Chapter 71 - Lucien's Visit

Chapter 71 - Lucien's Visit
Erica’s POV

I couldn’t move.

I swear I tried, but my body just wouldn’t listen.

There was a shadow outside my window, tall, thin, wrong, and its hand was flat on the glass, pale as bone. The wards around the window flickered, like a flame dying in the wind. Not breaking… just bending. Like something was learning how to get through them.

My mark burned against my wrist, pulsing with my heartbeat. Every instinct screamed run, hide, scream, do something. But I just stood there. Frozen. Watching that thing drag its fingers across the glass in slow, lazy circles.

“Come out and play, little omega.”

The voice was familiar. That’s what made it worse. Too smooth, too human. Like someone I knew, but hollowed out and twisted.

The shadow moved closer, and for one horrible second, the moonlight caught his face.

Lucien.

But not the Lucien I’d seen before. This one looked… gone. His face was sunken, like something starving. His eyes burned red, brighter than Edward’s ever had. Like there was fire eating him from the inside out.

He smiled. All teeth. All hunger.
“I can smell your fear, little one. It’s delicious.”

My hands were shaking so bad I could barely grab my phone. I opened the group chat, the one me, Edward, and Elijah had made after the last attack.

Me: Lucien is here. Outside my window.

I hit send.

Lucien tilted his head like he could hear them. His grin stretched wider. “Calling for your boys? They can’t save you from what’s coming, Erica. Not the King. Not the wards. Not anyone.”

He dragged one claw down the glass. The sound went right through my teeth.

“You want to know why I keep coming back?” His voice was calm. Almost gentle. “Because you’re the key.”

“What?” I barely whispered it.

He leaned closer, his breath fogging the glass. “Enid’s soul, trapped in a mortal body. Bound by blood and magic to Edward. And when that bond breaks, when you finally choose one of them and shatter the other, that’s when the real power wakes up.”

My stomach dropped. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Lucien laughed. It was a sound I’ll never forget, like glass breaking inside a throat. “Oh, Edward didn’t tell you? Of course he didn’t. Poor Edward, cursed by love. But the curse he’s trying to break? It’s not a curse, sweetheart. It’s a trap. And you’re the bait.”

The door slammed open.

Elijah burst in like a storm, half-shifted, claws out, eyes burning green. Edward was right behind him, fast as hell.

But when they reached the window, Lucien was gone.

“He was here,” I said. My voice didn’t even sound like mine. “Right there. He—he talked to me.”

Elijah grabbed my shoulders, checking me over. “Did he touch you? Did he break through the wards?”

I shook my head. “No. He just said stuff. About the curse. About me being some kind of key. Edward—” I turned to him. “What did he mean?”

Edward didn’t answer. Just stared at the window like it would tell him something.

“Edward,” I said again, louder. “What did he mean?”

“We need to lock this place down,” Elijah said, already moving, checking the wards. “Something’s wrong with them. He got too close.”

Edward finally spoke, voice low. “Nothing’s wrong with them. He’s getting stronger.”

“How?” I asked. “How is he out there whispering through my damn window?”

Edward turned, and I hated the look in his eyes. “Because someone’s feeding him power. It's blood magic. Every death in this place, the professor, the guards, all of it, it’s been fuel for him. He’s feeding.”

The room felt colder all of a sudden.

“So every time someone dies…” I started.

“He gets stronger,” Edward finished. “Strong enough to slip through super fortified wards. Strong enough to—” He stopped himself.

“To what?” Elijah snapped.

Edward’s jaw tightened. “To finish the ritual.”

“What ritual?” I asked. I didn’t even want to know, but I had to ask.

“A ritual to tie you to him forever.”

Elijah’s claws dug into the wood. “We’re not letting that happen.”

Edward nodded. “Then we find whoever’s helping him and cut off his power source.”

“Lena,” I said. “It has to be Lena. The King’s been investigating her.”

“We don’t have to wait for him,” Elijah said. “We find proof ourselves. Tonight.”

“The King said Erica should stay out of it,” Edward warned.

“Yeah?” Elijah shot back. “Well, the King can’t keep Lucien out of her goddamn room.”

I looked at both of them for a moment. “Okay, but no fights.”

Caroline’s voice suddenly came from the hallway: “Erica? The wards just fluctuated. What’s—” She stepped in, froze, eyes darting to the window. “Oh no.”

“Lucien was here,” I told her.

Her face drained of color. “Impossible. The wards—” She checked them quickly. Her expression darkened. “These were tampered with. Not destroyed, just weakened. From inside the system.”

“You mean someone in the academy,” I said.

She nodded slowly. “Someone with clearance.”

“Who?” Elijah growled.

“Senior staff. The King. Or…” She hesitated. “Someone related to the king.”

My stomach twisted. “Like Lena.”

Caroline didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.

“That’s it,” Elijah said. “We go after her.”

Edward shook his head. “Not enough proof. We need something solid.”

“Then we find it,” I said. “Where would she hide it?”

“The sub-basement,” Caroline said. “Ward Maintenance and Communications. She has access. It’s isolated.”

“Then that’s where we’re going,” Elijah said.

Caroline sighed. “If we’re wrong about her the king will penalise us for it.”

“We’re not wrong,” I said.

She gave me a long, hard look, then nodded. “Fine. We have ten minutes. The guard shift changes then. Follow my lead.”