Chapter five
1340 Words
Ravyn pushed through the front door, still feeling the warmth of Cassian’s kiss on her lips, but the contentment shattered the moment she saw her father sitting at the kitchen table with her mother and grandmother.
All three looked up as she entered, their conversation cutting off mid-sentence.
“You’re back early,” Elena said, though there was relief in her voice. “How was the rest of your party?”
“Cut short,” Ravyn said, her eyes fixed on Eryx. “By someone howling in the woods.”
Her father’s expression didn’t change, but she caught the slight tightening around his green eyes.
“Dad.” The word still felt strange on her tongue. “I thought you said you were going to keep your distance. Let me celebrate. So why did you come to the lake?”
Eryx was quiet for a moment, his weathered hands clasped in front of him on the table. “I wasn’t planning to reveal myself. I was watching from a distance to make sure everything was alright.”
“So the howling—that was you?” Ravyn asked, though something about the sound had felt different than what she’d expect from her father.
“No,” Eryx said quietly. “It wasn’t.”
“Then what was it?”
“Someone else looking for you,” he said carefully. “Someone I’d hoped wouldn’t find you so soon.”
Ravyn felt a chill run down her spine. “Looking for me? Why?”
“Because word is getting out about what you are,” Elena said softly. “About your awakening.”
“But that’s not why you revealed yourself, is it?” Ravyn stepped closer to the table, studying her father’s weathered face. “You said you would have stayed hidden. What made you come out?”
Eryx’s green eyes met hers steadily. “I saw who you were with. And I realized you were in more danger than I thought.”
“Danger from what? Cassian would never hurt me.”
“Not intentionally, perhaps,” Eryx said carefully. “But Ravyn, there are things about Cassian you don’t know.”
“What kind of things?”
Eryx was quiet for a long moment, studying her face. “His full name is Cassian Ravencrest.”
“Ravencrest,” Ravyn repeated. “So?”
“The Ravencrests are vampire royalty,” Eryx said quietly. “And Cassian… Cassian is the heir to the most powerful vampire court in existence.”
The words hit her like ice water. “That’s… that’s impossible. Cassian’s not a vampire. He can’t be.”
“Think about it,” Eryx said gently. “His skin that never tans. The way he moves—too fast, too graceful. How he always seems to know things before they happen.”
Ravyn’s mind raced back through two years of memories, suddenly seeing them in a different light. Cassian’s impossible speed when he’d saved her. The way he never seemed tired, never seemed to need sleep. How he was always perfectly composed, unnaturally beautiful.
“No,” she whispered. “He would have told me.”
“Would he?” Eryx asked. “When vampires are forbidden from revealing themselves to humans? When his father is Lord Valerius Ravencrest—the current leader of all vampire courts?”
“His father…” Ravyn felt dizzy. “What does his father want?”
“You,” Eryx said simply. “Cassian has been in your life for two years—since you were sixteen. Do you really think it was a coincidence that he happened to be there the exact moment you needed saving?”
“How did you know he saved me?” Ravyn asked sharply. “I never told anyone about that.”
“I did some research when I left the lake,” Eryx said grimly. “The truck driver who ran that red light? He disappeared the next day. No forwarding address, no explanation. Just gone.”
Ravyn’s blood turned to ice. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying they made him run the light,” Eryx said quietly. “Vampire compulsion. They created the danger so Cassian could swoop in and save you. Your entire meeting was orchestrated.”
The room spun around her. Ravyn gripped the back of the chair harder, her knuckles white. “That’s… that’s impossible. Why would they risk hurting me just to—”
“Because they knew he’d be fast enough to save you,” Elena said. “Because vampires don’t feel fear the way we do. Because to them, it was just another chess move.”
“Everything,” Ravyn whispered, staring at nothing. “Everything between us started with a lie.”
“He was assigned to watch you,” Eryx said firmly. “To gain your trust. To be close to you when your powers awakened.”
Ravyn’s voice came out as barely a whisper. “Everything we shared… it was all fake?”
“That,” Elena said softly, “is what you need to find out.”
The strange double heartbeat pulsed in her chest again, stronger now, and Ravyn pressed her hand over her heart. “What does his father want with me?”
“Your power,” Eryx said simply. “With your hybrid blood, your immunity to supernatural control, your combined abilities—you could tip the balance of any war. And if you’re emotionally bound to their prince…”
The room spun slightly. Ravyn grabbed the back of a chair to steady herself. “So I’m just a weapon to them.”
“A very valuable one,” Iris said quietly. “Which is why they sent Cassian to secure you.”
Ravyn thought about all the times Cassian had deflected questions about his family, about his past. The way he always seemed to have money but never talked about work. The otherworldly grace, the impossible beauty, the way other people seemed drawn to him.
“He knew exactly who I was. Like he’d been briefed on me.” Eryx’s expression darkened. “Which means they’ve been planning this for a very long time.”
The double heartbeat pulsed again, and Ravyn found herself looking toward the window, toward the darkness outside. “The howling tonight… you said someone was looking for me. Who?”
“That,” Eryx said carefully, “is a conversation for another day. Right now, you need to process what you’ve learned about Cassian. You need to decide what you want to do with this information.”
“What I want,” Ravyn said, looking around the table at the three people who claimed to care about her, “is for someone to stop treating me like I’m made of glass. I want the whole truth. All of it.”
“The truth can be dangerous,” Elena warned.
“More dangerous than lies?” Ravyn shot back. “Because right now, I don’t know what’s real anymore. If Cassian was lying, if you’ve been keeping secrets, if strangers are howling for me in the woods—I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
Eryx studied her face for a long moment. “You’re stronger than I expected,” he said finally. “But some truths change everything. Once you know them, you can’t go back to who you were before.”
“I can’t go back anyway,” Ravyn said. “The moment this mark appeared, the moment you walked through our door, that option disappeared. So, either trust me with the truth or stop pretending you’re protecting me.”
The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken secrets. Finally, Eryx nodded.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll start your training tomorrow. And I’ll tell you everything you need to know about what’s coming.”
“What’s coming?”
“War,” Eryx said simply. “And you’re going to be right in the middle of it.”
- Writer
