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Elarian stared at him.
Then—slowly, painfully—she laughed.
“I understand now.”
Lucan froze.
“What?”
“You were right.” Her hand dropped from her wound. “I thought the monster was something you wore, but it isn’t.”
The words hollowed him.
“It is something you choose.”
Lucan recoiled as though she had struck him.
“Elarian—”
“No.” She shook her head, voice breaking. “I saw him. The man beneath all of this. The one who carried me through your halls as though losing me would kill him.”
Her gaze met his.
“And I…Goddess help me, I almost thought I might love him one day. Thought I could see myself turning away from it all, carving a life of existence for the two of us away from everything and everyone who has tried to control us our entire lives.”
Lucan forgot how to breathe.
“But he is not the one standing here.”
The silence afterward was absolute.
A knock—three sharp strikes against the chamber door—startled both of them.
“My prince.” Senna’s urgent voice tore Lucan’s focus away. He turned toward the door, shadows curling around him.
“Forgive me, but you need to hear this.”
Shadows looped around the gilt door handles, wrenching them open with such force, the wood splintered along the hinges. Senna stood just beyond, breathless. For the first time in centuries, he looked afraid.
“Lucan…he is here.”
Lucan felt the world stop.
“Who?” Elarian asked.
Who.
Only one vampire was worth speaking of in this court besides Lucan Valmere. Somewhere beyond the castle, a fey wolf howled in the gathering dawn.
Lucan’s fingers curled at his sides.
No! Gods, no!
Too soon…Gods, it was too soon. Lucan hadn’t counted on him arriving this quickly—unless Vaelor had sent another letter before their meeting yesterday.
He had lived this moment countless times over the centuries: Aurelion returning to the palace, walking through the halls he ruled from afar through fear alone; Aurelion standing before his son and silently judging every failure, every weakness, every moment Lucan had dared to pretend he was something more than a weapon forged for another man’s hand.
But never like this. Never with Elarian standing behind him.
