I made it three steps down the hall before my legs gave out.
The guards caught me. Their hands were cold. Careful. They did not speak as they helped me back to my room. Did not ask questions. They had heard everything through the door.
They knew what I was.
Seraphine was waiting inside. She gasped when she saw me. "Miss Rose, you should not be walking yet. You lost too much blood."
"I am fine." But I was not fine. My body shook. My head swam. And beneath it all, the bond burned with Lucian's rage.
He knew.
My mission was over. Everything I had worked for. Everything the order had planned. Destroyed in a single moment of honesty I could not take back.
Seraphine helped me back to bed. Tucked the blankets around me like I was a child. "You need rest, miss. Your body has been through trauma. The bond will help you heal, but it takes time."
"How long have you worked here?" I asked suddenly.
She paused. "Ten years, miss."
"Is he..." I struggled to find the words. "Is Lord Graves a good master?"
Seraphine was quiet for a long moment. Then she sat on the edge of the bed. "He is fair. Just. He does not kill without reason. Does not torture for pleasure. Many houses are not like that. Many lords..." She shuddered. "Lord Graves protects us. The staff. The humans who live in his territory. He has rules. Laws that even vampires must follow. It is why so many of us stay."
"But he is still a vampire."
"Yes. He is still a vampire." She met my gaze. "But he is not a monster, miss. Whatever you think he is, whatever your people told you, he is more than that."
My people. The order. Sister Miriam with her cold eyes and colder lessons. Train. Obey. Kill. That was all I had ever known.
"My family was killed by vampires," I said quietly. "When I was eight. They came in the night. Tore through our house. Killed my parents. My brother. Everyone. I hid in a closet and listened to them scream. When it was over, the order found me. Took me in. Trained me." I looked at Seraphine. "They told me vampires were evil. That they had to be destroyed. That it was my duty to hunt them."
"And now?"
"Now I don't know what to believe anymore." I touched my throat where the bandages covered Lucian's bite. "He nearly killed me tonight. Drank from me until I passed out. But he stopped. He chose to stop even though every instinct told him to keep going. What kind of monster does that?"
"The kind who is trying very hard not to be a monster." Seraphine stood. "Rest, miss. Things will look different in the morning."
But things would not look different. Lucian knew what I was. Knew I had come here to kill him. There was no coming back from that.
Seraphine left, and I was alone with my thoughts.
The bond pulsed. I could feel Lucian moving through the house. Angry. Betrayed. But beneath the rage, something else. Hurt. As if he had actually believed I might care about him. That the connection we shared was real.
Maybe part of it was real.
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. Failed. Every time I started to drift off, I felt his presence. His emotions bleeding into mine. Rage and hurt and hunger all tangled together.
Hours passed.
Finally, near dawn, the bond changed. The anger faded. Replaced by something colder. More dangerous.
Determination.
I sat up in bed. My heart raced. What was he planning?
A knock sounded at the door.
"Enter."
One of the guards stepped inside. "Miss Thorne. Lord Graves requests your presence in his study. Immediately."
I dressed quickly. My hands shook as I buttoned the simple gray dress. Whatever was coming, it would not be pleasant.
The guards escorted me through the silent house. Dawn light crept through the windows. Most of the vampires would be sleeping now. Hiding from the sun. But Lucian was old. Powerful. Daylight weakened him but did not destroy him.
We reached his study. The guard knocked once, then opened the door.
Lucian stood by the window. Heavy curtains blocked most of the light, but thin streams crept through gaps in the fabric. He did not flinch from them.
"Leave us," he told the guards.
They left without argument.
The door closed.
Lucian and I stood alone in the study. The bond stretched between us. Tight. Uncomfortable. I felt his control. The careful way he held himself together.
"I have been thinking," he said without turning around. "About what comes next. About what we do now that I know what you are."
"Are you going to kill me?"
"I should." He finally turned to face me. His eyes were tired. Dark circles shadowed them. He looked almost human. "You came here to murder me. Infiltrated my home. Lied to me. Used my own compassion against me. By all rights, I should hand you over to the court and let them execute you for treason."
"But you won't."
"No. I will not." He moved to his desk. Picked up a piece of paper covered in neat handwriting. "Because despite everything, you were right. I need you alive. The bond ensures that. And you need me alive for the same reason. We are trapped together."
"So what do you want from me?"
"The truth." He set down the paper. "All of it. Who sent you. What your orders were. What you know about the attack that night." His eyes hardened. "And what you know about my brother's involvement."
I stiffened. "Your brother?"
"Do not play innocent. The attack on you was too convenient. Too perfectly timed. Someone knew about your blood. Knew it would draw vampires. Knew I would be nearby to save you. Marcus has wanted my position for centuries. This is exactly the kind of scheme he would create."
My mind raced. Could it be true? Had the order worked with Marcus? Or had Marcus simply manipulated events to his advantage?
"The order does not work with vampires," I said carefully.
"Perhaps not knowingly. But they could have been used. Given information. Pointed in the right direction." He moved closer. "Think, Rose. How did they know where to send you? How did they know I would be in that part of the city that night?"
I tried to remember. Sister Miriam's briefing. The mission details. The specific location. The specific time.
