Lucian's POV
Rose's blood was changing me.
I felt it every time I fed from her. Every time her blood touched my tongue. It was not just sustenance. It was connection. Understanding. A bridge between what I was and what I had been.
Human. I felt almost human again when I drank from her.
It terrified me.
I stood in my study, staring at reports from my contacts throughout the city. Information about Marcus. His movements. His meetings. His plans.
And none of it made sense.
Marcus had been careful. Too careful. Every meeting had a legitimate reason. Every movement had a logical explanation. On paper, he was the perfect loyal brother. Supportive. Concerned. Helpful.
But I knew him. And I knew he was planning something.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Enter."
Ashen stepped inside. My most loyal guard. He had served me for fifty years. Saved my life twice. I trusted him more than I trusted anyone.
"My lord. You asked for a report on Lord Marcus's activities."
"What did you find?"
Ashen hesitated. "Nothing concrete. But there are patterns. Small things that do not add up."
"Such as?"
"Three weeks ago, Marcus met with a human woman in the market district. They spoke for less than five minutes. Then she disappeared. I tracked her to a building near the old cathedral. It is owned by a shell company, but I traced the records." He paused. "It belongs to a religious order. The Sisters of the Silver Cross."
My blood went cold. "The hunters."
"Yes, my lord. Marcus has been in contact with the hunters."
So it was true. My brother had orchestrated everything. The attack on Rose. Her presence here. The bond. All of it designed to destroy me.
"Continue."
"Two weeks ago, Marcus transferred a significant sum of money to an account in Switzerland. The account is registered to a woman named Miriam Thorne."
Thorne. Rose's surname.
"Sister Miriam," I said quietly. "Rose's handler in the order."
Ashen nodded. "It appears Lord Marcus has been funding the hunters. Providing them with intelligence. Directing their movements." He met my gaze. "He wanted Miss Rose to get close to you. He wanted the bond formed. He is counting on it to drive you mad."
Rage burned through me. Cold. Controlled. Deadly.
My own brother. My own blood. Had sold me to the hunters.
"Is there more?"
"Yes, my lord. Marcus has been meeting with members of the court. Quietly. In private. Lady Valeria. Lord Greaves. Others. I believe he is building support for a challenge to your position."
"A coup."
"Yes, my lord. When the bond drives you mad, when you finally lose control and kill Miss Rose, Marcus will step forward. He will claim you are unfit to lead. The court will support him. You will be removed from power. Possibly executed."
And Marcus would take everything. The coven. The territory. The position he had coveted for centuries.
"How long do we have?"
"Weeks. Perhaps days. Miss Rose's order has given her a deadline. Seven days from now. They expect her to complete her mission." Ashen's expression darkened. "If she fails, they will send others. And Marcus will make sure those others succeed."
I sank into my chair. Pressed my hands over my face.
Everything was falling apart. Every path led to death. Mine. Rose's. Both of ours.
"What do you want me to do, my lord?"
"Find proof. Something concrete that ties Marcus to the hunters. To the coup. Something I can present to the court that will expose him."
"And if I cannot find proof?"
"Then we prepare for war." I looked up at Ashen. "Because I will not give up Rose. I will not hand her over to die. And I will not let Marcus take what is mine."
Ashen bowed. "Yes, my lord."
He left.
I sat alone in my study, feeling the bond pulse between Rose and me. She was in the library again. Reading. Thinking. I felt her confusion. Her conflict. The weight of the choice she had to make.
She had found the poison. I knew she had found it. I felt her guilt through the bond. Her terror. Her desperate wish that there was another way.
And she had been offered the writ. Marcus's escape clause. I felt her consideration of it. The temptation to simply walk away and survive.
But she was still here. Still choosing to stay despite everything.
Why?
I stood and made my way to the library. I needed to see her. To understand what was happening between us. To know if what I felt through the bond was real or just magic playing tricks on us both.
Rose sat by the fireplace, a book open on her lap. She looked up when I entered.
"Lucian."
"We need to talk."
She closed the book. "About what?"
"About the poison in the east garden. About Marcus's writ of release. About the choice you are facing." I moved to stand before her. "I know, Rose. I feel everything through the bond. Your fear. Your guilt. Your temptation to take the easy way out."
She went pale. "I was not going to..."
"I know." I knelt beside her chair. "But you thought about it. And you have every right to. Marcus is offering you freedom. Your order is offering you purpose. Both paths lead away from me. Away from this bond. Away from death."
"Then why am I still here?"
