Raven's POVI woke up with a pounding headache, the kind that drills behind your eyes and makes you want to scream. Except I did scream. Not because of the headache, but because the first thing I saw when I peeled my eyes open was him.Cassian.God, I thought I made myself clear!His eyes were on mine, heavy, dark, and full of something I couldn’t name—regret? Pain? Hunger? I didn’t care. All I could see was his face hovering over me a few nights ago, his fangs in my skin, the choking panic as my body turned ice cold while he drank me like I was nothing but a goddamn wine glass.I screamed again with a Loud and Pleading voice.“Someone get him away from me! Please! Take them all away! I don’t want to see any of them!”My chest heaved and my heart slammed like a war drum. I clawed at the sheets, the cords, anything, as if they were restraints holding me down. I needed to escape, I needed air.But Cassian didn’t
Dante's POVWe fucked up!And not just a little fuck-up. I mean, royally, epically, what-the-hell-were-we-thinking kind of fucked up.Standing in that sterile hospital room, with Raven pale and motionless, was like staring at the consequences of every damn choice we made since she stepped foot in Velmora. Our father looked halfway relieved—like a weight had finally been lifted from his cursed shoulders—but none of us were celebrating. How could we?She was our fucking step sister.The one we bullied, ignored, pushed around like she was some human toy we could throw into our games and walk away unscathed. But she wasn’t just a girl. No, she was the goddamn key to the only thing we’ve ever feared more than death….our curse.And we treated her like trash.I leaned against the white wall, trying to swallow the guilt that had been clawing down my throat like razor blades since this morning. My jaw clenched, and my hands were
Cassian's POV"I told you," I growled, slamming my palm against the marble pillar just outside the infirmary door. "She came into my room at the wrong damn time. I didn't invite her. I didn’t want this to happen."My father's eyes burned into me like twin blades of judgment. "And you couldn't hold your cursed urges for five minutes? She’s your sister!""She’s not my sister!" I snapped, voice low but lethal.The word echoed in the tense hallway.The scent of Raven’s blood still clung to my fingers, sticky, warm, and haunting. I could feel it drying under my nails like a scar I couldn't wash away.“She’s my daughter!” the King bellowed, stepping closer. “And your actions with your recklessness could’ve killed her!”I looked away, jaw tightening. My shirt was still ripped from last night. “You don’t understand.” My voice broke. “When I bit her… something happened. The pain, the fire, the Blood Vane and everything stopped like it vanished. Aren't you supposed to be asking me why I'm no l
Cassian’s POVI could hear heavy and tense footsteps but no one dared come near my room.Not even the guards stationed outside the hall. I could hear their whispers, their footsteps backing away. They thought I’d lost control again, that the Blood Vane curse had fully taken over and I'm staying in the wrong place.Idiots.They didn’t know what the hell just happened, what the hell I've done.I lifted Raven’s limp body into my arms, her blood soaking my shirt. Her skin was now so cold… too cold that for the first time in life, I shook and felt fear. The moment I kicked the door open, the scent of her blood hit the corridor and every maid and guard staggered back in horror.“Call the damn doctor—now!” I roared and no one questioned me. They scattered like mice, rushing to do as they were told.I didn’t stop to explain as I headed straight for the general VIP suite at the west wing. It was cleaner and brighter. I laid her gently on the silk-draped bed but blood kept seeping from her neck
Raven’s POVI stormed down the hallway, every step echoing louder than the voice in my head telling me to turn around.But I was done. Done being the fragile girl and done being the target and being ignored.Let them kill me if they wanted, Let them fuck me if that’s all they needed to get it over with. I wasn’t going to keep walking around like some lost, broken pet while everyone decided my fate. Screw that!I shoved Cassian’s door open without knocking.“Do you get off watching me get torn apart like a goddamn chew toy at school?!” I shouted, chest heaving, fists clenched. “Or do you all enjoy the humiliation? What is it—some twisted vampire bonding ritual?!”But I paused because Something was off.The lights were dim, but not in the normal mysterious, Cassian-kind-of-way until I saw him, telling me to leave, almost begging me to go but he looked like he was going to die anytime soon.Cassian w
Cassian’s POVI didn't like what was brewing within me that definitely looked like guilt. The foreign ache of it sat like heavily in my chest, uncomfortable, and fucking annoying.I didn’t move when she cried or flinch when I saw her on the floor, covered in blood, bruises bloomed across her skin and I ignored every instinct that was screaming at me to go to her, to pull her into my arms and rip those girls apart piece by piece for laying a single hand on her.But I didn’t because that’s not who th fuck I am, especially not for her.The car ride back was silent as we didn't know what to feel, webjust watched the girl we tried so hard to save from Jerome being bullied and battered to nothing. Elias clenched his fists the whole time, his jaw tight and Dante stared out the window like he was trying to calm the storm brewing in his skull.And me?I sat still, hands folded, back straight, staring at the blood on my knu