The wind howled against the tall windows, lightning flashing silver against the dark velvet sky. I sat curled on the velvet chaise in Valen’s study, the fire cracking beside me, but no warmth reached my skin.

I still felt the phantom burn of Valen’s blood in my veins. It had saved me. Changed me.

And now… I could feel everything.

The lies.
The magic.
The truth I’d been blind to.

The door opened.

Lucien entered first, his white hair damp from the storm, his pink eyes darkened with worry. Behind him came others—commanders, nobles, and last…

Him.

The blond vampire with the unsettling smile and sharp green eyes.

“Ah, Lady Lilith,” he said, voice silk over broken glass. “You’re looking… well. Considering.”

My breath caught.

That voice.
It rippled in my memory—not my own, but my mother’s.

A vision. The whisper of a name.

“Aurelian,” I breathed.

He stiffened. Just for a moment.

Valen didn’t.

“So,” Valen said, stepping to my side, “you remember.”

“You knew?” I turned to him, confused.

“I suspected,” he said quietly. “But I needed you to see him for what he truly is.”

Aurelian chuckled, unfazed. “Oh, Valen. Still playing the long game, I see. But let’s not lie to her now. She deserves the full truth.”

I rose to my feet. “You knew my mother. You loved her.”

A pause.

“Loved?” Aurelian tilted his head, mock sadness in his eyes. “No. I wanted her. And she chose him instead.”

He nodded to Valen with a sneer. And then left him too, for that weak human man.

“She rejected me, ran from me… and took his child with her.”

My blood turned to ice.

“You killed my father.”

Aurelian smiled. “Yes. And I would do it again. He was a mortal nobody standing in the way of something eternal.”

I moved without thinking.

Shadow and fire rose around me—my power, wild and new and mine.

“You won’t touch me,” I said, voice shaking. “Not again. Not ever.”

Aurelian bared his fangs. “You think Valen can protect you forever? You’re a half-born, a blood-warped girl pretending to belong in our world.”

Valen stepped between us, deadly calm.

“She doesn’t belong in your world,” he said. “She’s part of mine.”

He turned slightly, enough that his coat fell back and revealed the hilt of the black dagger at his hip—the one only used when he intended to kill.

“Leave, Aurelian,” Valen said softly. “Or die here.”

Aurelian's smile faltered.

He bowed mockingly.

“For now. But blood never forgets, little girl. And yours is very old.”

With that, he vanished into shadow.

The silence he left behind was heavier than any scream.

The grand hall felt suffocating, the heavy tapestries damp with storm and tension. I stood facing them both—Valen and the ghost of my mother’s memory shimmering beside him, a fragile echo in the dim light.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracked, fury and pain battling for space in my chest. “Why did you let me believe I was… just human?”

Valen’s eyes softened, but there was a shadow of regret too. He stepped forward, his hand reaching out but not quite touching.

“There’s a truth you need to understand,” he said quietly. “Your mother and I… made a blood-pact long ago. It was a promise sealed with more than words—our souls intertwined to protect a future neither of us could fully foresee.”

I shook my head, struggling to breathe around the weight of his confession. “So I was never just her daughter. I was... part of that pact?”

“Yes,” Valen admitted. “You were born to be more than human. To survive what others could not. To bridge two worlds.”

I looked at my hands, feeling the faint pulse of power beneath my skin—the strange mix of my mother’s warmth and Valen’s darkness.

“And the love?” I whispered. “Was it just because of the pact?”

He took a slow breath, searching my eyes.

“No,” he said firmly. “I love you because you are you—not because of any pact or magic. Because you are more than the sum of blood or promises. You are… everything I was never supposed to want, but now can’t imagine living without.”

Tears burned my eyes, but it wasn’t just pain—it was relief, understanding, and something fragile but real growing between us.

For the first time, I saw the man behind the monster. And maybe, just maybe, the future we’d been fighting for was finally within reach.

Later the same day.

The grand court chamber buzzed with murmurs and sideways glances as I entered, Valen’s presence like a shadow that stretched behind me. Noble vampires in their ornate robes eyed me with varying expressions—some cold, steeped in disdain; others curious, their gazes lingering longer than comfort allowed.

I felt every weight of their judgment, but Valen’s eyes were fixed only on me—bright, fierce, as if I were the only light in the dark hall. His gaze made my heart thrum painfully.

Then, the room fell silent.

Valen stepped forward, the subtle click of his boots echoing on the marble floor. With a deliberate grace, he bowed low before me, his dark hair brushing the floor. From beneath his cloak, he drew a ring—an exquisite band of black silver set with a deep red gem that caught the light like a drop of blood.

Slowly, he lifted my hand and slid the ring onto my finger.

“I never let you go,” he declared, voice steady and low, but with an unshakable strength that reverberated through the hall. “I never let you disappear from my life.”

He lifted his eyes to meet mine, and the air between us thickened, charged.

“So stay by my side now—and in the future—not as a prisoner, but as mine.”

A ripple ran through the crowd.

Some nobles stiffened, lips tightening with fury and jealousy. Others whispered behind fans, curiosity gleaming in their eyes, wondering what this meant for the balance of power.

But I only felt Valen’s unwavering claim, a promise sealed in shadow and blood.

A heavy silence hung in the air after Valen’s words.

Then, slowly, deliberately, one noble after another dropped to one knee.

The deep, respectful bow echoed like a drumbeat through the hall.

First one—then another—and soon the entire court was bowing before me.

Faces I had only seen with suspicion and disdain now lowered in acknowledgment.

Their eyes, once cold and judgmental, flickered with reluctant respect.

The power in the room shifted; I was no longer just a human girl, no longer invisible.

I was Lilith—marked by blood, by pact, and by Valen’s unyielding claim.

And the court bowed to me.

The candlelight flickered softly as Valen pulled me close, his hands warm against my skin.
His breath was slow, steady, as he brushed a stray lock of hair from my face.

For a moment, words faded—only the sound of our hearts and the quiet night remained.
His lips found mine in a gentle, lingering kiss that spoke of promises and longing.

Fingers traced delicate paths down my arm, grounding me in the safety of his presence.
I rested my head against his chest, feeling the steady beat of life beneath his cold skin.

No fear. No distance. 

Just us—two souls wrapped in fragile trust and quiet desire.
In that stillness, I understood something new about him, and about myself.

 Love, complicated and fierce, could be the fiercest kind of shelter.

I felt his hips moving, his hot breath ghosting over my chest, our naked body pressing together 

I look into his handsome face, his rust-brown, his black, wavy mullet—touched with streaks of deep, midnight blue—falls around his sharp, noble features like a crown of shadows. “This isn’t a fairytale,” i says. “But it’s mine now.”

“And mine,” Valen whispers, “for eternity.” and with that we kiss.