Valerius stood over the bed, his shadow stretching across Kora’s pale, sweat-slicked face. He had spent the remaining hours of the Blue Moon watching her breath even out, his analytical mind dissecting her collapse. He didn't feel pity; he felt a dark, triumphant satisfaction.

  "A weakness," he whispered into the silence of the room, his gaze lingering on her throat. "A secret flaw for me to exploit. You have nowhere to run now, Princess."

  Kora’s recovery was a slow, agonizing climb out of a nightmare. She woke with a scream, her body bolting upright as the memories of the harbor and the black glass fortress flooded back. She scanned the room in a panic. It was vast—larger than any room she had occupied in Elysia—and designed with a brutal, expensive elegance. The windows were sealed, offering a breathtaking view of the jagged mountains that served as her new cage.

  The moment her bare feet touched the cold marble floor, the reality of her capture settled into her bones. She didn't think; she ran. She burst through the bedroom doors, driven by a decade of hating the walls that kept her in. She didn't want to be an experiment. She didn't want to be a cure. She just wanted to be Kora.

  But the Valmont Estate was not a house; it was a labyrinth. Kora ran until her lungs burned, but every corridor felt like a mirror, and every turn led to a dead end. The silence of the castle was heavy, broken only by the frantic slap of her feet against the stone.

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  "Running in an unfamiliar place... how bold."

  The voice came from the shadows behind her, cold and vibrating with a terrifying calm. Kora spun around, her back hitting a pillar. Valerius stood a few paces away, his eyes darkly gazing at her with a look of bored amusement.

  "Please," Kora gasped, her breath coming in ragged hitches. "Let me go. I have no value! I’m weak—I’m not even a vampire. I only know basic witchcraft. I can’t save you, and I certainly can’t break a curse as old as yours."

  She was begging now, her pride dissolving into a raw plea for the freedom she had barely tasted. "I promise I won’t speak a word. I’ll forget your face, your castle, everything. I’ll never tell the King I found you. I swear it!"

  "Found me?" Valerius let out a short, dark smirk that didn't reach his eyes. He stepped forward, his 185cm frame shrinking the hallway until the air felt thin. "I am the one who hunted you, Princess. I am the one who captured you. You didn't find me—you were claimed."

  "Don’t come closer!" Kora screamed, her hands flying up to ward him off. She backed away blindly, her heels skidding on the edge of the grand mezzanine. She was so focused on the monster in front of her that she didn't realize the floor ended behind her.

  Her foot stepped into empty air.

  Kora’s stomach plummeted as she tilted backward, the marble stairs waiting to break her spine below. But the impact never came. In a blur of supernatural speed, Valerius was there. He didn't just catch her; he hauled her against his chest with a force that made her ribs ache.

  He held her suspended over the drop, his arm a solid iron bar around her waist. His eyes were inches from hers, burning with a dark, possessive desire

  .

  "You aren't getting hurt on my watch, Kora," he hissed, his grip tightening until she was flush against the cold planes of his body. "Your life belongs to me now. If you want to break something, try breaking me—but you will never leave this house."