The Man Who Should be Dead

CHAPTER EIGHT

AMELIA’S POV

“Hello, Amelia. I've been waiting for you to find your king.”

For several seconds, I couldn't breathe.

The silver-haired man stood between the trees as though he had every right to be there, his elegant dark coat untouched by the wind and his pale face illuminated by the moonlight. He looked exactly as I remembered him from the few childhood memories I had buried deep inside my mind. The sharp cheekbones, the cold gray eyes, and the thin scar running from the corner of his mouth toward his jaw were unmistakable.

Lord Cassian Veyne.

The man my father had sworn he killed twenty years ago.

My fingers tightened around the hilt of my sword. Beneath my skin, my wolf stirred violently, her instincts screaming that the man before us was dangerous. Yet beneath that warning was something else, something almost like recognition.

“How?” The word escaped my lips before I could stop it. “You’re dead.”

Cassian smiled, and the expression sent a chill down my spine. “Is that what your father told you?”

“Answer me!”

My voice carried across the clearing, stirring the leaves around us. Lucien immediately moved closer, positioning himself slightly in front of me. The gesture was subtle, but I felt the protective instinct behind it through the strange bond connecting us.

Cassian's gaze shifted to him, and his smile widened.

“Ah, the Vampire King.” He inclined his head mockingly. “I must admit, I expected you to be more difficult to bring together. Two powerful rulers, bound by fate, only to reject one another before they understood what they were throwing away. Your ancestors would be ashamed.”

“Careful,” Lucien warned, his voice dangerously quiet. “You are standing within striking distance of two people who have very little patience left.”

“Two people?” Cassian chuckled. “How touching. Have you already started pretending to be a couple, or are you still telling yourselves that the bond between you means nothing?”

Heat rose beneath my skin, and I hated that I couldn't tell whether it came from anger or the awareness of Lucien standing beside me.

“Our bond is none of your concern,” I snapped.

“On the contrary, little Alpha. Your bond is the only reason I am here.”

Cassian lifted one gloved hand. For an instant, the silver symbol on my palm burned beneath my skin. Lucien stiffened beside me, and I knew he had felt it too.

Cassian noticed our reaction.

“There it is,” he murmured. “The mark has awakened. Your father would have been delighted to see this day.”

“Do not speak about my father.”

“Why not? He spent years trying to protect you from the truth. He built his life around a lie and died believing he had buried the past. I wonder what he would say if he knew that his precious daughter had broken the very seal he sacrificed everything to preserve.”

My wolf snarled inside my mind.

I lunged.

Lucien caught my arm before I could cross the distance between us. His fingers closed around my wrist, firm but careful, and the warmth of his touch steadied the wild surge of power rising inside me.

“Don't,” he murmured.

I turned on him, furious. “Let go of me.”

“Gladly, once you stop trying to charge into an obvious trap.”

Cassian laughed softly. “The vampire has a point. Your father was impulsive too, Amelia. It was one of his greatest weaknesses.”

Lucien released me, though he remained close enough to intervene if necessary. I hated that his warning made sense. Whatever Cassian wanted, he had chosen this moment deliberately, when we were exhausted from fighting the Hollows and still trying to understand the power that had awakened between us.

I forced myself to lower my sword slightly without sheathing it.

“You said my father lied. Tell me what you know.”

Cassian studied me for a long moment. Then his expression changed, the amusement fading until something colder remained.

“Twenty years ago, your father discovered that the Order of the Void had survived its supposed destruction. They were gathering relics, searching for the bloodlines that could open the ancient seals. Your father and Lucien's predecessor both learned that the Order intended to use the bond between a Mooncrest Alpha and the Vampire King to restore something that should never have existed.”

Lucien's eyes narrowed. “My predecessor never mentioned a surviving faction.”

“Of course he didn't. He was busy trying to prevent a war between your people and the wolves. The Order made certain that each side believed the other was responsible for the attacks. Your predecessors were so consumed by hatred that they nearly destroyed the only thing capable of keeping the Void imprisoned.”

I remembered the bodies in the forest, the drained guards, the black-feathered arrow, and the Hollow creatures that had emerged from the earth. Everything seemed connected, but I still couldn't understand why Cassian was telling us any of it.

“And you?” I asked. “What part did you play?”

His eyes returned to mine.

“I was the one who helped your father uncover the truth.”

For a heartbeat, the forest seemed to grow silent.

I remembered a fragment of a childhood memory: a man standing beside my father in the training courtyard, lifting me onto his shoulders while I laughed. I had been too young to understand their conversations, but I remembered the scar on his face. I remembered calling him Uncle Cassian.

