Vivian didn't sleep.
The image of the maid's lifeless eyes, her torn neck, the blood pooling like wine on marble—it had carved itself into her mind. She could still hear the sound of Cassian's voice as he'd said it:
She is mine.
The words clung to her skin like smoke.
By the morning, the palace hummed as if nothing had happened. Servants scrubbed away the blood. The hallways gleamed again. The vampire was taken to the dungeons, and no one spoke of him. As if silence would erase the truth.
Lily didn't know.
Vivian had slipped back into her room without waking her sister. She watched Lily now as they walked side by side to the garden, golden curls bouncing, green eyes wide with wonder as she pointed out the silver-winged sparrows that perched on the glass arched.
Vivian tried to smile.
"You look pale," Lily said peeking up at her. "Didn't you sleep?"
I'm fine," Vivian lied. She didn't want to make her sister worry.
Lily frowned but didn't press. She always knew when to let silence speak. The garden was empty this morning. Too empty. It wasn't just the air that felt strange, but the way the guards shifted in the distance, tense. Watching.
Vivian sat on a stone bench beneath a flowering tree, fingers twisting in her lap.
"Do you like it here?" Lily asked softly, sitting beside her.
Vivian blinked. "What?"
Lily shrugged. "The palace. It's so… big. So different from Elourne. I keep wondering if this is what our lives are now."
Vivian looked at her. "Do you want it to be?"
"I don't know." Lily plucked a blossom from a low branch. "I miss the bakery. And Nathan. And the smell of bread in the morning."
Vivian smiled faintly. "I don't think Mrs. Hart misses me."
"Because you kept telling her you'd rather marry a goat than marry her son."
"I stand by it."
Lily laughed. But the laugher faded too quickly. "I don't understand why we were invited. Why you were summoned to the Hunt. Why…" She hesitated. "Why the king keeps looking at you like that."
Vivian's breath caught.
"I don't know either" She said quietly.
But the thought of his red eyes, glowing like dying ember. The way he'd looked at her—not like prey, not quite like a prize. Something else. Something stranger.
She is mine.
A chill passed through her.
Before she could speak again, the crunch of boots on gravel turned both their heads.
Cassian.
Vivian rose without thinking. Lily followed suit, her expression uncertain.
Cassian didn't speak at first. His eyes met Vivian's, unreadable.
Then, "Walk with me." It wasn't a request.
Lily hesitated. Vivian gave her a slight nod. Ahe sat back down, watching.
Vivian walked beside the king, heartbeat steady but sharp. They passed through a glass hallway that arched over the gardens, sunlight catching on the gold trim of his coat. She risked a glance at him.
He was too perfect.
Not in a warm way, but in a cruel one—like a sculpture carved with no room for flaw. Jet-black hair swept back from his face, skin pale beneath shadows, and eyes—dark red, dangerous—always watching.
"You handled yourself well last night," he said finally.
Vivian said nothing.
He looked at her. "You're not used to blood."
"No." she said.
"You will be."
She flinched at that. "I don't want to be."
Cassian smiled—barely. "That's what makes you so interesting."
They reached a small stone bridge overlooking a lower court. From here, she could see the forest line far beyond the gates. She didn't realize she'd stopped walking until Cassian's voice broke the quiet again.
"You're afraid of me."
She turned sharply. "Shouldn't I be?"
Cassian took a step closer. "Yes."
Another step.
"But that doesn't stop you from looking me in the eyes. Most don't."
"Maybe I'm too foolish to know better.
He smirked. "No. You're too brave."
Then his expression darkened. "Do you know the vampire called to you last night?"
She blinked. "No."
Cassian's voice dropped. "Because there's something inside you he recognized. Something old. Something marked.
Her blood chilled.
He looked at her like she was a riddle.
"You will." The words hung there, thick with promise and warning.
Then-without another word-he turned and walked away, leaving her on the bridge, heart pounding, breath uneven.
Vivian gripped the stone railing.
Something inside her shifted. Or perhaps… something had always been waiting.
And now, the palace wasn't just a place of danger. It was a mirror.
Showing her what she was meant to become.