The first snowfall of the season blanketed the Blackwood realm in deceptive silence. Beneath its stillness, the air pulsed with old magic, the kind that hummed beneath your skin and whispered promises you never meant to keep.
Athena stood at the edge of the crimson woods, her leather cloak slick with melted frost. Her boots left no trace behind her. She had long since mastered the art of vanishing. It was the only thing that had kept her alive all these years.
She hadn't returned to this place since he died.
No, since he betrayed her.
The scent of blood curled in the cold. Fresh. Human.
Athena moved before thought could catch her. Her body blurred through the trees, silent as the grave. The source wasn't hard to find: a young girl, throat slashed, body half-drained. Dumped like trash beneath a tree carved with vampire runes.
A message.
Her lip curled. Whoever left this thought they could lure her out. They were right.
"Still running toward danger, I see."
The voice coiled around her like smoke,familiar, deep, with just enough arrogance to make her want to stab something.
Athena turned sharply, and there he was.
Lucien.
Standing like he belonged in her memories. Tall, dark, and draped in a velvet coat lined with wolf fur. His eyes, storm gray, ancient—locked onto hers with an intensity that made her throat tighten.
"Don't," she warned, stepping back. "Whatever game you're playing, I'm not interested."
Lucien smiled. Slow. Dangerous. "Oh, but you should be. Because this time, Athena... the blood oath has been invoked."
And just like that, the ground beneath her heart cracked wide open.