78

EZRA

"You guys just never learn, do you?"

The voice is smooth. Arrogant. Meant to provoke.

I turn my head slowly. He's leaning against the far end of the hallway, hands shoved in his pocket, that ever present smug but neutral look on his face.

Lucien.

White-haired, alabaster-skinned, and dressed in an immaculate white suit that looks more ceremonial than practical. He wears arrogance like armor, and every inch of him gleams like he knows exactly how many hearts he’s broken—and how many heads he could take if he felt like it.

His pale blue eyes are almost glassy in the soft corridor lighting, but I know better. Behind that detached smirk is a mind that never stops calculating. Strategizing. Judging.

Lucien is the one who never chooses sides.

Except when it suits him.

I scoff and drag a hand down my face. "What are you doing here? I already told you last time that I don't need your wisdom.”

His smirk deepens as he starts walking towards me. “You didn’t. But the council did.”

My jaw clenches.

I think I hate the council now.

That’s when the air thickens, warping. A low hum vibrates through the floor beneath my boots.

Lucien doesn't move, but his smile flickers in amusement as a ripple of shadow carves through the space to his left—and then, a familiar face steps through it like he’s always belonged there.

Cassien.

His twin.

But you wouldn’t mistake them for the same man, not even with matching bone structure and identical predator stillness.

Where Lucien is ice, mystery and elegance, Cassien is darkness and dark castle from old times. His long black hair falls loose down his back, and he’s wrapped in a deep, black robe from the old underworld times. It was like the world was evolving, but Cassien is not.

Eyes like obsidian meet mine—sharp, precise, dissecting.

Cassien is the thinker. The judge. And when he moves, it’s deliberate. Like he’s reading the threads of your future and deciding whether you deserve to keep it so he could report to the council. He's like a black puppy wagging his tail at the council's orders.

I stand straight, jaw clenched. I hate him here.

Cassien visiting you in person means one thing.

Omen.

A bad one.

He lifts his hand without a word, then swings his arms wide in an elegant arc.

The hallway bends.

Warps.

And then we’re hidden.

A veil of illusion folds around us like an invisible curtain, silencing every machine, dulling every light. Time hiccups.

Lucien gives a short clap, slow and sarcastic. “Bravo. Didn’t want the nurses thinking we were here for snacks, did we?”

I growl, stepping forward toward Cassien. “Why are you back in the States?”

Cassien doesn’t blink as he tilts his chin to Lucien. “Ask your smug little friend there.”

I turn to Lucien, my glare sharp. “I thought you were neutral.”

Lucien shrugs, inspecting his manicured nails. “I am.”

“Then why's he here?” I growl. “I told you to mind your business. Just because I called you for clarity doesn't mean you should—”

He chuckles, interrupting me. “I didn’t tell him anything.”

Cassien’s voice is low as he says, “It wasn't him.”

I blink as I turn back to him.

He goes on. “It was Isla.”

Shit.

Cassien continues, expression unreadable. “She told her father. Her father told the council. We were sent after.”

Lucien chimes in with a half-smile. “Damage control, in case you decide to go all rabid when they confront you. You know—like a certain someone...”

I don’t respond.

I can’t.

I feel the pressure building in my chest again, like a scream sealed behind ribs.

They know.

They all know.

Cassien steps closer. His robe doesn’t even rustle.

“I won’t waste time, Ezra.” His hand dips into the folds of his robe and pulls something out. A small engraved box, the size of his fist. It looks like a… relic. 

Obsidian black with runes I don’t recognize—because they weren’t meant to be recognized. They were definitely meant to be obeyed.

He holds it out to me. “This is your first warning Ezra.”

I don’t take it.

Cassien continues. “You’re to break the bond. Let her go. End it clean. Or it escalates.” He says before adding, “It's a must.”

Lucien crosses his arms, tone lighter. “And if you don’t? Well… the seat you’re warming has a vacancy ready and I’ve already tried it on for size. Comfy.”

Cassien’s eyes narrow slightly as he scrutinizes me. “He’s not lying.”

I feel the floor shift beneath me.

“List his ‘offences’.” Lucien says, quoting the air.

Cassien tilts his head. “You fed from a human and it led to something dire. You mated with a fated mate, kept it away from the council, mingled bloodlines, overstepped by threatening Isla De Vries, the only daughter of the twelfth elder, on the same par as a princess. Ohh, and also failed to wipe a human's memory.” 

Memory?

Lucien claps. “And now there’s a punishment coming.”

My voice is hoarse when I speak. “Date?”

Cassien adjusts his robe. “Undecided but pending. Because you’re still one of the Four princes. Since Malik was not a good enough example. You are to serve as the Scape goat I believe.”

I close my eyes.

Lucien’s voice drops the humor for a moment. “You know what happens when you don’t follow the law.”

I grit my teeth, hand clenched into fist.

I do.

Eternal slumber. Or the cause is erased.

She dies.

Or I vanish.

Literally and figuratively.

I swallow, but my throat is bone-dry. My fingers twitch, watching as the relic glows faintly in Cassien’s hand.

I finally reach out to take it.

He says nothing as he places it in my outstretched palm.

It burns, even though it’s cold.

“I'm sure you know the right thing to do, Ezra.” Cassien says before stepping back into shadow, vanishing without flair.

Lucien lingers a moment longer, his face unreadable now. “She changed you, Ezra. We all saw it. You've grown so… weak.”

I say nothing.

“Save her. Before they decide for you.”

And then he too disappears.

I’m left alone in the once quiet hallway, the sound of her beeping heart monitor filling the air once again while I stand at the door, clutching death in my hand.

But wait, I failed to erase someone's memory?

Who? Morgan’s? The guy at the mall? Or… Sebastian?

I sigh, shutting my eyes tight, feeling pain from a hollow part of me, pain I haven't felt in centuries.

It really is true.

Monsters don't get happy endings. I won't be the exemption.