Grace was startled awake, sitting up abruptly and immediately feeling her neck and checking her body to make sure she was still alive. Once she was certain she was safe, she could breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the presence of Lucas standing by the window, staring at her with an odd expression, startled Grace once again. Not only startled, but she even felt a little afraid that Lucas might do something terrible to her again.
"Are you feeling unwell?" Lucas asked.
Grace shook her head slowly, still processing what had just happened, while looking around the room, wondering why she was in the infirmary with Lucas, the first person she saw when she opened her eyes.
"If you're okay, I'll go." Lucas stood up.
"How did I end up in the infirmary?" Grace asked, looking suspiciously at Lucas.
Lucas turned, confused by Grace's sudden change in attitude, as if she didn't trust him. Earlier, Grace had seemed to be constantly trying to get Lucas's attention, regardless of how many times he ignored her.
"I brought you here," Lucas replied.
"What did you do to me, Lucas?" Grace couldn't contain her curiosity about the oddness of the situation.
The man standing before her, Grace was sure, was the stiff Lucas. Yet the man who had suddenly confessed his feelings to her and nearly killed her was also Lucas. Grace remembered his face clearly. Only his demeanor seemed different.
Lucas's gaze clearly showed his confusion toward Grace. Lucas had only found Grace unconscious, and it wasn't because he had done anything—he had just brought her to the infirmary.
"You fainted in the cafeteria. So I brought you here." Lucas canceled his plan to leave.
"No!" Grace denied.
"I don't understand what you mean. What do you remember before you fainted?"
Grace pulled her body back a little when she saw Lucas take a few steps closer because she was afraid that Lucas would attack her later.
Realizing that Grace seemed to be avoiding him, Lucas chose to stop and let some distance come between them. He didn't want to make Grace feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or even put her in danger.
Somehow, that feeling arose. His heart suddenly felt more compassionate, choosing not to involve Grace in something dangerous because of him, or simply wanting to protect her from threats that could harm her.
"You're bewitching me, Lucas," Grace accused.
"What?"
"When I was eating lunch in the cafeteria, I felt something strange in my mouth. And when I spit it out, there was a dried rose petal coming out of my mouth." Grace spoke the truth.
Lucas froze for a moment, stunned by Grace's confession about what she had experienced, even accusing him of being the source of the strange occurrence.
"I don't have any magical powers, Grace." Lucas denied after a moment.
"But it was a dried rose petal."
"Then why does it matter if it's a dried rose?"
"You have the scent of dried roses that can sometimes be overpowering, Lucas. That's why I'm certain you're the one who cast a spell on me and that you're involved in the strange events that have been happening to me today."
Grace's lengthy statement left Lucas speechless. He was shocked to hear that Grace knew him so well through the scent of dried roses, something Lucas knew no one else would ever notice.
It was clear that the scent emanating from a vampire's body always reflected their life from the past to the present. And only they could smell it.
Except for someone who was destined to be connected to them.
"Are you bothered by my presence? Why did you have to enchant me? You even played with your feelings, then threatened to suck my blood directly." Grace was still unsatisfied with Lucas' response.
"That wasn't me," Lucas said softly, full of conviction.
Lucas finally understood what had made Grace so angry with him, accusing him of using magic to scare her and thinking that Lucas had threatened to drink her blood.
It wasn't Lucas who did it.
However, that fact convinced Lucas that Duke might be nearby. Duke was watching Lucas and trying to get close to Grace at the right moment to achieve his goal.
"I knew you wouldn't admit it." Grace sneered angrily.
"I swear it wasn't me."
"Then who was it? Is it because you're a vampire that you can lie to me?"
Lucas immediately grabbed Grace's hand with a deep gaze that seemed to pierce her heart, causing her heart to beat uncontrollably.
"Please don't ever leave Ezra," Lucas pleaded.
There was no other way but to keep Grace under Ezra's watch because Ezra could kill Duke. Lucas couldn't do that with his own hands, unless he wanted to end up dead alongside Duke.
"You have no right to control my life, Lucas." Grace pulled her hand away in disappointment.
Grace furrowed her brows in confusion. She had no idea why Ezra had come up in their conversation. It wasn't Ezra she wanted to talk to Lucas about—it was what had happened to her.
And of course... Lucas's earlier confession.
Although Grace was half-aware that the Lucas who had almost bitten her earlier wasn't the Lucas she knew, she hoped Lucas would confirm that statement.
Instead, she received advice from Lucas to stay with Ezra.
"I'm serious. Please... Ezra can't be destroyed. So stay by his side."
"Go away. I want to be alone," Grace said dismissively.
"Please do as I say, Grace. Stay by Ezra's side and don't ever come near me."
"Why?" Grace asked sarcastically.
Grace thought she could ignore Lucas's strange request to stay by Ezra's side.
But Grace grew angrier when Lucas told her not to come near him. She couldn't understand any of Lucas's words, which seemed to indirectly reject her.
"Because I'm dangerous to you," Lucas replied, lowering his head.
"I know that." Grace nodded.
"More dangerous than you know. Pretend I never existed in your life. I—"
"Go away! I don't live for you." Grace cut him off.
She pulled the blanket over her entire body, hoping Lucas would leave her alone, leaving her in her ignorance.
"But I live for you," Lucas murmured as he left the infirmary.