Chapter Thirty-One
The moonlight spilled across the estate like a veil of silver, stretching its light over the stone pathways and thick hedges of the garden. Everything was still, save for the wind, brushing gently through the trees as though afraid to disturb the quiet tension that hung in the air.
Isabelle stood by her bedroom window, her fingers curled loosely around the edge of the curtain. The weight of her thoughts pressed heavily on her chest. She had been restless for days, her body humming with a strange energy she couldn’t name. Ever since the shift, ever since the encounter at the lake, something had changed.
The markings on her skin remained. They flared to life sometimes, glowing faintly under moonlight, but only she could see them. Symbols, etchings of something far older than anything she had ever been taught, of something she could not name and did not understand. Her mother’s words echoed in her mind like a song. Everything she had said stuck with her like glue.
But tonight, she didn’t feel like a legacy. She felt like a woman caught in a trap that tightened with every passing second.
Khalil had been… different.
Not loving. Not doting. But watchful. Attentive. Present in a way that unsettled her. He hovered without hovering, his presence lingering behind her even when he said nothing at all. He would enter a room, and the air would shift. He would look at her, and something in his eyes would flicker. Heat. Conflict. Hunger.
Most times, she could not see him, but she could feel him. Almost like a second skin.
She didn’t know what to make of it. And worse, she didn’t know what it made her feel.
Because she had started to notice him, too. The way his shirts clung to his body when he returned from training. The way his voice lowered when he called her name. The way his eyes found her across a room and stayed there a moment too long, the way they lingered on her waist as she walked, shamelessly undressing her with his eyes.
Isabelle sighed heavily and let the curtain fall back into place as she turned away from the window. She wrapped her arms around herself and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to breathe. She had made the mistake of letting him in once. He had touched her, kissed her, made her come undone with just his mouth and hands, only to mark her when she was vulnerable.
She would not be fooled again. She belonged to no one. She wasn’t sure what it was he wanted from her, but she knew that she would not let herself be exploited again. She would not allow herself to be downtrodden again.
A knock came at her door.
She stood quickly, her heart lurching in her chest. For a second, she thought it would be Khalil. He had come to her room twice in the last week and stood outside the door without saying a word. Just… stood there. She felt him, always. The bond made it impossible not to. But this time, it wasn’t him.
When she opened the door, she found no one.
She stepped into the hallway, her brows furrowed, but again, there was nothing.
Then she felt it. That pull. Not Khalil.
Lucien.
It felt strange. It would be the first time she felt the pull of their bond. It sizzled under her skin, heating her up. Since her shift, she felt everything on a much deeper level. And now, she thought to herself how beautiful her bond with Lucien was, disgruntled that she could not feel how intense it was before.
Her breath caught. The somewhat familiar burn of the bond lit up her skin like fire beneath the surface. She felt it in her chest, her stomach, and low in her abdomen. Every part of her responded as though he were already touching her. Her legs moved before she could tell them to, taking her down the hall, through the quiet corridors, past the guards who nodded and looked away as if they hadn’t noticed the Luna sneaking out after midnight.
She exited through the side door that led to the edge of the forest, her bare feet silent against the stone path. She didn’t question where she was going. Her body already knew.
The lake.
It welcomed her like it always did, the water shining under the moon, the trees swaying softly as if bowing to her presence. She stood at the bank, her eyes scanning the edge of the trees, her heart racing with anticipation, fear, and desire.
And then she saw him.
Lucien stepped out of the shadows slowly, dressed in black from head to toe, his hair swept back, his expression unreadable. He had been waiting patiently for her, hoping that she would bless him with her presence. He was glad that he hadn’t been disappointed.
“You’re here...” she whispered. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know,” he replied.
“But you came anyway.”
“So did you.”
She didn’t respond.
Lucien’s eyes swept over her face, down her form, as if committing every inch of her to memory. “I had to see you,” he said, his voice low and rough. “You’ve been different. I can feel it.”
“You shouldn’t feel anything,” she said. “I’m marked.”
“That doesn’t mean the bond broke. You know that.”
She looked away. Of course, she knew that. He stepped closer, slowly, deliberately, as if giving her time to push him away. She didn’t. She couldn’t. No matter what lies she told herself.
“Isabelle,” he said, her name a whisper across the wind. “You felt it too. That night in the hall. You felt me. Like I feel you now.”
She hated how true that was, even though she had not felt it as deeply as she did now, she had felt it still. “I can’t be with you,” she murmured. “You know this...”
“
You mean Khalil won’t let you?”
She met his gaze then, her spine stiffening. “He doesn’t own me.”
Lucien’s expression softened, a small smile gracing his lips. “No. He doesn’t.”
He stepped close enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath against her skin. His hand came up, hovering beside her cheek without touching. “You’ve changed,” he said again, almost reverently. “Your scent… your energy… even your eyes. You’re waking up.”
She blinked, and a frown creased her forehead. “What do you mean?” she asked.
Lucien tensed up, realizing that he had almost said something that he should not have. He swore under his breath. “I mean nothing by it...”
She was not convinced. “What?”
Lucien smiled. “You’re beginning to wake up to the fact that Khalil does not care about you. He is only with you because he hates to lose.”
Her heart stopped. “And his political alliance with my father...”
Isabelle felt like the air was too thick to breathe. Lucien stepped behind her, his hand ghosting down her arm until his fingers brushed her wrist. His touch was featherlight, but it set fire to her skin, and yet somehow, she found immediate comfort in the heat.
“I dream about you,” he murmured against her ear. “Every night.”
She clenched her jaw.
“I see you in the fields, walking among the stars. I see you with the moon in your hands. You don’t belong in a cage.”
“I’m not in a cage,” she lied.
He turned her gently to face him, his hands resting at her hips. “Then why do you look like you’re always waiting to be rescued?”
She hated how true that felt.
Lucien leaned in, his forehead resting against hers. “You were made for more than this,” he whispered. “You were made for something bigger. Something
powerful. You feel it, don’t you?”
She nodded without meaning to.
Lucien’s hand rose, brushing against the curve of her neck. “Let me in.”
She didn’t move.
“Please,” he whispered.
And then she did. She kissed him. It was soft at first, tentative, as though she were trying to prove to herself that it meant nothing. That it wasn’t the same. That it was a mistake. But it wasn’t. The moment his lips parted and he pulled her deeper, it all fell away. The hesitation. The guilt. The boundaries. Her hands rose to his chest, clinging to his shirt, pulling him closer, anchoring herself to the one person who made her feel seen.
Lucien groaned softly, his hands sliding down to her waist, gripping her like he would never let go. She gasped against his mouth, her back arching, her head tilting to deepen the kiss.
When they pulled apart, breathless and dazed, the lake shimmered behind them, and the markings on her skin pulsed like a heartbeat.
Lucien stepped back, slowly, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I’ll come for you,” he said.
Her lips trembled. “He’ll never let me go.”
Lucien’s eyes darkened. “Then I’ll tear the world apart.”
And with that, he vanished into the trees, leaving her standing at the edge of the water, alone again. Her heart pounded in her chest. The taste of him lingered on her lips. The bond flared between them like a chain of fire, burning in both directions.
When she finally turned to leave, the markings shimmered faintly under her skin once more.
She walked back to the estate under the light of the moon, her thoughts a war zone. She had no answers. No clarity. But she knew one thing now. Everything was about to change. And nothing would ever be the same again.