For days after their encounter, Amelia couldn't shake the image of him — red eyes glowing through the snow, the way the frost melted at his feet, and the way he had said his name like it meant nothing... like it had once meant everything.
Lucien.
She began returning to the woods, not to search for him — or so she told herself — but because the silence no longer felt lonely. It felt like waiting.
And then, one night, he was there again. Watching.
"You shouldn't be here," he said softly.
"You keep saying that," she replied, meeting his gaze. "Yet you don't leave."
Lucien turned his head slightly, as if listening to something far away. "Because I'm cursed to stay," he murmured. "Bound by blood, by ice… by mistakes I can never undo."
Amelia stepped closer.
"You're not afraid of me," he said, almost accusing.
She shrugged. "I probably should be."
His laugh was hollow, almost bitter. "A century ago, they said I was the most feared creature in the Northlands. Now, I'm just a ghost in the snow."
And then he told her the truth.
He hadn't always been a monster. Once, Lucien had been a prince — heir to a kingdom ruled by winter magic. But power breeds envy. Betrayal from within his own bloodline led him to a forbidden ritual — one meant to save his people, but which instead cursed him.
He became eternal. Cold. Bound to thirst for blood and walk only in darkness.
He had tried to love once before. The girl had trusted him.
She died.
By his hands.
The curse ensured that everyone he loved… perished.
Lucien looked at Amelia then, the weight of centuries behind his eyes.
"Whatever draws you to me, fight it. Because if I don't lose control… the curse will make sure I lose you."
Amelia's voice trembled as she asked, "Is that why you've stayed away from the world? To protect others from you?"
"No," Lucien said. "To protect myself from hope."
But as the wind shifted, carrying her scent through the cold, his pupils dilated — and he staggered back.
His fangs pierced through.
The hunger… was waking.
And Amelia, with her warm heart and fragile blood, had just stepped one breath too close.