Chapter2

I didn't reach out. I stood up instead, deliberately putting distance between us.

"Lucian, this is far too sudden." I suppressed the tremor in my voice and forced myself to meet those dark, golden eyes.

I needed time. But more than that, I needed a blade sharp enough to truly kill him.

"According to the traditions of my coven, I must return to the edge of the Death Forest to fast for one night and complete the purification ritual," I said, looking right at him. "On the altar of the Full Moon Ceremony, the Luna must receive the ancestors' blessing. Otherwise, the entire wedding will be deemed a sacrilege."

It was the truth. Lycan weddings were inextricably tied to the Full Moon Ceremony: purification, ancestral tributes, and the blood oath. Not a single step could be skipped. Without the purification, the subsequent blood oath would be nothing but a farce. Lucian knew this better than anyone.

The profound affection on his face faltered for a fraction of a second.

"Very well." He stood and closed the distance with long strides. "Just one night. Tomorrow, at the Full Moon Ceremony, I will let the entire continent know that you are my one and only Luna." He opened his arms to embrace me.

The phantom agony of my belly being ripped open violently spiked through my nerves. I took a half-step back.

His hovering fingers slowly clenched into fists.

"During the purification, I cannot be tainted by the scent of another male," I stated coldly, turning toward the door.

I didn't look back. If I looked at him for even one more second, I was afraid I would grab a steak knife and drive it straight into his neck.

Midnight.

Wrapped tightly in a thick black cloak, I slipped through the hidden trapdoor of the Witch's Tower and dropped into the underground drainage trenches.

Lucian had left at least four scouts outside the greenhouse, all elite trackers. But I had lived in this castle for five years—five years in my previous life. Every hidden sentry, every patrol route... I wouldn't forget them even in death.

The trench led to a dry well behind the stables. As I scaled the rough stone, two of my fingernails snapped off. Just beyond the well's edge lay the sewage canal feeding into the moat. The stench was so putrid that even a Lycan's heightened senses would actively avoid it.

Hunching low, I crept along the slick canal walls and slipped into the fringes of the Death Forest.

The thick fog swallowed the moonlight whole.

Thorns snagged my long dress and sliced into my calves, but I didn't dare pause to catch my breath. Running purely on venomous hatred, I navigated the pitch-black woods. Finally, the massive silhouette of gothic ruins materialized through the mist.

In my past life, two months before my brutal death, I had intercepted a confidential intelligence report in Lucian's study: The Vampire King's scouts were showing high activity in the heart of the Death Forest. Sketched in the margins of that parchment was the unmistakable outline of these very ruins.

I hadn't understood its significance back then. But I did now.

The only place that could make Lucian paranoid enough to dispatch scouts for round-the-clock surveillance was the stronghold of Karl.

I stepped into the dilapidated main hall.

Slam—!

My back was violently thrown against the damp stone wall. A cold, hard hand instantly clamped around my throat.

"Looking for a death wish?"

Skin as pale as snow, eyes the color of fresh blood.

The Vampire King, Karl.

"I'm here to make a deal," I choked out, gripping his freezing wrist.

The corner of his mouth curled into a mocking sneer, his elongated fangs gleaming sharply in the silver moonlight. "A witch from the wolf's den, wanting to strike a bargain with a vampire?"

He didn't loosen his grip. Instead, he leaned impossibly close to my carotid artery and inhaled deeply.

"Lucian has the Dark Night Potions grimoire. He is preparing a 'Daylight Serum'." I threw my biggest chip right onto the table.

The crushing pressure on my throat vanished instantly.

I gasped desperately for air, locking eyes with him. "Once he forces me to brew that serum, the Lycans will no longer be restricted by daylight. When that happens, your territory will be the first to be utterly slaughtered."

Dead silence hung heavy in the ruined hall.

Karl's crimson eyes scrutinized me. After a few agonizing seconds, his heavy boots crunched against the rubble as he took a threatening step forward.

"And what exactly do you want?"

"I want Lucian dead." I leaned against the wall and forced myself to stand perfectly straight. "I want to take back my grimoire, shatter his throne, and watch him bleed out on his knees."

His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"A vampire's protection does not come cheap." He seized my chin, his grip so punishingly tight my bones ached. "I want you to brew potions for the vampire clan for the rest of eternity. And—"

His ice-cold fingertips trailed sensually down to my pulse over my carotid artery. "—you will be my blood slave."

A blood slave. Body, blood, and soul under the absolute dominance of a master. But compared to having my womb ripped open and my child burned alive, this price was absolutely nothing.

I raised my hand and forcefully ripped the collar of my dress wide open, exposing my neck and collarbone. The unique, intoxicating aroma of magical herbs innate to a witch's blood instantly bloomed in the damp darkness.

"Deal."

Karl's gaze darkened to the absolute extreme.

"Aren't you afraid I'll drain you dry right here?"

"If you lack even that basic level of self-control, then you aren't fit to be Lucian's rival."

He chuckled, a low, rumbling sound.

In the next fraction of a second, his arm banded around my waist and pulled me flush against him. His fangs ruthlessly pierced the delicate skin of my neck.

"Urgh!"

A blinding pain, accompanied by a bizarre, searing heat, jolted through my entire nervous system. My legs turned to jelly instantly. Had he not been bracing me, I would have collapsed straight onto the floor.

He pulled back right before I was about to completely black out. The tip of his scarlet tongue lazily flicked out to lap up a stray drop of blood on my collarbone.

An intense, scorching burn erupted from the very depths of my retinas. My natural emerald witch irises morphed into the exact same crimson hue as his own.

The pact was sealed.

"From this moment forward, you belong to me." Karl dragged his thumb gently across my skin, wiping away a thin layer of cold sweat near my lips.

I reached into my bodice and pulled out an ornate black eyepatch—something I had prepared before I even left the castle. I strapped it securely over my left eye, perfectly concealing the newly crimson iris.

"I will tell Lucian my eye was injured during the purification ritual," I said, adjusting the silk straps. "As for the residual aura of the blood pact, I will temporarily suppress it using a localized potion. But it won't fool him for long."

Karl arched an elegant eyebrow.

"Then don't hide it for long." He lowered his head, his deep, velvety voice brushing right against the shell of my ear. "Put on that wedding dress. Tomorrow, at his precious altar, I will personally deliver him a magnificent gift."

I pushed away from his chest and turned back into the swirling mist.

Beneath the dark silk of the eyepatch, the blood-red viciousness in my left eye seethed in silence.