Entering the manor felt different this time. Before, I was a prisoner being dragged back to a crowded cell. Now, walking in beside a battered, silent Lukas, I felt like I owned every inch of the floorboards beneath my boots.
The air in the foyer was thick with the scent of beeswax and old secrets. As we crossed the threshold, the servants stopped dead in their tracks. Trays were held in the air, followed by a rhythmic sound of sweeping that ceased instantly. Their eyes darted between my bruised arms and Lukas's swollen, dirt-stained face. They were looking for the girl who had left earlier...the "human pet" who was supposed to be trembling and broken. Instead, they found me. I didn't lower my head to hide my disheveled hair or the grime on my face. I stared right back at them, my gaze steady and defiant, until they scurried away to whisper in the shadows like mice.
"Hina."
The voice was like a low vibration of thunder, vibrating through the stone walls. Dracarus was standing at the top of the grand staircase, his hands gripped tightly on the polished marble railing. He had changed out of his travel clothes into a deep crimson silk robe that flowed around him like spilled blood, but the predatory edge in his eyes hadn't softened. If anything, the domestic setting made him look even more dangerous...a wolf in sheep's clothing.
the classic.
"Lukas, go fix yourself at the infirmary," Dracarus commanded. He didn't even look at his swollen guard; his eyes were instead locked on mine with an intensity that felt like a physical weight. "Hina... my study. Now."
Lukas gave my hand a quick, hidden squeeze that felt like a silent promise....
I wasn't alone
before disappearing down the hall. I took a deep breath, straightened my back, and climbed the stairs. I matched the prince's gaze step for step, refusing to blink, even when I reached the top and stood close enough to smell the faint scent of cedar and dark magic that clung to him.
Inside the study, the atmosphere was oppressive. The walls were lined with thousands of books that seemed to be watching us; the fiery spirit in my heart flickered with an unnatural blue flame
it made. Dracarus paced in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his silhouette cutting a sharp, intimidating figure against the silver moonlight.
"You have a habit of causing chaos wherever you go, human," he said, finally turning to face me. The shadows cast by the fire made his features look sharper, more demonic.
"I can't believe you, little cat, in one afternoon you've managed to infiltrate a hidden city, provoke an Elf Lord into a diplomatic crisis, and now break my most trusted guard. Tell me, Hina... are you a human or a natural disaster?"
"Maybe I'm just tired of being everyone's 'pet,'" I countered. I crossed my arms, ignoring the way my bruised muscles protested. "Kyra wanted secrets to use against you. Lukas wanted to hide from a past he couldn't escape. And you... you just want to control everything because you're afraid of anything you can't put a leash on. Well, newsflash: I'm not a piece on your chessboard. I'm not a trophy to be won or a pawn to be moved."
Dracarus stepped into my space, his height looming over me, forcing me to tilt my head back just to keep eye contact. I expected him to be angry. I expected the legendary temper of the Vampire Prince to flare and crush me. Instead, he reached out with agonizing slowness. His cold fingers brushed against my jaw, gently tilting my chin up. His touch was like ice, but where it met my skin, it felt like it was burning.
"You're right," he whispered, his voice dropping into a register that made my heart skip a beat.
"A piece on a chessboard doesn't fight back. A piece doesn't make an elf lord scream in frustration or make a high-ranking vampire weep in a forest clearing. You're something else entirely... something I didn't plan for."
He leaned down, his breath ghosting over my ear, sending a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with fear. "But don't think for a second that your 'friendship' with Lukas protects you from the reality of this world. You are here because I allow it. You are safe because my shadow covers you. But tomorrow, the game changes. Your training begins."
I blinked, confused. "Training?"
"If you want to be more than a victim, Hina, you're going to have to learn to bite as hard as the monsters do. I will not have a weakness living under my roof. If you want to stand your ground, you need the teeth to back it up, not just a wild mouth."
He let go of my chin, his eyes flickering with a dark, appreciative light. He was challenging me. He was telling me that in this world, strength was the only currency that mattered, and for the first time, he was offering me the chance to earn it.
"Fine," I said, my voice as steady as a heartbeat. "Teach me to bite. Just don't be surprised when I start with the person who thinks he owns me."
Dracarus let out a short, dark laugh...
It was one of those rare moments I'd ever see from him. and not to mention The sound was rich and dangerous, like the purr of a lion. "I look forward to it, Wildcat. Now, go. Sleep. You'll need every ounce of strength you have for what comes next."
"I expect you downstairs at exactly six in the morning or else there will be consequences."
I rolled my eyes at his command while walking down the long, dimly lit hallway toward my room; I felt the weight of the night was finally settling in. Kyra's hidden city, Lukas's tragic secret, and Dracarus's lethal interest... the web was getting tighter around me.
Every thread kept on pulling me deeper into their world. But as I closed my door and looked at my reflection in the silver mirror—bruised and tired but with a fire in my eyes I had never seen back in my old life... I knew one thing for sure.
I wasn't the girl who caught her fiancé cheating anymore. I wasn't the girl who died in an accident. I was Hina Winchester, and if they wanted a monster, I would show them exactly what a human was capable of when she stopped being afraid.
The "Cold Prince" wanted to teach me how to bite? Fine. I'd learn. And then I'd show him that even a wildcat can bring down a fierce king.