Chapter 14
1189 Words
Amber couldn’t stop shaking.
Even after Zane pulled her away from the shattered mirror.
Even after he checked every room in the house twice.
Even after the strange cold presence faded from the hallway.
It still felt like Lucian’s voice lingered inside her head.
*My queen.*
The words repeated over and over, sinking deeper each time.
Amber sat curled tightly on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while Zane paced the living room like a storm trapped in human form.
“You need to tell me what’s going on,” she finally said.
Zane didn’t answer.
“That’s becoming really annoying.”
Still pacing.
Amber narrowed her eyes. “Zane.”
He stopped abruptly.
For a second he looked exhausted. Not physically—something deeper than that. Like he was carrying years of fear he didn’t know how to explain.
“You weren’t supposed to see that,” he muttered.
“Well, I did.”
“You shouldn’t remember things this early.”
Amber’s stomach twisted. “Remember?”
Zane instantly regretted the word.
She saw it happen across his face.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“That very clearly means something.”
Zane dragged a hand through his hair. “Lucian’s going to kill me.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“You don’t know Lucian.”
Amber thought of the shadow in the mirror.
The crimson eyes.
The way her chest had ached the second she saw him.
Maybe she didn’t know him.
But some part of her recognised him anyway.
And that terrified her more than anything.
“What did he mean by queen?” she asked quietly.
Zane went silent again.
Amber stood suddenly. “No. Stop doing that. Every time I ask a question, everyone acts like I’m about to explode if I hear the answer.”
“Because you might.”
“That doesn’t even make sense!”
“It will.”
Frustration burned through her chest. “Then explain it to me!”
The lights flickered.
Both of them froze.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire house went dark.
Amber’s breath caught.
The silence that followed felt alive.
Zane swore softly under his breath.
“Stay behind me.”
“That’s never reassuring.”
A strange scraping sound echoed upstairs.
Amber’s blood ran cold.
It sounded slow.
Deliberate.
Like fingernails dragging across wood.
Zane’s eyes locked onto the ceiling.
“He found you again.”
Amber swallowed hard. “Who exactly are we talking about here? Lucian or the Watcher?”
For the first time—
Zane hesitated.
And that hesitation told her everything.
“They’re the same person,” she whispered.
Another scraping sound answered from above.
Closer this time.
Amber’s pulse thundered painfully.
“That’s impossible,” she breathed.
Zane laughed once, humourless. “You’re in love with an ancient shadow vampire connected to haunted mirrors and forbidden magic, and *that’s* the part you think is impossible?”
Amber opened her mouth to deny it.
Nothing came out.
Because she couldn’t.
Not anymore.
A loud bang shook the upstairs hallway.
Amber flinched violently.
Then—
Footsteps.
Slow footsteps crossing the ceiling above them.
Zane moved instantly, stepping protectively in front of her again.
“You need to leave.”
Amber blinked. “Leave my own house?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
But deep down she already knew.
Because something was upstairs.
Something that shouldn’t be there.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence flooded the house once more.
Then a voice drifted softly from the darkness above.
“Amber.”
Her heart stopped.
Lucian.
Not distorted.
Not broken.
His real voice.
Low and smooth and terrifyingly calm.
Every part of her reacted instantly.
Zane’s expression darkened. “Don’t answer him.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s calling to you.”
The floor above creaked.
Another step.
Another.
Moving toward the staircase.
Amber’s body locked in place.
Fear should have been enough to make her run.
Instead—
She wanted to see him.
The thought horrified her.
“Amber,” Zane warned sharply.
But it was too late.
A figure appeared at the top of the staircase.
Tall.
Motionless.
Wrapped in shadows darker than the hallway around him.
Lucian.
Amber’s breath vanished from her lungs.
He looked different tonight.
Less human somehow.
The darkness clung to him unnaturally, curling around his body like living smoke. His pale face was almost ghostlike against the shadows, crimson eyes glowing faintly in the dark.
But despite how frightening he looked—
His expression softened the second he saw her.
“Are you hurt?” he asked quietly.
Amber stared at him.
That was his first question.
Not anger.
Not threats.
Concern.
Zane looked furious. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Lucian’s eyes shifted lazily toward him. “And yet I am.”
“You’re losing control.”
Something dangerous flashed across Lucian’s face at those words.
“I know.”
The honesty in his voice unsettled Amber more than denial would have.
She swallowed hard. “What’s happening to me?”
Lucian looked back at her slowly.
For a second the room felt smaller.
Like the world narrowed down to only the two of them.
“You’re remembering,” he said softly.
Amber’s stomach twisted painfully.
“Remembering what?”
Lucian didn’t answer immediately.
And somehow that silence hurt more than fear.
Finally, he stepped down one stair.
Then another.
Zane moved instantly. “Stop.”
The shadows around Lucian darkened sharply.
“You cannot keep her from me forever.”
Amber’s pulse skipped.
There was something desperate beneath his calm voice now.
Something almost broken.
Zane’s jaw tightened. “She deserves the truth before you drag her into this.”
“I never wanted her dragged into it at all.”
The words stunned Amber.
Lucian closed his eyes briefly, like he regretted saying them aloud.
But when he looked at her again, the coldness was gone.
Only sadness remained.
“You were never supposed to remember me,” he whispered.
Amber’s chest ached violently.
“Why do I feel like I know you?” she asked.
Lucian stared at her for a long moment.
Then finally—
“Because once,” he said quietly, “you did.”
The room went still.
Amber’s heart pounded painfully against her ribs.
“What does that mean?”
Lucian stepped closer to the bottom of the stairs now, shadows curling around his feet like smoke.
“It means this is not the first time I have loved you.”
The words shattered something inside her.
Zane muttered a curse under his breath.
Amber couldn’t move.
Couldn’t breathe.
Every instinct told her this should feel wrong.
Impossible.
But instead—
It felt true.
And that terrified her most of all.
Lucian’s crimson eyes held hers steadily.
“In every lifetime,” he said softly, “I find you again.”
A sharp crack suddenly split through the room.
Every mirror in the house shattered at once.
Amber screamed as glass exploded outward across the walls.
The lights burst violently overhead.
Darkness swallowed the room.
And somewhere inside it—
Something laughed.
- Writer
