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?"