Then I remembered the night my father returned from a journey with blood on his clothes and announced that Cassian Veyne had betrayed Mooncrest and paid for it with his life.

“You were my father's friend,” I whispered.

“His closest friend.”

“He said you betrayed him.”

“He had to believe that.”

My stomach tightened. “Why?”

“Because the Order was watching everyone around him. If he had admitted that I survived, they would have hunted you before you were old enough to shift. Your father staged my death to protect you.”

I stared at him, searching his face for some sign that he was lying. There was grief in his eyes, but it was difficult to trust a man who had spent twenty years allowing the world to believe he was dead.

“If he wanted to protect me, why didn't he tell me the truth before he died?”

“Because he believed the threat had been contained. He thought the seals would hold as long as you and the Vampire King remained separated.”

Lucien's expression hardened. “And yet you said our rejection was the key.”

“It was.” Cassian looked at him. “But the prophecy was never as simple as either of you believed. The bond was meant to be chosen freely. Your rejection weakened the seal, but it did not destroy it completely. The Order needed the two of you to awaken the power in your blood before they could tear it open.”

My palm burned again.

I looked down at the crescent moon wrapped around a crown, the silver lines glowing faintly beneath my skin. “Then what happened tonight?”

“The first seal fell.” Cassian's voice lowered. “The Hollows were guardians of the boundary between your world and the Void. Once they were destroyed, the Order gained access to the next stage of its plan.”

A terrible thought settled over me.

“The voice said the second seal would break when the Queen sheds the King's blood.”

Lucien turned toward me, his expression suddenly unreadable.

Cassian nodded. “That is the next stage. The Order will make you believe that killing Lucien is the only way to save your people. They will place you in a position where you must choose between the man fate bound to you and the pack you swore to protect.”

“I would never kill him because someone told me to.”

“Not willingly,” Cassian agreed. “But what if his death were the only way to save Mooncrest? What if the Order made you believe he had murdered your people? What if Lucien himself begged you to end his life to prevent something worse?”

“Enough,” Lucien said.

The single word carried enough power to make the air around us tremble.

His eyes had darkened to a deep, blood-red shade, and the shadows beneath the trees seemed to gather toward him. Yet when he looked at me, I felt the faintest tremor through our bond. It wasn't fear for himself.

It was fear of what might happen to me.

Cassian watched him with renewed interest. “You feel it already, don't you? Despite the rejection, the bond remains. Every wound she suffers reaches you. Every surge of his power touches you,” he told me. “The Order will exploit that connection until you can no longer tell where your pain ends and his begins.”

I hated how much of his warning matched what we had experienced. When the Shadow-Rot entered my wound, Lucien had somehow drawn it out of my body. When our hands joined, our powers had combined to destroy the Hollows. Whatever we had rejected, some part of us still answered the other.

I glanced at Lucien. “Can we trust him?”

“No,” Lucien replied without hesitation.

Cassian laughed. “At least one of you has learned something from history.”

“But,” Lucien continued, his gaze fixed on the older vampire, “we can listen to what he knows while keeping him where we can see him.”

“An excellent compromise,” Cassian said. “Your father would have liked you, Amelia. You have his temper and his stubbornness.”

“And you have not answered my most important question.” I stepped closer, keeping my sword between us. “If you were my father's friend, why did you wait until now to reveal yourself?”

For the first time, Cassian's expression faltered.

“Because I couldn't find you before tonight.”

“That is a lie.”

“Is it?” He held my gaze. “The Order concealed its movements for years. I spent decades searching for the surviving members, trying to discover who was directing them. When the first bodies appeared, I knew they had begun again. But I could not approach Mooncrest without exposing the people who were helping me.”

“And now you can?”

“Now they already know that I am alive.”

The words settled over us like a threat.

A branch snapped somewhere behind Cassian.

Lucien moved instantly, drawing a narrow blade from beneath his coat. I raised my sword, my wolf surging to the surface as the scent of cold earth and burnt wood drifted through the clearing.

Cassian's face lost its color.

“They found me,” he whispered.

Figures emerged between the trees, their faces hidden beneath dark masks. There were six of them, each carrying a weapon marked with the same black symbol we had seen on the arrow that nearly killed us. Unlike the masked figures we had fought earlier, these strangers moved with unsettling confidence.

One stepped forward and removed his mask.

A jagged black scar ran across his forehead, disappearing beneath his hairline. His eyes were completely colorless, like empty glass.

