The silver plate burned. My vision swam.

Julian crouched in front of me, his eyes full of worry and guilt. “Elena, listen to me. I’ll handle the pact.”

I used my last bit of strength to look at him.

“You’ll stop Chloe from being sent to the Evernight Empire?”

“Yes.” He nodded, his voice firm. “And then we’ll complete our blood bond immediately. I promise—”

I closed my eyes. “Good.”

“Elena?” He reached out to touch my forehead, the way he used to comfort me when we were kids.

I turned my head away.

“We’ll all get what we want, Julian.”

The next second, I blacked out.

I woke up in a bed at the clan’s medical center. A crystal chandelier cast a soft glow across the white ceiling.

“You’re awake.” Julian was sitting in a chair by the bed, his eyes bloodshot. “The doctor said your bloodline was severely damaged. You need to rest.”

I pushed myself up. “How long has it been?”

“Three days.” He handed me a warm glass of blood. “Elena, about that night—”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” I took the glass and drained it. “Since I’m awake, I can go home.”

“You haven’t fully recovered!”

“I’m fine.” I threw back the covers and got out of bed. “Julian, I want you to come with me somewhere.”

He frowned. “Where?”

“The old clock tower,” I said, looking at him. “Just one last time. As a goodbye.”

Julian’s expression shifted.

The old clock tower at the edge of the city. Our childhood playground. Abandoned for years.

“Why there, all of a sudden?”

“Because I’m leaving soon,” I said calmly. “To fulfill the pact.”

“Elena!” he stood up abruptly. “I told you, I’ll take care of—”

“You’ll protect Chloe. I know,” I cut him off. “So, just this once. Will you come with me?”

Julian was silent for a long moment. Finally, he nodded. “Fine.”

Back at the castle, I went straight to my room.

I pushed open the oak door carved with a crescent moon. Nothing had changed.

I walked to my vanity and opened the bottom drawer.

Inside lay seven Star Stones, each glowing with a faint silver light. Julian had given me one for my birthday every year. Each one held a sliver of my own life force.

In my last life, I treasured them, thinking they were a symbol of his love.

Now I knew what they were: a leash. A way to make sure I could never betray him.

One by one, I placed the stones into an old sandalwood box and locked it.

From now on, no one would control my power but me.

Finally, I took out the last thing my mother had left me—a dull moonstone pendant. It looked plain, almost worn out, but it was the source of my bloodline. The last sigil of the Moonlight Clan.

I put it around my neck, feeling its faint, pure energy.

As night fell, I went to the old clock tower alone.

The city had forgotten this place. Vines crawled up the old stone walls, and the great bell at the top had long since stopped telling time.

I climbed the rickety wooden stairs to the top.

A cold, stinging rain began to fall. Each drop hit my face with the tang of city pollution.

I sat on the edge of the tower, waiting for Julian.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

The rain fell harder, soaking through my clothes, but I sat perfectly still.

In my last life, he always came. No matter where I waited. No matter how long it took.

This time was different.

The sky began to lighten. Dawn was coming.

I pulled out my phone. No messages.

He wasn’t coming.

I stood up, ready to leave the clock tower and all our childhood memories behind.

From this moment on, Elena Moonlight was done with him.

Just as I turned, a sharp wave of vertigo hit me. I grabbed the wall to steady myself, but my head felt like it was splitting open.

What's happening to me?

I looked down at the moonstone on my chest. It was glowing with an unnatural light.

This wasn’t just vertigo.

I felt a presence. Powerful. Alien. It was so oppressive I could barely breathe.

Was it the Evernight Empire? No, the pact wasn’t official yet.

The dizziness grew worse. My vision blurred. The moonstone on my chest burned brighter and brighter, as if answering a call.

Before I could react, there was a blinding flash, and then… darkness.

Icy liquid choked its way down my throat. It dragged me back to consciousness.

My eyes flew open. I was chained in a dark, underground cell. The air was thick with a dizzying, sweet aroma—the River of Forgetfulness, an expensive incense used to weaken a vampire’s power and senses.

"Awake, are we?" a strange voice rasped. "You have a stubborn bloodline."

I tried to fight my chains, but my body was terrifyingly weak.

A vampire with a scarred face walked toward me, his eyes gleaming with madness.

“A Rogue?” I recognized the brand on his forehead. “You were exiled. What are you doing here?”

“Money,” he sneered. "Someone paid a fortune for this. To teach the Moonlight princess her place."

He dragged me to the center of the cell, forced my mouth open, and poured a vial of silver liquid down my throat—Bone-Etching Silver.

