{IRIS}
Lord Val dropped my hand as though it burned him, stepping back, putting distance between us with the swiftness of a man who did not trust himself too near the fla.
"It worked." His voice was restrained, thick with the effort it took to keep it even. "The scent of your blood no longer calls to ." A pause. "To us."
He would not look at the blood staining my palm. He would not glance at the pink-tinged water pooling around . His gaze hovered sowhere above, never lowering beneath my shoulders, never wandering, as though any further might cost him dearly.
My heart hamred as I clutched my wounded hand to my chest. "T-thank you."
The words fell into a silence so intense it seed to echo.
Candlelight flickered against the stone walls, casting long shadows over his face, hollowing his cheeks, sharpening the angles of his jaw. His eyes glowed faintly, a cold, silver luminescence that pierced through the gloom.
I swallowed, needing to break the tension before it swallowed .
"H-how is everyone?" I asked, my voice smaller than I intended.
"Asleep," Val replied. "I placed the household under a compulsion. All of them—save Sebastian."
Of course. Sebastian. He must have been of higher rank, his will strong enough to resist being so easily subdued by my blood.
Guilt twisted through my stomach, coiling tight. "I am sorry, my lord. I never imagined the scent of my blood would cause such—"
"Cease apologizing."
The rebuke cut through the air like a knife. Not cruel, yet sharp, leaving no room for argunt.
"You are a werewolf," he continued, his gaze steady upon . "And an Arcane user besides. You possess more strength than the rest of them combined. Do not ask forgiveness for what lies beyond your control."
My mouth fell slightly open, words failing .
No one had ever spoken of like that. All my life, strength had been sothing I chased and never caught, sothing others insisted I lacked—a flaw, a defect, a reason to be cast aside. A weak oga. A mistake.
Yet here he stood, an ancient predator cloaked in power, looking at as though I were not a liability but a force in my own right.
As though I were capable.
As though I mattered.
Warmth spread through my chest, quiet but steady, like dawn creeping over a field that had only ever known night. It smoothed over old fractures, nded places I had not realized were wounded.
For the first ti, I did not feel like a burden in wolf’s skin.
I felt—if only for a breath—like I could be more.
"T-thank you," I managed, my voice breaking around the words.
"Clean yourself." His tone softened, but only just. "I shall have more [Blood Veil] vials delivered to your chamber. Use them whenever your monthly blood cos . . . or should you bleed unexpectedly. Don’t worry, one vial lasts 24 hours."
There was a faint edge to his words—a quiet urgency, a reminder of how close disaster had brushed past us.
Before I could offer any response, he was gone once more, vanishing with that sa terrifying, effortless speed.
The silence he left behind was heavier than before.
I remained in place, staring at the doorway as though his shadow still lingered there, as though the air itself carried the echo of his presence.
A minute passed. Then another. Only when the water began to cool did clarity return—and with it, a sudden, horrifying realization.
I was naked.
A strangled gasp escaped .
My nightgown lay in tatters from the earlier attack, little more than shredded fabric plastered to my skin. Soaked through, the thin material clung to every curve, every line of my body. The cold air brushed over , drawing my nipples taut, pressing visibly against the translucent cloth.
There was no way—no possible way—he had not seen.
My face burned as I sank deeper into the water until it lapped at my collarbones, folding my arms over my chest in a feeble attempt to hide what had already been exposed.
Embarrassnt coiled hot and tight in my chest.
Yet beneath that mortification, another feeling stirred, darker and far more infuriating.
Disappointnt.
He had not reacted.
Not a flicker in his expression. Not a stolen glance. Not a stutter in his movents. No lingering look, no hint of desire, no sign that the sight of had affected him in the slightest.
Nothing.
And he had not drunk my blood since that first ti.
I had thought that was the reason he had brought into his manor—that I was ant to serve as his personal blood source, a living chalice to be kept close at hand.
Yet he kept pulling away.
Avoiding the very thing his kind was bound to crave.
My fingers curled against my arms, nails pressing crescents into my skin.
Was I so undesirable, then? So unappealing that even a starving vampire lord could look upon —my blood, my body—and feel nothing?
The thought lodged like a thorn in my chest.
I let myself slip lower, until the warm water swallowed my ears, until the world beca distant and muffled. My whisper bled into the ripples, carried away by the bath that had seen far too much tonight.
"Am I truly that undesirable . . . ?"
For a long mont, I remained beneath the surface, letting the water ripple over my ears, muffling the tornt of my own thoughts. The candles flickered above , their reflections wavering like dying stars across the bath.
When I finally resurfaced, the air felt colder, the shadows deeper—stretching long fingers across the marble floor as if to claim .
Above , the tower windows groaned softly beneath the cold wind, a lonely sound that echoed how hollow I felt. Every doubt, every sting of insecurity lingered like frost in my bones.
How cruel, that the one man who terrified most... was also the one whose indifference hurt the deepest.
I shook my head
What foolishness had taken hold of ?
Was I truly so desperate as to yearn for the touch of a vampire? A Vampire Lord no less?
Or was my heart still so fractured from Lorcan that I mistook Lord Val’s cold presence for warmth?
Either way, the reasons were wrong—pitiful shadows of longing masquerading as desire.
I reminded myself that I was naught but sustenance to him, a vessel of blood and nothing more. His to protect only because my life served his needs.
I must not forget my place.
I must serve him well... and purge these treacherous stirrings from my heart.
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