did not need to go too far to find one.  She had staked out for a week to pick a good size bear for the hunt.  It wasn’t a large one because Vivian worried she wouldn’t be able to take it down.  The one she had picked was only as tall as Kuwo and twice the size.  She had discussed with the butcher.  A bear this size, as long as she didn’t rip the fur too much, it could fetch good money.  She had tried sneaking up on Kuwo successfully with her vampire speed.  Therefore, she was confident she could strike down this bear, too.

Without the moon, Vivian had hoped the bear wouldn’t see her in the low light.  On the other hand, with her vampire vision, she saw the bear wandering among the trees.  Powerful arms with sharp claws that could tear her apart easily.  Vivian strategically placed the bear’s favorite foods on its usual route; oranges, acorns, walnuts.  The butcher also said black bears ate carrions.  That was easy for Vivian.  She sucked blood out of rabbits and squirrels and scattered them on the route, too.

Vivian carried a cleaver and a dagger in her belt.  She had also sharpened multiple thick tree branches into spears and hid them along the route.  Slowly the bear was attracted to the carrion smell.  It grabbed one squirrel with its snout.  It took several bites and then moved on to the other food.  Vivian followed behind with a huge distance in between.  She did not want to spook the bear.  She waited.  The bear grazed the food; it did not suspect a thing.

Now!  Vivian ran up to the bear, jumped onto its back and heaved the cleaver into its neck.  The bear roared.  It swung violently and clawed at whatever that was on its back.  Vivian jumped down.  She grabbed a spear at a nearby tree.  She tried to pierce the bear with the spear, but the bear swiped his paws and smashed the spear into smithereens.

Vivian tumbled to avoid the bear’s fury.  It could see who had injured it just now.  It attacked Vivian, but it hurt tremendously because of the cleaver in its neck.  It howled.  Vivian moved out of its arm’s length and grabbed another spear.  She circled to the back and tried to spear the bear again.  She was successful this time; the spear went in.  She thought that was enough to bring down the bear, but this bear ran.

Heavens!  Vivian was panting.  She gathered several more spears and chased after.  How did it move so fast when it was wounded?  Vivian rushed among the dense forest.  The bear howled then stopped.  Vivian could feel misty water on her face.  Where was she?  It didn’t matter.  The bear must be losing blood.  It was now or never.  Vivian jumped again.  If she could get on its back and use the cleaver to hack the neck several more times, the hunt would be over.

It did not go according to the plan in her head.  The bear moved out of the way.  Vivian was blindsided because the path ended.  It was a cliff.  She hurried to grab the tree roots to keep herself from dropping into the abyss.  She looked down.  A waterfall spouted strong stream below.  The bear came to swipe at her several more times but stopped short.  It also did not want to fall into the waterfall.

The bear started to retreat.  No!  This was her money-maker.  With one bear, she could afford to furnish the house, to hire a gardener, and buy better food and medicine for Grandma Mabel.  One bear.  She wouldn’t need to hunt for months.  More time to spend with the half-blind Grandma Mabel.

Vivian pulled herself out of the cliff and stood up.  She pulled the dagger from her belt, then shouted, Hey!  She ran and jumped onto the bear again.  She stabbed the bear multiple times with the dagger.  The bear roared and shook her off onto the ground.  It came to face her; the large claws bashed at her.  Vivian rolled on the ground to try to find the spears she had lost before going over the cliff.  She found one.  With a spear and a dagger, she pierced the bear in the armpit and the neck.  The spear went in and came out of the shoulder.  The dagger buried deep in the thick neck fur.

The bear stopped moving for a second, then it fell onto Vivian.  It groaned.  Vivian struggled to get herself out of the heavy weight.  The bear was breathing shallowly.  Vivian let out a long sigh.  She wiped her face.  It was muddy and bloody.  Her body ached.  She finally had time to examine herself.  Her clothes were ripped.  Blood was seeping out of many cuts.  Nothing serious.  A good night’s sleep would heal her completely.

Now, the one thing she didn’t prepare for:  How was she going to get this bear off the mountain?

Chapter 1

Vivian

N

ew Era.  New government.  New Vivian.  She promised herself.  No more getting into trouble.  No more getting into other people’s business.  Vivian was going to stay home, spend time with her ailing grandma Mabel, help with her friend Pauline’s wedding celebration, and get her family house rebuilt.

Vivian and Grandma Mabel were currently living in a borrowed cottage after her parents were killed by a Vofstein pirate and they were kicked out of the family house.  Vivian’s ex-fiancé, Vadim, had bought the family house back after Vivian killed the Vofstein pirate out of rage.  The house suffered some damages during the Krenn-Vofstein War.

The bear Vivian had killed brought her good money.  With the money, Vivian was able to afford good bricks, good lumbers, a good mason, and a good carpenter for her family house.