It wasn't lethal. But the silver would ignite in my veins. An agony like a thousand needles stabbing my bones.

“No!” I struggled, but the pain exploded through me.

I collapsed, my body convulsing, but I bit my lip to keep from screaming.

“You won’t last long,” the scarred man chuckled. “We have three whole hours.”

They didn’t touch me again. They just watched as I writhed under the effects of the poison, a fresh wave of agony hitting me with every surge of my own power.

During a lull in the pain, I heard a phone ring.

“Yes, Lord Julian.” The scarred man’s voice was suddenly respectful. “We did as you asked. Her life is not in danger.”

Julian?

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Yes, the Bone-Etching Silver is very effective,” he continued. “She’ll learn her lesson soon enough.”

He hung up and turned to me, his eyes full of mockery.

"Your lover boy still cares," he sneered. "At least, he doesn't want you dead. Yet."

Ice filled my veins. A black pit opened in my chest.

Julian had arranged this.

Hours later, the iron door creaked open.

Julian appeared at the top of the stairs. He walked down, his face a cold mask, and looked at my broken body on the floor.

“That’s enough,” he told the Rogues. “Give her to me.”

The scarred man unlocked my chains, and Julian lifted me into his arms.

I was too weak to fight. I could only let him carry me away.

“Why?” I whispered.

"This is your punishment," he said, his voice pure ice. "For what you did to Chloe. For trying to send her to the Evernight Empire."

He continued, "You need to understand, Elena, some lines can’t be crossed. I won’t let anyone hurt her. Not even you.”

I closed my eyes and said nothing more.

So that’s what he thought of me. No wonder he’d stood me up at the clock tower.

He carried me back to his apartment and laid me on the bed in the guest room.

“Rest,” he said from the doorway, his back to me. “After our blood bond is complete, I’ll make it up to you.”

"Make it up to me?" A bitter laugh tore from my throat. "Julian, there is no making up for this."

He was silent for a long time before finally leaving the room.

The next evening, the doorbell rang.

I heard Chloe’s bright, silvery laugh.

“Is Julian not home?” she asked. “No matter. I’m here to see my dear sister.”

She pushed the door open, a triumphant smirk on her face.

“Elena, you look terrible,” she said, sitting in the chair by my bed. “But you had it coming.”

“You arranged the kidnapping?”

“Of course,” she said, not even trying to hide it. “I told Julian that you were so jealous, you used forbidden family magic to threaten Father. That you forced his hand to send me to the Evernight Empire immediately. The moment he heard I might be sent to that monster, he arranged this little ‘lesson’ to put you in your place.”

I stared at her, the last shred of warmth in my heart turning to ice.

“But that wasn’t enough,” Chloe continued. “So I paid the Rogues an extra hundred units of pure blood to make sure the ‘lesson’ became real torture.”

A hundred units of pure blood. Enough to buy a castle.

“Was it worth it?” I asked.

“Absolutely.” She stood up, a crazed light in her eyes. “Watching the noble Moonlight princess begging for mercy at my feet? That’s worth more than anything.”

Her eyes suddenly fell on the moonstone around my neck.

“What’s this?” She snatched the pendant. “It looks ancient.”

“Give it back.” I tried to grab it, but I was too weak.

“Is this the legendary Moonstone?” she said, examining it. “Doesn’t look like much.”

She flicked her wrist. The moonstone hit the floor.

Crack.

A thousand years of my family's legacy. Shattered.

I stared at the fragments, feeling my heart stop. It was the only thing my mother had ever given me. The last symbol of the Moonlight Clan.

“Now, it’s time to send you on your way,” Chloe said, clapping her hands.

Two vampires in black suits entered the room.

"Take her to the airfield," Chloe ordered. "The Evernight Empire's jet is waiting."

“No…” I tried to fight, but the poison still burned in my veins.

They dragged me from the apartment and shoved me into a black car. The car sped through the night, finally stopping on the tarmac of a private airfield.

A jet was waiting, a blood-red moon painted on its tail.

The sigil of the Evernight Empire.

They pushed me up the stairs. As the cabin door slammed shut, I took one last look at the city lights.

————

Meanwhile, Julian returned to his apartment to find the room empty.

Elena’s warmth still lingered on the sheets, but she was gone.

He saw the moonstone dust on the floor, and a sick feeling coiled in his gut.

He dissolved into black mist, racing to Elena’s family castle at top speed.

“Where is Elena?!” he roared, storming into the great hall and confronting Victor.

“She’s gone,” Victor answered calmly. “To the Evernight Empire, as the pact decreed.”

Julian's blood ran cold. "No," he whispered. "Why would she go to him?"