The morning that followed was not quiet.
Even with Kyrell tangled in silk sheets beside him, lips still flushed from the night before, Lucian felt the tremor in the air. The realm was reacting. Magic didn't remain still after being stirred like that.
Not when blood and prophecy had touched the altar of ruin.
Kyrell stirred, blinking slowly, skin glowing faintly where Lucian had marked him.
Lucian rose, slipping into the robe that once belonged to the Elders who guarded the temple. Now ash clung to its hem, like tribute. The symbol of the first blood was etched in the stone beneath their bed—an ancient crest no one had dared to touch in centuries.
Kyrell traced the mark on his shoulder. "This seal… it's warm. It hasn't stopped burning since last night."
Lucian turned to him. "It shouldn't. It means you're mine."
Kyrell looked up with those haunting eyes. "And you? Are you mine too?"
Lucian crossed the room in two steps, pulling Kyrell into a slow, breathless kiss. "Even when I burn, it'll be with your name on my lips."
But outside the temple walls, a darker storm brewed.
—
Renak stood at the base of the mountain, holding another letter he'd recovered from Silas's hidden archive. His fingers trembled—not from fear, but from the knowledge it carried.
Lucian wasn't just born of first blood.
He was the heir meant to erase the corrupted lineage. The royal line that Silas once tried to destroy had only been sleeping… and it had awakened in the arms of a vampire hunter turned beloved.
Renak folded the letter and whispered, "It's begun."
He turned to the woman waiting beside him. Mara. Eyes dark with longing, voice a wisp of madness.
"You should've let me have him," she said.
"You never could," Renak replied coldly. "But we still have one piece left to play."
Mara smiled. "Damien?"
Renak nodded. "He's woken. And he remembers everything."
—
Back in the temple, Lucian and Kyrell dressed slowly, fingers brushing, lips catching at every pause.
Kyrell's eyes narrowed toward the sunlight. "We should move soon."
Lucian turned, fastening the leather at his throat. "We won't run. Let them come. Let them try."
He lifted his hand. Fire flared to life without touch. His power no longer simmered beneath his skin—it commanded now.
Kyrell smiled. "Then let me fight beside you, my king."
Lucian's gaze burned. "No." He took Kyrell's face in his hands, kissed him with quiet hunger. "Not beside me. With me. As mine."
And somewhere, in the cold, Damien opened his eyes—
Screaming.
The seal had marked him too.
---