"That is what I came to ask you."
She looked at me for a long moment. I felt the bond between us. Warm. Confused. Complicated.
"I don't know," she finally said. "When I came here, everything was clear. You were the monster. I was the hunter. I knew what I had to do. But now..." She touched the place on her neck where I had fed from her. "Now I feel you. Your loneliness. Your guilt. The way you hate what you are but keep trying anyway. And I don't know how to kill someone I understand."
"Even if killing me would set you free?"
"Would it?" Her eyes met mine. "Sister Miriam taught me that killing vampires was justice. That it made the world safer. But you protect humans in your territory. You have rules. Laws. You try to be better than what you are. How is killing you justice?"
I reached up and cupped her face. She did not pull away.
"You are thinking too much," I said softly. "The bond makes everything complicated. Makes you feel things you should not feel. Question things you should not question. Do not let it confuse you."
"What if it is not the bond?" she whispered. "What if I am just starting to see clearly for the first time?"
The words hung between us. Heavy. Dangerous.
I should have pulled away. Should have put distance between us. Should have maintained the walls that kept me safe from caring too much.
But I did not.
Instead, I leaned closer. Close enough to see the gold flecks in her green eyes. Close enough to smell the sweetness of her blood beneath her skin.
"Rose," I murmured. "Tell me to stop. Tell me this is wrong. Tell me you still hate me."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because it would be a lie." Her hand came up to cover mine. "And the bond won't let us lie. Not to each other."
I closed the distance between us.
Our lips met. Soft. Hesitant. Testing.
The bond exploded.
I felt everything she felt. Her fear. Her desire. Her desperate, terrified hope that maybe this could be real. That maybe we could find a way through this nightmare together.
And she felt me. My loneliness. My need. The way she had become the first bright thing in my world in two hundred years.
The kiss deepened. Became something more. Something neither of us could take back.
When we finally pulled apart, we were both shaking.
"This is madness," I said.
"Yes."
"It will only make things harder."
"I know."
"But I cannot seem to stop."
"Neither can I." She leaned her forehead against mine. "What are we going to do, Lucian?"
"I do not know." I pulled back. Stood. Put necessary distance between us. "But we need to decide soon. Marcus is planning a coup. Your order is expecting you to complete your mission. The court is watching for signs that I am losing control. We are running out of time."
"How much time?"
"Days. Maybe a week." I moved to the window. "Ashen is searching for proof of Marcus's involvement with the hunters. If we can expose him before he moves against us, we might survive this. Both of us."
"And if we can't find proof?"
I looked back at her. At the woman who was supposed to be my death. Who had somehow become the only thing keeping me alive.
"Then we run. Far from here. Far from the court and your order and everything that wants us dead. We run and we keep running until the bond finally claims us."
"That is not much of a plan."
"No. But it is all I have."
Rose stood. Moved to stand beside me at the window. We looked out at the gardens together. At the black roses blooming in the frost.
"There is another option," she said quietly.
"What?"
"I could complete the mission. Use the poison. End this before Marcus has a chance to move against you. The court would believe the bond drove you mad. No coup. No war. Just... an ending."
My chest tightened. "You would do that? After everything?"
"To save you? Yes." She turned to face me. "The note in the book. It said if I die willingly, out of love, the bond breaks cleanly. You survive. You keep your position. Your coven. Everything."
"No."
"Lucian—"
"I said no." I grabbed her shoulders. "I will not let you sacrifice yourself for me. I will not let you die. Do you understand? I would rather burn this entire city to the ground than watch you choose death."
"Even if it is the only way?"
"Even then." I released her. "We find another way. Or we die together. Those are the only options I will accept."
She stared at me. I felt her emotions through the bond. Confusion. Fear. And something that terrified me more than anything else.
Love.
She was starting to love me.
And I was starting to love her back.
"We are doomed," she whispered.
"Yes. We are."
"So what do we do?"
"We fight." I took her hand. "We fight Marcus. We fight the court. We fight your order. We fight the bond itself if we must. But we do not give up. Not yet."
"And when fighting is not enough?"
I pulled her close. Held her against my chest. Felt her heartbeat against my dead one.
"Then we face the end together. And we make sure it means something."
She wrapped her arms around me. And for just a moment, in the quiet of the library with the sun setting outside, we allowed ourselves to pretend we were not doomed.
That love might actually be enough to save us.
But deep down, we both knew the truth.
Time was running out.
And when it did, one of us would have to make a choice that would destroy us both.