The Blood That Woke the Vampire King

Bell Arden was chosen by her village to die. Dressed in white and delivered to Castle Vharos, she is meant to become another blood offering to a vampire king who has slept beneath the mountain for more than a thousand years. But when Bell's blood touches his crimson coffin, the ancient prison breaks-and King Alaric Vaelthorn awakens furious, starving, and determined to destroy everyone responsible for his captivity.
Then the dead maidens begin climbing from the crypt walls. Bell soon discovers that the sacrifices were never meant to protect the kingdom. They were part of a lie created by High Priest Malrec, a ruthless enemy who has corrupted the crown, rewritten history, and buried generations of women beneath sacred promises. To expose him, Bell must work beside the dangerous king her people taught her to fear.
Alaric possesses terrifying power, but Bell refuses to kneel, surrender her blood, or become the obedient bride demanded by an ancient prophecy. Her defiance awakens something in him more dangerous than hunger: a love he cannot command and does not know how to deserve. As dead women speak, villages rise, and a blood-red war closes around Castle Vharos, Bell and Alaric must decide what they are willing to sacrifice.
Because saving the kingdom may require the vampire king to surrender the very power that made him immortal. The Blood That Woke the Vampire King is an atmospheric gothic fantasy romance filled with horror, dark humor, buried secrets, a defiant heroine, a fearsome vampire king, slow-burning passion, and a hard-won happy ending.