He stood in the hallway, his tall frame shadowed by the flickering candlelight. His dark shirt was unbuttoned at the throat, revealing a glimpse of the mark that curled up his collarbone—a brand that pulsed faintly red.

“You saw her again,” he said, not a question.

I nodded.

He looked away, jaw clenched. “I didn’t expect the blood bond to pull you in so soon.”

My heart jumped. “The visions... They’re real?”

“Fragments.” He stepped into my room slowly, like he was entering sacred ground. “Imprinted in the blood you carry. Your mother’s memories, tangled in your soul. And now... you’re seeing what I never told anyone.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer at first. Instead, he sat at the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor.

“You want the truth, Lilith?” he said quietly. “Fine.”

I moved closer. My legs trembled, but I didn’t sit. I needed to hear it. All of it.

“She saved me,” he began, voice distant. “Centuries ago, I wasn’t like this. I was worse. Feral. I had lost myself after a massacre... I don’t even remember how many I killed. I didn’t care. Until she found me.”

He looked up then. Eyes red—but not glowing. Wet.

“She walked into the forest where I’d made my den of bones. Everyone else ran. She didn’t. She looked at me the way you do.”

My breath caught.

“She gave me her blood. Not just to calm me. But to bring me back. And I did. For her.”

Silence. Heavy and raw.

“But something changed?”

“Yes.” His voice darkened. “The court didn’t want her near me. They called her dangerous—a temptation, a weakness. I tried to protect her, to keep her close... but the more I tried, the more she pulled away.”

“She left you.”

“No.” He looked at me then, and it pierced me like a blade. “I drove her away. With my possessiveness. My fear. My power.”

My hands curled into fists.

“She told me she loved me. And then she ran.”

He stood suddenly, pacing now, his body taut like a storm waiting to break.

“I searched for her for decades. Never found her. Until...”

He turned to me. “Until I found you.”

I swallowed, throat tight. “Did you know who I was from the beginning?”

He nodded once. “From the first moment i saw you...you look like her.”

The room spun.

“And you brought me here anyway?” I whispered.

“I had to protect you.”

“You didn’t even tell me.”

“I couldn’t,” he snapped. “Would you have stayed if I had?”

Silence.

I didn’t know the answer.

He stepped closer now, stopping just in front of me.

“I know I scare you,” he said softly, “and I know what you saw in that vision—how monstrous I became—but Lilith... I’ve tried to forget her. And then you showed up with her eyes, her blood, her fire. And now…”

He exhaled shakily.

“Now I don’t know if I want to love you or destroy the whole world to keep you safe.”

I stared at him, unable to breathe.

And for a second, I saw it again—his fangs stained with blood, his claws wet, his fury unleashed when someone dared touch me.

His love… was a dangerous, burning thing.

And yet—my heart beat faster. Not with fear. With something else.

I didn’t even plan to ask.
The question just… broke loose from the cage in my mind.

My voice was barely a whisper.
“Did... did you sleep with her?”

Valen choked on air.

His eyes widened, like I’d stabbed him in the chest. “I—what?”
He blinked, startled, caught off-guard for once.

There was a long silence before he spoke again.

“…Yes,” he finally said, quieter now. “Once. A long time ago.”

The breath left my lungs.
I looked down, suddenly aware of my hands resting stiff on my thighs.

The next words slipped from my mouth like a poison I hadn’t meant to taste.

“Then… is there a chance I’m yours?”

I didn’t dare look at him.
My voice had cracked halfway through, and shame flushed through me like wildfire. I hated how small I sounded.

But his voice was nothing like I expected.
Soft. Careful. Not mocking. Not cruel.

“No,” he said gently.
“I would know, Lilith. You’re human. Every part of you. Fully, beautifully human.”

I swallowed, my throat dry. Still not meeting his eyes.

Then I felt his fingers—cool, calloused—brush a stray lock of hair away from my face.

His touch lingered, tracing the edge of my cheek.
Not possessive this time. Not demanding. Just... there.

“You’re not mine by blood,” he murmured.

“But you feel like mine anyway.”

His thumb paused near my lips, breath warming the air between us.

“And that’s more dangerous than any truth.”