LUCIEN’S POV

I couldn’t believe I was thrown out.

Physically escorted off the vampire palace grounds like some unruly fledgling.

The guards didn’t even look me in the eye when they shut the gates behind me. As if I wasn’t once the Blood Princess’s mate. As if I wasn’t born of one of the oldest bloodlines in Shadowmere. As if I didn’t matter.

I’d taken hits before. From rivals. From rogues. From my father during training centuries ago.

But this?

This one landed differently.

I didn’t speak on the way back. I barely heard the sound of wheels on cobblestone or the whisper of wind through the dark forest. My thoughts kept circling the moment Vera’s eyes found mine, glinting like fire and frost, and then turned away like I wasn’t even worth the effort.

That, and Caelen.

Standing there like a damn shadow stitched to her side.

He was nothing but a manipulator and Vera needed to know that.

When I arrived home, the estate was too quiet.

Too still.

I pushed open the doors and didn’t even make it to the staircase before Celene’s voice cut through the silence.

“Where the hell have you been?”

She was standing at the top of the stairs, arms folded, one foot tapping against the marble like a ticking bomb. I didn’t answer right away.

Her heels clicked hard as she descended, eyes sharp and narrowed. “I asked you a question, Lucien.”

“I went to the border,” I said flatly. “Had business with my lieutenant.”

Her expression darkened, and a humorless laugh escaped her throat. “Really? That’s funny.”

“Why?”

“Because I saw your lieutenant ten minutes ago. In the courtyard. Sparring.”

I said nothing.

“What were you really doing?” she demanded, voice rising. “Don’t lie again.”

I sighed and started walking past her, toward the hallway.

“Celene, I’m not doing this right now.”

She followed. “You went to see her, didn’t you?”

I stopped.

“You couldn’t help yourself. The moment you found out she was the Vampire King’s daughter, it’s like you lost every ounce of sense in your head. You’re obsessed.”

“I’m not obsessed,” I said, jaw tightening.

“Then what are you?” she snapped. “Because you sure as hell aren’t mine anymore.”

“I never belonged to you.”

Her face fell for a moment, just enough to sting, but then she snapped back, louder.

“You can’t let her go, can you? Even after everything. Even after she rejected you in front of the entire court!”

I turned and walked away again.

“Don’t walk away from me!” she shouted.

But I did.

Because I couldn’t explain it to her or myself why I felt this way. I couldn’t explain why Vera’s voice haunted my dreams. Not the way my chest burned like a brand where the blood bond used to live. Broken, yes—but still echoing, still thrashing in the hollow space it left behind.

I barely made it three steps into the west wing when I saw my mother, Lady Vela.

Standing in the hallway with a glass of something dark and expensive in her hand, her lips already pulling into that calculating smile I knew too well.

“Lucien,” she said, tilting her head, “how was your… meeting?”

I blew out a breath. “I was thrown out.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“I tried to speak with Vera. I didn’t even get past ten words before the guards dragged me out like a common criminal.”

Lady Vela stared at me, stunned for half a heartbeat.

Then her face changed, charged with fury.

“They escorted you out?” she asked coldly. “Publicly?”

I nodded.

“In front of the conclave?”

“Yes.”

She laughed once, short and sharp. “Oh, that girl has grown fangs, hasn’t she?”

“I told you,” I muttered, “she’s changed.”

Lady Vela took a sip from her glass, thoughtful now.

“You know,” she said slowly, “this could be… fixed.”

My brows drew together. “Fixed?”

She smiled.

And I immediately didn’t like the way her eyes glinted when she said, “I have a plan.”

I exhaled, wary. “What kind of plan?”

She stepped closer, her voice dropping low. “Blackmail might not be enough now. We have to kill her.”

The words hit me like ice water.

“What? No,” I said immediately, stepping back. “Absolutely not.”

She laughed, waving her glass like I’d just told a joke.

“I’m serious, Mother.”

“So am I,” she replied, far too calmly. “If we can’t control her, we remove her.”

“She’s the Vampire King’s daughter.”

“All the more reason,” she said. “Do you have any idea what that kind of power means if it falls into the wrong hands? Or worse, stays in hers?”

“She was ours.”

“Not anymore.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you just said that. You want to assassinate her because I was thrown out? What good will that do?”

She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be difficult. She trusts too easily. You just need to be close enough—”

“I said no.”

Her expression hardened. “Nobody humiliates my children and walks away unscathed.”

“Mother, listen to yourself. You’re talking about murdering the Blood Princess.”

“I’m talking about protecting our bloodline,” she said, her voice deadly quiet. “About protecting our territory. About protecting you.”

“From what?”

“From yourself!” she snapped. “You think I don’t see what’s happening? You think I don’t know you’re destroying yourself over a girl who cast you aside?”

“That’s not—”

“It is exactly what’s happening,” she interrupted. “You’re obsessed with her. You’re making mistakes. You’re compromising everything we’ve built here.”

“I’m trying to fix what I broke.”

“Some things can’t be fixed, Lucien. Some things need to be eliminated.”

I stared at her, horror creeping up my spine. “You’re talking about murder.”

“I’m talking about survival.”

“Whose survival?”

“Ours. The coven’s. The bloodline’s.”

“And if King Aldric finds out?”

She smiled coldly. “He won’t. Not if it’s done right.”

“Done right?” I repeated. “Mother, you’re talking about killing his daughter. His heir. Do you have any idea what that would mean for us? For Shadowmere?”

“It would mean we’re no longer at the mercy of a girl who thinks she’s better than us.”

“She doesn’t think that.”

“Doesn’t she? She had you thrown out like garbage, Lucien. She humiliated you in front of the most powerful vampires in the realm.”

Her words landed like daggers in my stomach.

“That doesn’t justify murder.”

“Doesn’t it?” she asked, tilting her head. “She hurt you. She rejected you. She made you look weak.”

“Because I was weak!”

The words exploded out of me before I could stop them.

Mother’s eyes widened slightly.

“I was weak,” I said again, quieter now. “I let them treat her like she was nothing. I stood by and watched while they broke her down. I chose my reputation over her heart.”

“And now you want to throw away everything for her?”

“I want to make it right.”

“There is no making it right,” she said firmly. “There is only moving forward. And moving forward means removing obstacles.”

“Vera is not an obstacle.”

“She is to you. She’s keeping you from thinking clearly. From seeing what needs to be done.”

“Which is?”

“Accept that she’s gone. Accept that she’s not coming back. Accept that you need to focus on what’s important.”

“She is important.”

“More important than the coven? More important than your duties? More important than your future?”

I looked away. “It’s not that simple.”

“It is exactly that simple,” she said. “You have a choice, Lucien. Her or us. You can’t have both.”

“I’m not choosing anything.”

“Then I’ll choose for you.”

I looked back at her, and something cold settled in my stomach. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” she said, finishing her drink, “that problem will be solved. One way or another.”

“Mother, if you so much as think about harming her—”

“You’ll what?” she challenged. “Turn against your own family? Your own blood?”

“I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect her.”

“Even if it means destroying everything we’ve built?”

“Yes.”

She stared at me for a long moment, and I saw something like disappointment flicker across her features.

“You’re not the son I raised,” she said quietly.

“No,” I agreed. “I’m not. And maybe that’s a good thing.”

Her expression hardened. “We’ll see.”

She turned and walked away, leaving me standing in the hallway with the taste of dread in my mouth.

I knew my mother well enough to know that she didn’t make idle threats. Which meant Vera was in danger, and I was the only one who could warn her.