She had been so certain. So sure of exactly where and when to place me.
"They had intelligence," I said slowly. "About your movements. Your patterns. They said they had been watching you for months."
"Who gave them this intelligence?"
"I don't know. I was just the weapon. They did not tell me everything." But doubt crept in. What if Marcus had fed information to the order? What if my entire mission had been orchestrated by him?
Lucian saw the realization on my face. "You were a pawn. Used by both sides. The order wanted me dead. Marcus wanted me compromised. They both got what they wanted."
"No." But even as I said it, I knew he was right. "Sister Miriam would not... She raised me. Trained me. She would not use me like that."
"Wouldn't she?" His voice was soft. Almost gentle. "You said yourself that your family was killed by vampires. That the order took you in. Trained you. Made you into a weapon." He tilted his head. "Did it never occur to you that they chose you specifically because of your blood? Because they knew what it would do to any vampire who tried to turn you? You were always meant to be bait, Rose. Sacrificed for the greater good."
The words hit like physical blows.
He was right.
God help me, he was right.
The order had known about my blood. About what it would do. They had trained me. Prepared me. Then sent me into danger knowing I would be attacked. Knowing I would either die or be turned. Either outcome served their purposes.
I had never been a hunter.
I had always been a sacrifice.
My legs gave out. I collapsed into one of the chairs. Pressed my hands over my face.
Everything I believed. Everything I thought I knew. Lies. All lies.
I felt Lucian's presence beside me. Felt his hand on my shoulder. Gentle. Comforting.
"I am sorry," he said quietly. "I know what it is like to realize the people you trusted have betrayed you."
I looked up at him through tears. "What do we do now?"
"Now?" He pulled his hand away. Moved back to the window. "Now we find out exactly what my brother is planning. And we stop him before he destroys us both."
"How?"
"I have contacts. Sources. People who owe me favors. I will reach out. Quietly. See what information I can gather about Marcus's movements over the past months. Who he has been meeting with. What deals he has made." He glanced at me. "And you will contact your order."
"What?"
"You will send them a report. Tell them the mission is progressing. That you have gained my trust. That you are waiting for the right moment to strike." His eyes glinted. "We will use their own plan against them. Let them think you are still their loyal hunter. Meanwhile, we will uncover the truth."
It made sense. Terrible, risky sense. "And if they ask me to act? To kill you?"
"Then we will deal with that when it comes." He returned to his desk. Pulled out paper and ink. "Write your report. Make it convincing. I will arrange for it to be delivered through channels your order cannot trace back to us."
I took the paper with shaking hands. Stared at the blank page.
A week ago, I had been so certain. So sure of my purpose. Now everything was broken. Complicated. Wrong.
I began to write.
Mission status: Infiltration successful. Blood bond established with target. Currently residing in target's home under protection. Awaiting opportunity to complete objective.
The words felt like ash on my tongue.
I finished the report and handed it to Lucian. He read it carefully. Nodded.
"This will buy us time. Not much. But enough." He folded the paper. "There is something else we need to discuss."
"What?"
"The feeding." He would not meet my eyes. "Last night in the court chamber. I lost control. Took too much. It cannot happen again."
"Then don't feed from me."
"It is not that simple. The bond requires regular feeding. If I go too long without it, the hunger will build. When it finally breaks through, I will take everything. Kill you in a frenzy I cannot stop." He finally looked at me. "Small amounts. Regularly. That is the only way to manage this."
Horror crept through me. "You want to drink my blood? After everything that just happened?"
"I do not want to. But we have no choice. Unless you prefer to wait until I lose control completely and tear your throat out?"
"There has to be another way."
"There is not." His voice was flat. Final. "This is our reality now, Rose. We make the best of it or we die. Those are our only options."
I wanted to argue. To refuse. To find some escape from this nightmare.
But he was right. We were trapped. Bound together by magic and blood and circumstances neither of us had wanted.
"Fine," I said finally. "But not today. I need time to recover from last night."
"Agreed. Three days. That should give you time to heal." He moved to the door. Opened it. "You may return to your room. Rest. Recover. In three days, we will begin managing the bond properly."
I stood on shaking legs. Walked past him into the hallway.
"Rose."
I paused.
"I am sorry. For all of this. For what they did to you. For what I did to you. If I could go back to that night in the alley..." He stopped. "But I cannot. So we move forward. Together. Until we find a way out of this or it kills us both."
I nodded once and left.
The guards escorted me back to my room. Seraphine waited inside with food and medicine. She did not ask questions. Just helped me into bed and made sure I was comfortable.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling, feeling Lucian through the bond.
His determination. His anger. His carefully controlled fear that despite all his plans and schemes, we were still doomed.
And beneath it all, something else. Something I had no name for.
A connection.
Fragile. Complicated. But real.
We were enemies. Hunter and hunted. Human and vampire. Everything that should drive us apart.
But the bond tied us together. Made us feel what the other felt. Know what the other knew.
And slowly, impossibly, it was blurring the lines between us.
I closed my eyes and felt Lucian's presence like a second heartbeat.
Three days.
In three days, he would feed from me again. Small amounts. Controlled. Necessary.
And I would let him.
Because the alternative was death.
For both of us.