로그인Amanda’s POV I have never liked airports. Too crowded. Too loud. Too many heartbeats moving in every direction all at once. Usually I avoid it entirely. Private travel whenever possible. Remote roads when necessary. Anonymity is easier that way. But today even the noise cannot distract me from the growing unease beneath my ribs. Mina notices as always. “You are doing the face again.” I glance sideways at her while adjusting the sleeve of my coat. “I have no idea what you mean.” “The brooding one.” She gestures vaguely toward me while balancing two coffees and somehow still managing to look effortlessly elegant at five in the morning. “Very gothic. Very tragic heroine standing on a cliff waiting for the sea to reclaim her.” “I hate that you speak to me this early.” “And I love you too darling.” Mina grins smugly before handing me one of the coffees as we continue through the terminal. Dark curls spill over the collar of her coat today, her mouth still pink from the lip glo
By the time Damon returns, Grace has gone already. I remain exactly where she left me. One arm is stretched along the back of the sofa while the events of the last hour replay slowly through my mind. The kiss had only lasted seconds before restraint disappeared entirely. One moment Grace had been pressed against the suite doors trembling beneath my mouth. The next I had her straddling me against the edge of the living room sofa, my hand tangled in her hair while she shattered around me hard enough to leave bite marks in my shoulder trying to stay quiet. Frenzied. Desperate. Nothing controlled about it. Afterward she remained curled against my chest beneath the blanket for nearly an hour, unusually quiet while I traced idle circles against her spine. Thinking. Processing. I knew better than to force the conversation. The experience of witnessing my power for the first time can be overwhelmed. Push too hard and she might flee emotionally, if not physically. That is not something
Audrey is not so subtle. The insult glides beneath her polished tone like a blade wrapped in silk. To anyone else it might sound like concern. Courtly caution. Loyalty to the crown. But I hear the accusation hidden beneath every carefully chosen word. I always do. Centuries seated on a throne teaches a man to hear what is not spoken far more clearly than what is. She knows Grace is human. I can smell that realization on her already. But pride will not allow her to admit that someone she considers beneath her could capture my attention...let alone keep it. The realization disgusts her. Worse... it unsettles her. Because Grace should not exist within my orbit like this. Not untouched. Not protected. Not sleeping in my bed while still carrying a human heartbeat inside her chest. And being human means she should not be alive. The only logical explanation then being foul play. Alchemy at work just like with my father and mother. The old accusation. The old stain.
Max’s POV I wake to silence. The kind that tells me the room is empty before my eyes even open. Grace is gone. For a moment I remain still, staring at the ceiling while the last remnants of sleep loosen their hold on me. I close my eyes briefly and inhale. Her scent still saturates the room. It lingers across the pillows, beneath the sheets and against my skin itself. I can still taste it, that impossible sweetness in her blood that leaves me stronger than any feeding has in centuries. My body feels rested. Sharpened. Alive in a way my kind should not feel. Dangerous. She is becoming dangerous to me in ways no enemy has ever managed. I sit up slowly, letting the sheets fall to my waist. Three hours. Perhaps less. The sleep is shortening. That should please me. It means I am adapting to her blood. Or rather my body is learning how to take what it needs without surrendering entirely afterward. Still I do not like the vulnerability. I like even less that I do not regret it.
I freeze mid-step. The weight of Lady Audrey’s stare pins me in place like a butterfly to a board. Her voice is crisp, aristocratic. Laced with an accent that screams old European wealth and generations accustomed to power. Those pale blue eyes do not merely look at me. They are assessing. Dissecting. Judging. Damon shifts his considerable frame half a step. He positions himself with practiced subtlety between us but not quite blocking her view. The woman’s perfectly sculpted eyebrow arches a fraction. The venom in her expression doesn’t fade. It settles deeper like poison finding a vein. Damon’s jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. “Miss Montoya was just returning to her duties. If you’ll excuse us Lady Audrey.” But she doesn’t move. Instead she takes one elegant step closer, the scent of something expensive and floral wafting toward me. Every instinct tells me this woman is dangerous. I feel it immediately now. The strange pressure surrounding her. The unnatural stillness ben
There’s something about the way Damon had looked at that message, and what he said afterward. It unsettles me.I glance toward the closed bedroom doors.“Does he need to be woken?” I ask quietly.Damon’s eyes flick briefly toward the room before returning to me.“No. Nothing that cannot be handled, Miss Grace.”The answer is smooth. Effortless. Entirely unhelpful.I narrow my eyes slightly. His response sounded suspiciously rehearsed.I do not press the issue. Damon is... reliable. Unshakable. I have seen he and Max interact in ways that have had me wondering about the dynamics of their relationship. This goes beyond employer and employee. Max obviously trusts him completely.I move toward the door, pausing briefly beside him.Up close Damon is enormous. Broad shoulders. Dark suit perfectly fitted. The sort of man people instinctively move aside for in hallways.And yet despite how frightening he can appear, he has never once made me feel unsafe.Quite the opposite.“I’ll be back afte
Chris’s POV I have not been home in over five years. Five years of running away from the inevitable. Five years away from my Rosebud. The estate grounds have not changed in all that time. Everything looks the same but it feels… different. The moment my feet hit the marble in our entryway, I fee
Rosalinda's POV "I know what you are" The words leave my mouth before I can check myself. The room goes silent. Still. Everyone heard what I said. I do not think it is a secret that Dr Mandy is Sanguinari. At least not to anyone present in this room. The only person assumed not to have known
Mandy’s POV The sound hits me all at once, so wrong my mind refuses it at first. For half a second my brain insists I heard wrong. Old equipment. My own pulse echoing back at me in the small, quiet room. The fire crackles softly to my left, steady, ordinary. A cruel contrast to what is happening
Rosalinda’s POV Dona Elena has not left me alone. Not really. After her call, she has been moving in and out of the room, quietly. Checking on things I believe do not truly need checking. Maria places a tray with tea and biscuits at my side. A soft blanket is gently laid over my legs. The cushions