Same for Pauline’s family.  They owned a two-story inn, The Compass, which had been destroyed during the Krenn-Vofstein War.  Kuwo had received a box of spices for guarding two vampires during the war.  The saffron alone was worth more than gold.  Not only Pauline’s parents, Henry and Abby, could rebuild The Compass, they had also decided to expand from the original two-story inn to a four-story building.  Kuwo and Pauline were getting married.  By adding more rooms, Henry and Abby were hoping for many grandchildren in the future.

So, Kuwo and Pauline were staying in Vivian’s family house.  Henry and Abby were living with Mabel and Vivian in the cottage.  All of them took turn supervising the construction of both the house and the inn.  Vivian, being a vampire that couldn’t come out during day time, had the least amount of responsibility.  After hunting down that black bear and sold the skin and meat for good money, she had even less to do.  Bored, but boredom was good.  The war was over; it was peace on the island of Tah’lia.  The reconstruction was underway at every corner of Stoneborough. 

Vivian had finally found a jeweler open for business.  She needed to get the ruby diamond necklace extended for about two inches as a wedding gift for Pauline.  The new extended section was not as good quality, but that was the best the jeweler could do at the moment.  The jeweler did give Vivian a beautiful black velvet box to store the jewelry.  Vivian thanked the jeweler, stuffed the velvet box into her pocket, and wandered aimlessly in the marketplace.

It had been more than a month since the last Vofstein ship sailed out of the island, but the celebrations hadn’t stopped.  People found all kinds of excuses to be drunk.  Tonight, it appeared to be First New Brew since Vofstein Got Kicked Out.  The slogan wasn’t the greatest, but with the additions of the militarymen from Krenn Empire, taverns were doing good businesses.

It had been a month since Vivian had fresh human blood; so she decided to get some tonight.  Fresh was stretching it.  Vivian almost choked on the drunkard’s alcoholic stench.  The alley was sticky from puke.  Ugh, if she could live on animal blood only, she would.  Vivian held her breath, took as many sips as she could stand the foul smell and be done with it.

Vivian left the marketplace.  She wandered to the Fort.  She looked up to the three flagpoles.  The Emperor’s golden dragon flag in the middle, Admiral Cadmael’s azure dragon flag to the left, and Captain Fullrich’s three bales of rice crop flag to the right.  She smiled; what a beautiful sight.  It was no longer the Vofstein lion flag.  The island was at last returned to the Krenn people.  No more living under the unfair government.  No more having their possessions taken away without justice.  Vivian was proud to have been part of the war.

As night breeze lazily drifted by, Vivian got a whiff of apples and oranges.  Not actual apples and oranges.  Someone smelled like apples and oranges.  Sweet and crisp.  Light and refreshing.  Vivian couldn’t help but salivate.  Who smelled like this?  Her stomach growled.  This was so much better than the drunkard’s blood.  When was the last time she tasted apples and oranges?  Too long.  Before Vivian noticed, her legs were already following the smell and led her into the Fort.

Barely anyone was guarding the Fort.  The militarymen were drinking with the civilians in the taverns.  The few remained at the gate simply waved at her as Vivian passed by.  They assumed she was one of the camp followers that was here to meet a man.

Vivian arrived at the center court and stood below the flagpoles.  She sniffed and found the delicious smell was coming from a large building facing the flagpoles.  Vivian had been inside the Fort for only a few times in the past, but she knew this large building was for the most important government officials and their offices. The building was dark, but light came from one room on the second floor.

Who was still in the office at night?  Some poor lieutenant that had to man the Fort while everyone else was out drinking?  Maybe she’d take a peek, Vivian decided.  She shouldn’t be drinking from any important official.  No getting into trouble, remember?

Vivian quietly walked up the stairs.  The wind carried forward the smell through the loggia.  The closer she got, the stronger the smell.  Vivian swallowed hard.  This was going to take a lot of self-discipline not to jump the man as soon as she saw him.

She finally arrived outside the office.  Vivian stood there.  This was a bad idea.  If she weren’t going to drink from the man, she should leave now.  She turned, but she stopped.  Could she peek from the window to see what he looked like?  Maybe next week she would see him drunk in a tavern, then she could drink from him.  Vivian could move fast with her vampire speed to peek in; all he would notice was the shadow.  So she turned to look at the window; it was open.  The curtains were swaying slowly in the wind.

No!  No!  If the man was here tonight in the office, that meant he was busy with work.  Vivian should leave him alone.  She decided, turned again, took one step, when a voice came from inside the office.  Who is that outside furtively?  It’s rude not to announce yourself.

Vivian froze in spot.  Was she making a lot of noise?  Was she salivating that loud?  Was she breathing too hard?  What should she do now that she was