Chapter 61: WHICH WAY TO TURN

I jerked back into my body so violently Avel barely caught me before I hit the floor. His arms wrapped around me, trembling.“Lyria—Lyria—Sweetheart—breathe—please breathe—”I s*ck*d air into my lungs as though they were coated in ice.My hands were shaking. My vision blurred.Avel pressed his forehead to mine, voice thick with fear.“What did you see?”I stared at him.At the man who fed me until dawn. At the man who nearly died to keep me alive. At the man who whispered confessions into my unconscious hair.“At the rafters,” I whispered, “I wasn’t dying once.”Avel’s breath halted.“I was dying all night.”His hands tightened.“You fed me again and again because you thought—”He looked down ashamed.“I thought you were gone.” His voice broke. “I thought I was losing you every hour.”My throat burned. “You never told me.”His eyes opened and the grief there nearly split me open.“I didn’t want you to hate me for saving you the wrong way.”Caelan's voice came through again. Silas stif

Chapter 62: THE SOUND OF BREAKING CHAINS

Avel held me against his chest as though the world were tearing apart.“Lyria—stay with me—please—don’t give in—don’t leave—”But the hunger was no longer a whisper. It was a roar. It burned through me, rattling my bones, turning every heartbeat in the room into music, into temptation, into heat.Avel felt me tense. He tightened his arms around my waist.“Breathe—breathe for me—”“I can’t,” I gasped. “I can’t—Avel—I’m—”He cupped the back of my head.“Don’t fight alone. Let me help you.”I turned in his grip. He stilled. The hunger had changed my eyes. I saw it in his reflection in the window behind him.Black.Avel inhaled sharply. “Lyria…”I reached for his throat on instinct. In need. He grabbed my wrist gently.“No. Not me. Not like this.”“Why not you?” I whispered.His breath shuddered. “Because if you taste me now, my hunger would wake too,” he whispered. “And I have spent centuries burying it. If I let it rise again—if I let myself want the way I used to—”He broke off, voice

Chapter 63: A ROOM TOO SMALL

Avel carried me to his bed as though he feared the shadows would swallow me whole if he let go.I didn’t resist. Not because I couldn’t, but because I didn’t want him to know that I could.Silas followed behind us, pale, wide-eyed, trembling. He didn’t meet my gaze once. His fear burned in the air, thick and metallic.Avel sat on the edge of the bed, chest rising and falling as though he’d run up twenty flights of stairs.“Lyria,” he whispered, “you’re not safe out there. You’re not safe anywhere except with me.”I stood in the center of the room, shadows curling around my ankles like mist.“You’re trying to cage me.”Avel shook his head instantly, stepping toward me.“No. I’m trying to keep you from hurting someone. Or yourself.”“Hurting?” My voice was too calm. Cold.Silas swallowed audibly.“You nearly fed on Silas,” Avel said softly.I blinked.“Did I?”His jaw clenched.“You reached for my throat.”“And you stopped me,” I said.“Barely.”Silas whispered, “She wasn’t herself.”I

EPILOGUE

AVELThe Opera House does not forgive absence.It remembers footsteps. Breath. Blood.Avel moved through it like a sleepwalker. He ascended the marble stairs, pushing through the doors without meeting the doormen’s eyes as they bowed out of habit. He passed the gilded foyer, the velvet curtains, the chandeliers dimming for the night, and entered the quiet heart of the building.Silas hesitated in the doorway.“Did you find her?”“Yes,” Avel said. “But she left with him.”Grief flickered across Silas’ face. “She’s alive,” he said gently in an attempt to comfort.Avel closed his eyes. “Yes.”“And fed.”“Yes.”“And safe.”Avel opened his eyes.“No,” he whispered.Silas’ throat tightened. “Avel—”“Do you understand what Caelan is?” Avel said, his voice barely sound. “He isn’t a teacher. He isn’t a protector. He’s the night when it decides to wear a shape.”He stood at the center of the room, hands flexing at his sides, as if the body he’d worn for centuries had suddenly become too small t

Alle Kapitel von The Blood Opera: Kapitel 61 – Kapitel 64

Chapter 61: WHICH WAY TO TURN

Chapter 62: THE SOUND OF BREAKING CHAINS

Chapter 63: A ROOM TOO SMALL

EPILOGUE