Selene's POV
The castle was alive. Not with laughter or music, not with life at all, but with the pulse of him. Lucien. Even in the silence of the hallways, I could feel him, the shadow of his presence crawling under my skin, threading through my veins like a poison-laced river.
Every breath I drew reminded me that I was not alone, that a part of him had been forced into me, like a parasite feeding on my fear.
I pressed my back against the cold stone wall, my hands trembling as I traced the sigils etched into the floor beneath me. They glimmered faintly in the torchlight, remnants of a ritual I had barely escaped. A memory, a whisper, a connection. And somewhere in the dark, Lucien's essence stirred, resonating with mine. The blood link he forced me into, I hated it, feared it, but I had begun to understand it. I could feel his heartbeat, slow and steady, like a predator sizing up its prey. And worst of all… I could feel him tasting my fear.