“Cassian Veyne,” he said. “You have caused us considerable inconvenience.”

Cassian drew a silver dagger from inside his coat. “I would apologize, but I have never been particularly good at lying.”

The scarred man smiled.

“You have served your purpose. The Alpha and the King are together, the first seal has fallen, and the mark has awakened. There is nothing left for you to protect.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

“Protect us from what?” I demanded.

The man looked at me, and his smile widened.

“From the truth about your bloodline.”

Before I could move, he raised his hand. Black veins spread across the ground beneath our feet, racing toward us like living roots. The earth trembled, and the silver symbol on my palm flared so brightly that pain shot up my arm.

Lucien seized my hand.

“Amelia, stay with me!”

The moment our palms touched, the black veins recoiled.

The masked figures stepped back in alarm, but the scarred man only laughed.

“Beautiful,” he whispered. “The bond is stronger than we expected.”

Cassian threw his dagger. It struck one of the masked figures in the shoulder, and the man screamed as silver fire consumed him. The others attacked immediately.

Lucien moved with terrifying speed, intercepting two attackers before they reached us. I met another with my sword, blocking his first strike and driving my knee into his stomach. He stumbled, but before I could finish him, black smoke erupted from his body and wrapped around my arm.

Cold pierced my skin.

My wolf howled.

I felt Lucien's pain at the same instant, sharp and sudden, as though the smoke had found its way into both our bodies. He staggered across the clearing, one hand pressed to his chest.

“Lucien!”

The scarred man seized the opportunity and lunged toward him.

I didn't think. I threw myself between them.

His blade sliced across my side, and warmth spread beneath my clothes. Lucien caught me before I fell, his arm locking around my waist as his eyes blazed with fury.

Something inside me snapped.

The mark on my palm erupted in silver light, and Lucien's power surged into mine. Together, we unleashed a wave that tore through the black smoke and sent the attackers crashing into the trees.

When the light faded, the scarred man was still standing.

He stared at us with something close to reverence.

“Now I understand,” he murmured. “You are not merely the key. You are the sacrifice.”

Lucien stepped in front of me, his fangs descending. “Touch her again, and I will make certain you never speak another word.”

The man ignored him and looked directly at me.

“Ask your father what he did to save your life, Amelia. Ask him why the Order wants you alive when every other Alpha of your bloodline was slaughtered.”

My breath caught.

“My father is dead.”

“Yes,” he replied softly. “But the truth he buried is not.”

He pressed two fingers against the black symbol on his chest. The air split behind him, revealing a narrow opening filled with darkness. The remaining masked figures retreated through it, and the scarred man followed.

Before the opening closed, he gave me one final smile.

“When the second seal breaks, you will understand why your father feared the day you met your king.”

The darkness vanished.

For several seconds, none of us moved.

Then Lucien turned toward me, his hands hovering near my injured side as though he was afraid touching me might cause more pain.

“Let me see the wound.”

“I'm fine.”

“You are bleeding.”

“I've survived worse.”

His jaw tightened. “That doesn't mean you have to keep proving it.”

The unexpected tenderness in his voice unsettled me more than the attack. I looked away, but the bond betrayed me, carrying the concern beneath his anger straight into my chest.

Cassian approached, his dagger still in hand. There was blood on his sleeve, but he seemed more troubled by the enemy's final words than by his own injury.

“We need to leave,” he said. “Those men were only a small part of the Order. More will come once they realize their attack failed.”

I pressed a hand against my side. The bleeding had already begun to slow, and the silver mark on my palm pulsed in time with my heartbeat.

“Before we go anywhere, you're going to tell us everything you know about my bloodline.”

Cassian studied me. For the first time since appearing in the forest, he looked genuinely afraid.

“I will,” he promised. “But not here.”

“Then where?”

He glanced toward Mooncrest, where the distant lights of the castle shone through the trees.

“Somewhere your father prepared for you long before you were born.”

Lucien's grip tightened around my hand. I looked down, startled to realize he hadn't released it since the fight ended. Neither of us moved away.

I should have pulled free. I should have reminded him that we had rejected one another, that whatever remained between us was a dangerous complication we could not afford.

Instead, I let his fingers remain wrapped around mine.

Because beneath the fear, the anger, and the growing suspicion that my entire life had been built on secrets, one truth had become impossible to ignore.

Whatever waited for us next, I no longer wanted to face it alone.

And when Cassian led us toward the hidden path beyond the trees, the silver mark on my palm burned once more, carrying a whisper that belonged to neither Lucien nor me.

“The Queen's blood remembers. The King's heart will pay.”