Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Alaric.
The moonlight spilled silver across the vast expanse of my estate, painting the grounds in shadows and stillness. Bright lights had been strung around the compound, and for a moment I could only ask myself how they were still lit, considering how long I'd been away.

From one of my windows, I surveyed it as I always had. This place had been my sanctuary for longer than I could remember. I had walls that kept the world at bay, land that answered only to me, and even though I should’ve felt at peace, I didn’t.

Not really.

Because peace had deserted me the moment she stepped foot inside.

Rhea.

Her presence clung to the air like a scent that refused to fade, lingering even when I tried to push her from my thoughts. I could hear her heartbeat, steady one moment, fluttering the next, and echoing faintly as though the walls themselves carried it to me. Her scent was warm, subtle, unmistakable as well, and wrapped itself around me despite the distance.

I had no business caring whether she liked this place. And yet, I did. The thought that she might despise the walls I’d built around myself unsettled me in ways I could not explain.
While this might make me sound like a typical vampire, her blood called out to me all the more now. In all my life, I could count the number of times I'd been drawn to the smell of someone's blood, and believe me when I said the situation with Rhea was the highest.

I knew she'd nicked herself when the vase fell. Her blood had hit me square in the nose, and it took everything in me to not lap at her feet like a loyal but disgusting dog.

In a nutshell, I liked to think it was safe to say that she was driving me crazy, and I didn't like it one bit.

My mind replayed the whisper I’d overheard earlier, her plan to run. It was nothing short of a threat and a promise wrapped in one, and while it should have angered me, all it did was leave me amused.

A soft chuckle escaped me as I leaned against the wooden framework of the nearest shelf. She wouldn’t, she was bluffing. She just had to be.The idea of her slipping away into the night felt laughable. Why? The world outside these gates was no friend of hers, and if my guesses were accurate, the council must be aware that we were nowhere near the vampire world anymore.

While they wouldn't come at me directly, I couldn't say the same for Rhea. But then…

I put the rest of my thoughts on hold as something shifted.

It was faint at first, but I still caught on to it pretty quickly. Her heart. Ever since she arrived, the rhythm of hers had become as familiar to me as my own, but now it was faster, uneven too. Like a desperate staccato hidden under forced steadiness, as though she willed it to behave.

My amusement faltered, but my senses sharpened.

I moved to the window, and in the same moment, I felt it, the wrongness seeping into the air. She was moving where she shouldn’t be, doing something she wasn't supposed to.

I didn’t need to search long. Through the veil of trees, my gaze caught her, a shadow among shadows, small and determined, as she slipped across the grounds. Since my room was shrouded in darkness, it was pretty easy to spot her attempted escape plan.

She thought herself clever, keeping low, and cautious, yet her heartbeat betrayed her.

I could only imagine her smirk faltering the moment she realized something as small as her heartbeat was all it took to give her away.

My lips curved faintly in a sly grin. I could have stopped her then. One word, just step, and the walls of this place would have held her fast. But instead, I found myself watching.

Testing her too.

How far would she go? Would she really do it? And if yes, what was her plan from here on out?

I broke out of my thoughts when she reached the fence. I might never admit it to her face, but I was surprised she scaled it with ease, as though the threat of freedom burned brighter than the fear of being caught. No one else had dared defy me like this in centuries. For the barest heartbeat, pride stirred in me at her stubborn will.

But that same pride turned to dread in the next breath. One minute I was laughing at her foolishness, and the next, I seemed to be paying for a crime I didn't commit.

Pain lanced through me, sharp and merciless, as though my very veins rebelled. My blood boiled from within and I could swear my pores were going to burst open, just before my blood spilled onto my fine carpets.

My head pounded, my body flaring in agony I hadn’t felt in years. My knees nearly buckled, and I gritted my teeth against the searing burn.

What the hell was going on? I'd never felt pain as intense as this since she'd activated the damn bond, so what the hell was this for now?

I barely had time to answer my own question as a sound split the night. I recognized her cry immediately, raw and guttural, as it tore through the air with a force that froze me to the marrow. It didn't sound ordinary , and if I didn't know better, I would have said she was attacked.

My vision blurred as I fixed on her form, just beyond the fence. I had no idea how it was possible , but we locked eyes before she collapsed, her body crumpling to the earth like a broken thing.

“Rhea…” The name tore from me before I could stop it. The pain in my own body meant nothing compared to the horror of that sound still echoing in my skull.

I might be confused about what was going on, but I knew I needed to get to her immediately. I made to move, but my vision swayed. And in that moment, for the first time in too long, I felt fear. A crippling sense of fear and panic that knocked me out cold.