LINES DRAWN

“They would’ve killed you,” he replied, watching me closely.

Silence settled between us while my mind struggled to process everything that happened around me at once.

“What are you?” I asked, my voice barely holding together as confusion settled across my face. For a moment, his gaze slipped away from mine before he dragged one bloodstained hand through his hair and looked back at me like the question had landed heavier than he wanted it to and like it had changed something between us.

“That depends,” he said slowly, “on what exactly you’ve been hiding from me too.”

“Hide from you?” I repeated softly, my heartbeat faltering painfully as the air between us grew heavier.

Before I could say anything else, Jace’s eyes shifted past me and sharpened instantly, as though he had spotted something behind me. I didn’t manage to turn to where his attention had locked before he seized my arm and yanked me off the ground in one sharp pull. A startled breath escaped me as his arms locked around me and he pulled me hard against his chest.

******

✦DRAGUNOV'S POV✦

◈THE DRAGUNOV ESTATE - HOURS LATER◈

Smoke curled from the cigarette between my fingers while rain hammered heavily across the estate outside, low music echoing quietly through the room as Sylkar stepped inside. Something in his expression immediately caught my attention because men like him did not unsettle easily.

“What happened?” I asked, lifting my eyes toward him through the smoke.

“Lord Dragunov... you need to see this,” he replied, his voice unusually tight.

Impatience flickered faintly across my face as I crushed the cigarette into the tray beside me before rising to my feet and walking past him without another word.

The moment I stepped outside behind the mansion, one of the guards quickly moved beside me with a black umbrella shielding me from the heavy rain. Ahead, several others stood gathered around a body laying across the wet pavement.

Vaeryn.

The closer I got, the more the unease in the air became impossible to ignore as none of them moved or dared to step any closer.

His hands dragged weakly against the ground like he was still trying to force himself forward despite the thick layers of ice spreading steadily beneath his skin. One leg had already frozen completely while sharp cracking sounds echoed softly through the rain every few seconds, the ice climbing higher across his body with each broken breath that escaped his mouth as frost.

Another violent crack spread across his chest, making the surrounding guards instinctively step farther back.

My expression darkened faintly while I stared at him because none of this should have been possible. That power had disappeared centuries ago along with the bloodline tied to it.

“Help me...” he forced out weakly.

Silence lingered briefly beneath the rain before I crouched down in front of him, holding his terrified gaze steadily while the storm roared heavily around us.

“Who did this to you?”

His body jerked violently as another cracking sound echoed around us, the ice spreading higher toward his throat while panic flooded his eyes.

“The...” His breathing tightened painfully as frost escaped his lips again. “Girl...”