Raina's dreams weren't just memories anymore they were warnings.
She woke with a choked scream, soaked in sweat. Her fingers clenched the sheets as fragments of her vision scattered through her mind like shards of glass. Chains. Blood. Lucien, lifeless. Maeva's voice, cold and final: "You were never one of us."
It was still night. Silent. Watching.
She wrapped a shawl around herself and drifted through the hallways of the mansion, her steps echoing like footsteps of ghosts past. The stillness wasn't peace. It was the breath before a scream.
In the courtyard, she found Maeva alone, sharpening her blade under the pale gleam of the moon.
"You've seen them, haven't you?" Raina asked.
Maeva didn't flinch. "I see what I'm meant to see."
Raina stepped closer. "You were in my vision. Betraying me."
"Maybe it wasn't a vision," Maeva replied. "Maybe it was memory."
Something inside Raina snapped.
She lunged.
Blades met in a burst of sparks. The air vibrated with each clash. Raina moved with fury and precision no longer the student, but the storm. Maeva parried, graceful and fast, but there was a tremble in her strikes.
"You think I'm weak because I love him," Raina hissed, blocking a blow.
"No," Maeva panted. "I think you're dangerous. Because you'd burn the world for him."
Power surged down Raina's arm, lighting her mark like fire beneath her skin. She broke the stance, stepping back, voice low and sharp. "Then stay out of my way."
Maeva wiped blood from her lip. "I hope he's worth it."
That night, the moon hung low, swollen with secrets.
Lucien found her standing at the balcony, hands clenched around the railing.
"You're trembling," he said.
"Not from fear," she murmured.
He moved behind her, his presence wrapping around her like a second skin. "Tell me what's wrong."
She turned to him slowly. Her eyes shimmered, haunted.
"I remembered," she said. "What I did to you. Before."
He didn't flinch. "I remember too. But I also remember you saved me. You always did."
Her control broke. Tears welled in her eyes, and then their mouths crashed together in a kiss that wasn't tender—it was desperate. Their bodies collided, urgent and wild.
She yanked his shirt off, her hands greedy and unsure. He groaned as she pressed kisses down his throat. He lifted her effortlessly, carried her inside. Candles flared to life, the shadows stretching across the walls like watchers.
He laid her down, reverent and ravenous.
His lips found her breast, sucking until she cried out. Her body arched into him, thighs trembling as his tongue left fire on her skin. Then he moved lower.
His mouth found the heat between her legs, and she shattered on his tongue. Twice. Three times. She was still gasping when he finally entered her.
Slow. Deep.
Every thrust sent her reeling. Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm, like echoes of past lives. She clung to him, nails dragging down his back. He bit into her shoulder, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to mark.
"You are my fire," she whispered.
"And you," he groaned, "are my undoing."
They came together, trembling in each other's arms, wrapped in heat and memory.
By morning, Maeva was gone.
No note. No trace.
Elias found Raina in the hallway, his face grim. "She didn't leave alone. She's joined the Order."
Raina's heart stuttered.
By nightfall, the estate blazed.
Dozens of Huntresses stood at the gates. Their sigils burned across the grass. Maeva stood at their head.
Lucien joined Raina on the balcony. "We're surrounded."
She stepped forward, her body glowing, her voice calm.
"They came for me."
Raina descended the stairs, barefoot and blade in hand. Her power surged like a tidal wave waiting to crash.
Maeva walked through the parting crowd. "It's time, sister."
"No," Raina said.
Her voice shook the sky.
"It's war."