Chapter 2

My brother Kaelen didn't ask for details.

"Don't carry this alone," he said. "I've always got your back."

My throat tightened. I gave a low, raspy, "Yeah."

Into the dead silence of my chest, a single sliver of warmth finally broke through.

The call disconnected, and Kaelen immediately sent over the contact information for a lawyer.

I dialed it without hesitation.

"I want to initiate a forced Severance."

I hung up and headed straight for the clinic for a follow-up checkup.

But rounding the corner of the clinic corridor, my feet rooted to the spot.

Seraphina.

The woman rumored to have been burned to ashes by hunter's holy fire three years ago. Right now, she was leaning weakly against a man's chest.

And the man holding her... was my husband, Valerius.

My heart rate spiked. Muscle memory took over, pressing my spine flat against the freezing tiles.

Valerius's jaw was locked tight, a frigid, blood-red glint surging in his eyes.

No one knew that look better than me. It was the precursor to his "Scarlet Mania"—the exact moment before he unleashed total, devastating violence.

He was about to lose it again. I pressed harder against the wall, fully expecting him to snap Seraphina's neck in the next second.

But he didn't. Instead, he raised a hand and gently wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

The tension left my body. I let out a shaky breath, a self-deprecating smirk touching my lips.

It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head, instantly washing away three years of pathetic illusions about our Blood Pact.

This was Seraphina. The woman he had spent three whole years pining for, using his "mania" as a convenient smoke screen.

And I'd actually been naive enough to think his brutality was indiscriminate—that he would tear her apart as ruthlessly as he had drained me.

I was such an idiot.

I turned on my heel, slipping soundlessly back into the shadows.

Back at the manor, I stared at the framed crest on the wall.

Valerius had shattered it with a silver chalice during an episode half a month ago.

Three years ago, he hung it there himself in front of both our clans, vowing to share eternity with me.

In the past, whenever he destroyed something in a fit of rage, the blood thralls would scramble to replace it before dawn, desperate to maintain the illusion of our perfect, loving marriage.

But today, the shards of glass were still scattered across the floor. No one cared enough to fix it.

Just like this relationship, rotting from the roots up.

I crouched down and picked up a jagged shard.

The edge sliced into my fingertip. Blood welled up instantly.

I didn't summon a single thought to trigger my vampire healing.

I just coldly watched the drops fall.

For three years, to keep from triggering his "mania," I had played the docile wife. I had practically amputated my own sense of pain.

I didn't need to keep up this sickening facade anymore.

I was reviewing the Severance petition on my laptop when Valerius walked in.

I immediately shut the document on my screen.

Normally, he would walk past me with cold indifference and head into his coffin to sleep off the episode.

Instead, he strode right up behind my chair and wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders.

"What has you so captivated?"

"Just browsing," I replied.

Sensing nothing wrong, Valerius let go and headed toward the bedroom to grab his robe for the shower.

"Valerius," I called out, stopping him.

"Why do you keep refusing to seek professional treatment?"

His brow furrowed, a barely perceptible twitch.

"Do you even love me? Or has there been someone else all along? Have you been lying to me for three years?"

A flash of genuine panic—of guilt—flickered in his eyes.

But what replaced it was a flawless, agonizing mask of deep devotion.

He walked back over, dropping to one knee before me.

"I'm so sorry, Elara. I know my episodes have hurt you terribly. But you have to believe I love you. I would never lie to you."

A flawless performance.

I stared right into his eyes.

"Would you?" I asked. "Do you remember the vows you made the night we forged the Blood Pact?"

Valerius stiffened.

Before the Night Gods, he had laid down his promises. No betrayal. No deceit.

And I had told him that if he ever broke them, I would leave him. Forever. Without looking back.

"Let me remind you today," I said. "If I ever find out you've been lying to me... I will leave. I will make sure you spend the rest of eternity searching, and you won't even find a whisper of my bones."

A spike of genuine, primal panic finally pierced through his pristine facade.

His arms moved in a blur, yanking me against his chest.

"Don't even think it," he gritted out, a sickly, paranoid edge bleeding into his voice. "We are never parting. Ever."

"Have you forgotten? Two years ago in the Black Forest, during that hunter ambush. I took a solid stake of holy silver to the chest to protect you! I'd give up my soul for you, and you doubt me? I'll take the medication. I'll start treatment tomorrow. Please, Elara... just don't give up on me."

I stayed perfectly still in his embrace.

My heart plummeted into an icy abyss.

Even now, he could weaponize our past trauma, using it to lie and manipulate me without a single ounce of remorse.

Valerius mistook my silence for submission. He let out a long sigh of relief, released me, and headed into the bathroom.

Left on the desk, his phone began to vibrate, the screen flashing faintly.

It was a boundary I had never crossed before. I used to believe that giving him privacy—never snooping, never questioning—would earn me his absolute loyalty in return.

Now, I reached out and tapped the screen without a shred of hesitation.

Seraphina.

"Thank you so much for today. If you hadn't come, I wouldn't have known what to do."

"About the baby... are you really going to make Elara raise him? If she finds out he's my blood, won't she hurt him?"

"Valeri, if you can't make it, it's okay. I can just find a new protector for the baby. I'll find him a new father. I don't want to make things difficult for you."