The morning sun had barely begun to burn the dew off the forest canopy when a royal page arrived at Megan's cabin. The summons was brief but carried the weight of the Crown.
Megan and Julian walked toward the Palace in a comfortable, albeit charged, silence. The air around them felt different today; the bond was no longer a tether, but a bridge. Julian looked remarkably composed for a man who had been marked by a Lycan the night before, though he had traded his formal suit for a dark, silk-collared tunic that sat slightly open at the neck, teasing the edge of the jagged, golden-red mark on his shoulder.
When they reached Queen Selene's private office, the heavy oak doors were already ajar. As they stepped inside, the atmosphere hit them like a physical wall.
Christian was pacing the length of the room, his heavy boots thudding against the stone floor like a funeral drum. Madeline was seated on a velvet seat, looking small and pale, her hands twisted so tightly in her apron that her knuckles were white.
King Leo stood by the window, his arms crossed, a dark cloud of conflict on his brow. Queen Selene sat behind her desk, her purple-and-white eyes fixed on a glowing, ancient scroll laid out before her.
"You want to turn Madeline into a vampire?" Christian's voice erupted the moment he saw Megan and Julian enter. He stopped his pacing and turned on Selene, his eyes flashing a dangerous, golden amber. "She is a human of the North! She should be a wolf! Turning her into a blood-drinker... it's unnatural. It's an insult to the bond!"
Megan's heart skipped a beat. She looked at Selene, her brow furrowing. "Wait, what's going on? We were just having tea. Why are we talking about turning anyone?"
Selene sighed, a soft, weary sound. She beckoned Megan and Julian closer. "Sit, please. This is not a conversation for standing."
Megan sat next to Madeline, taking the smaller woman's cold hand in hers. Julian remained standing, leaning against the wall behind Megan, his presence a dark, elegant shadow.
"I have spent the night consulting the Fates and the Moon-blood records," Selene began, her voice calm but laden with the gravity of her divinity. "Christian, I understand your anger. You want your mate to run the forests with you. You want her to have the strength of the pack. But I have looked into Madeline's soul, and her physical vessel is... unique."
Selene looked at Madeline with a gaze full of tragic empathy. "Her body was not built for the Lycan change. The white-wolf blood would be too volatile; it would tear her apart from the inside before the first shift could even begin. But," Selene held up a hand as Christian started to growl, "the Fates did not leave her a mere mortal. They designed her to be a child of the night. Her spirit resonates with the starlight, not the moon. She was born to be a vampire."
Megan felt a chill that had nothing to do with Julian's presence. She knew the laws of the supernatural world.
"But Selene," Megan said, her voice unusually quiet. "Vampire lineages are strict. A common vampire can't just turn a human into a full immortal without the blood being diluted or the human becoming a mindless thrall. Only... only a Royal can turn a human into a true Vampire Noble."
The silence that followed was deafening.
Megan's gaze slowly drifted toward Julian. Her stomach did a violent flip. She saw where this was going. To save Madeline, to give Christian's mate the immortality she needed to survive the centuries, a Royal Vampire would have to perform the Rite of Turning.
And Julian was the only Royal Vampire in the Kingdom.
A sharp, jagged spark of jealousy flared in Megan's chest. She had just marked him. He was hers. The thought of his fangs- the same fangs that had grazed her skin so delicately the night before, sinking into Madeline's throat made her vision swim with a flash of possessive green light.
Julian felt the shift in her energy immediately. He didn't move, but his crimson eyes fixed on the back of Megan's head. "The Queen is right," Julian said, his silken baritone slicing through the tension. "Only Royal blood can bridge that gap without losing the soul in the process. I am the only one here who can give her the life the Fates intended."
He moved forward then, standing beside the seat. He looked at Madeline, then his gaze shifted to Megan, searching her eyes for permission he didn't technically need, but desperately wanted.
"I am not opposed to it," Julian said, his voice serious and devoid of its usual flirtatious lilt. "It is a sacred act, a sharing of essence. It would bind us as Sire and Progeny. But..." he paused, his hand coming to rest on Megan's shoulder, his thumb stroking the base of her neck. "I leave the decision to my mate. I will not touch another woman, even in mercy, if it breaks the heart of the woman who carries my mark."
Megan bit her lip so hard she tasted copper. She looked at Madeline- the sweet, innocent baker who had done nothing but fall in love with a grumpy wolf. Then she looked at Christian.
Christian looked like he was ready to dismantle the palace stone by stone. "I won't have it," he rasped, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and fury. "She's not a 'progeny.' She's not some vampire's project. She's my wife! My mate!"
"Christian," Leo's voice boomed, finally breaking his silence. "If she stays human, you will watch her wither and die in the blink of an eye. If she tries the Lycan path, she dies in agony by the next full moon. Is your pride worth her life?"
Christian flinched as if the King had struck him. He looked down at Madeline, who was looking up at him with tears shimmering in her blue eyes.
"Is this what you want, Maddie?" Christian asked, his voice breaking.
Madeline swallowed hard, her voice a mere whisper. "I want to be with you, Christian. For as long as you exist. If this is the only way... if I have to be a creature of the night to stay by your side..."
Christian closed his eyes, his forehead dropping to touch hers. The raw, desperate love between them was enough to make Megan's jealousy feel small and petty. She looked at Julian, seeing the dark prince waiting for her word. He was ready to save a life, even if it meant a permanent, spiritual connection to another woman.
"I need to talk to her," Christian said, suddenly standing and pulling Madeline up with him. He didn't look at the King, the Queen, or his teammates. "I need to talk to my mate. Alone."
Without waiting for permission, Christian led Madeline out of the office, his hand gripping hers as if he were afraid she might vanish into a cloud of bats right there in the hallway.
The door clicked shut, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in the room.
Megan slumped back against the sofa, her hand over her heart. "This wasn't supposed to happen," she whispered. "We were supposed to just be happy. Why is everything so complicated?"
"Because you are the Seven, Megan," Selene said, her voice soft and ancient. "And the Seven are the world's balance. Nothing about your lives was ever meant to be simple."
Julian sat down beside Megan, wrapping his cold arm around her, pulling her into his side. "She will still be his, Megan," he murmured into her hair, sensing the lingering embers of her jealousy. "A Sire bond is one of blood and duty. My heart... that belongs to the mountain."
Megan leaned into him, closing her eyes. She knew what was coming. She knew that soon, she would have to watch her mate claim another in the most intimate way a vampire could. She just hoped that when the night came, her joy would be strong enough to survive the shadows.