He couldn’t exactly pin all the bla on Thessara—tempting as that was. No, this disaster had his na written all over it. He was the genius who got outplayed by his own spies.
Maybe if he’d bothered to double-check their work instead of basking in his own brilliance, he might have uncovered their coordinated sche.
But arrogance clouded his judgnt—he had been too confident in his thods, too certain that those he dispatched would never conspire against him.
This was an unprecedented move—aning it was entirely Thessara’s half-baked theory, stitched together from her personal opinions, so shaky logic, and, let’s be honest, pure wishful thinking.
There was zero evidence backing it up, but hey, why let facts get in the way of a grand plan? The stakes were impossibly high, but the outco had never been guaranteed.
Kaan slamd his fist against the nearest wall. "You promised!!" he roared.
Thessara, the ever-scheming, ever-invisible ancestor who had spent years grooming Kaan into her next villainous puppet, remained suspiciously silent.
Because, quite frankly, it had never once occurred to her that she could be wrong. Her calculations simply didn’t allow for that kind of nonsense. And, up until now, Kaan had been foolish enough to believe the sa.
In the awkward aftermath, Thessara did what she did best—spinning, dodging, and twisting the situation until it was sohow his fault. "You’re strong, but clearly, you’re still missing sothing," she said in that condescending, all-knowing tone that made Kaan want to punch another wall.
Because if there was one thing Thessara never did, it was take responsibility. If sothing went wrong, it was obviously because soone else had screwed up. And that soone else was never her.
Lacy’s true identity as the real Blood Moon child was buried—along with the rest of her pack, reduced to nothing but dust. The only other person who knew the truth, Remus, had been personally escorted to the afterlife by Kaan himself.
And just like that, the secret was as dead as they were.
That whole ss had left Kaan furious with Thessara. But was he furious enough to ditch her? Oh, please. That would require a level of self-sufficiency he simply did not possess.
Thessara had been everything to him. She was the only constant in his life. His source of strength. The one who made this boring life feel interesting. The one who told him he was special. And Kaan loved being special.
The re thought of being just another naless, insignificant nobody made his skin crawl. He refused to blend into the faceless masses, lost in diocrity like the average person on the street.
Even his father, for all his good reputation and respectable achievents, felt far too ordinary for Kaan’s taste.
No, Kaan wanted more.
He wanted fa, recognition, and a legacy so legendary that future generations would na their children after him. Or at the very least, fear him enough to put up statues.
Eventually, Kaan’s anger faded—not because he was feeling particularly forgiving, but because there wasn’t much he could do about it.
What was he supposed to do, throw a tantrum at the air? Challenge a ghost to a fistfight? Thessara was an invisible ancestor, which ant she was infuriatingly immune to being punched, shoved, or even flipped off. The idea of revenge was logistically impossible.
So, instead of wasting ti being mad at the untouchable, he did the next best thing: he trained. Hard. He poured all his frustration into becoming stronger.
And he didn’t just get stronger—he beca terrifyingly strong, surpassing even his own expectations. Every ounce of rage, every lingering resentnt, he turned into raw power.
Just as he was focused on proving himself worthy of ultimate strength, Thessara slithered back into his mind with an all-too-familiar whisper.
It was déjà vu.
"The Blood Moon child is here. Are you ready to accept it?" she hissed.
Kaan was thrilled. His blood burned with anticipation. If it were up to him, he’d pounce on the new Blood Moon child right now and rip the power straight from them without a second thought.
But experience had taught him that diving in headfirst—while fun—wasn’t always the smartest move.
So this ti, he would be smart about it. No more outsourcing the job to incompetent minions who couldn’t tell their left fang from their right. He would handle this himself.
To set the stage, he proposed a grand unification of the vampire kingdoms under his rule—because what better way to seize ultimate power than by making sure everyone else bowed to him first?
So far, there had been no whispers of the Blood Moon child’s ergence, which ant one thing: the kid probably hadn’t awakened their power yet. And this ti, he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
The unification movent gave Kaan the perfect excuse to travel around, gathering power while totally coincidentally hunting for the new Blood Moon child.
Of course, it would’ve been way easier if Thessara could just give him the location, but nooo, that would be too convenient. Not that she’d ever admit she couldn’t do it.
"It’s your turn to do things," she said, in her usual holier-than-thou tone. "I’ve given you everything on a silver platter, and now you expect to do everything for you?"
Which was only half true.
Yes, she had practically gift-wrapped his entire rise to power, making sure everyone thought he was so kind of untouchable genius emperor. But also, she had never actually lifted a finger.
The way she talked, you’d think she had been personally out there fighting battles, signing treaties, and doing literally anything other than lurking in the background being ominous.
Kaan didn’t even bother arguing. What was the point? He just nodded, letting Thessara have her little speech while he focused on his own plan.
He would visit each kingdom, poke around, and sohow sense the Blood Moon power. Because, obviously, that was a totally logical strategy. Never mind the small detail that the power wasn’t even awakened yet.
Then, just as he was still dealing with the nearby kingdoms, new intel arrived. Surprisingly, it was from Thessara.
After what felt like forever with no useful updates, she had finally stumbled upon sothing big. The Fallen One—yes, that Fallen One—had returned to the Spiritual Circle. Naturally, Thessara, being the nosy ancestor that she was, followed him. And lucky for Kaan, this ti she actually saw sothing useful.
Not only did she figure out where the Blood Moon child was, but also who they were.
"She’s in Eira," Thessara declared, sounding unbearably pleased with herself. "And she’s the king’s niece."
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