Amelia stood frozen, her breath trembling in the red-tinged air. The blood moon above cast long shadows across Lucien's prison, warping the beauty of the ice walls into something sinister.
"You're lying," she said to Nyssara, but her voice shook.
The vampire queen stepped forward slowly, her long cloak whispering against the frost. "Oh, child. You feel it, don't you? The pull in your chest. The ache when you're near him."
Lucien's voice cut through the haze. "Amelia, listen to me. There's truth in her words, but it's twisted."
Amelia turned toward him, eyes wide with fear and confusion. "What is she talking about? That I'm… some kind of key?"
Lucien's chains clinked as he moved closer. "You are the last of her bloodline — the Winter Queen. She was human, like you. She fell in love with a vampire. Like you."
He swallowed hard, guilt painting his features. "That vampire… was me."Centuries ago, Lucien had once been different — noble, human. A knight. He had protected the mortal queen of the Winterlands, only to fall hopelessly in love with her. Their union defied the laws of blood and throne. In secret, they shared a love that changed everything.
But the vampire lords feared their bond. They believed it weakened the lines between predator and prey. So, they cursed them both.
They turned Lucien into what he is now — immortal, monstrous, always cold, never able to love again without risking the world collapsing around him. And the queen… they shattered her bloodline, scattering her descendants through time with a dormant power.
"You're her last echo," Lucien said softly. "You carry the soul of her love."
Amelia's knees nearly gave out.
"I'm just a girl," she whispered.
"No," Nyssara purred. "You're more. You're the sacrifice. The one who can end him — or save him. But you can't do both."Guards moved in. Lucien's chains pulsed with magic, reacting to the blood moon, growing hotter. Pain radiated through his body — and he dropped to his knees, barely able to speak.
Amelia turned to him, panic rising. "I won't let them take you!"
She reached for the glowing barrier between them — and to everyone's shock, her hand passed through it like mist.
Nyssara's eyes widened. "What—"
Amelia stepped inside.
"Amelia, no!" Lucien cried.
But it was too late.
Her fingers brushed his — and in that instant, something ancient awoke inside her. The ice cracked beneath them. The chains snapped.
A burst of silver-white light exploded outward, knocking the guards back, blowing out the torches.
Lucien surged to his feet, breathless, eyes wide. "What did you do?"
Amelia trembled. "I… I don't know."
He grabbed her ha
nd. "We have to run."The hallways were chaos.
Vampires screamed. Alarms rang out, horns echoing in the distance. The blood moon was nearing its zenith, feeding power into every cursed wall.
Lucien and Amelia raced through the tunnels, navigating by instinct and desperation. Amelia's heartbeat guided him now — he could hear it clearer than ever, and it anchored him.
They burst into the surface, the cold night sky burning with red light. The forest around the Frost Court was warping, reacting to the broken curse — trees bending unnaturally, snow falling upward.
"We can't go back to your world," Lucien said, voice rough. "The curse has already started to unravel. If they catch you again…"
She gripped his arm. "Then we fight."
Lucien stared at her — at the fire in her eyes, so much like the queen he once loved, yet completely her own. "You've changed."
"No," she said. "I'm just becoming who I was
meant to be."They took shelter in the ruins of an ancient chapel — one buried deep in vampire territory, long abandoned.
There, under the stained glass shards of a forgotten altar, Lucien finally collapsed.
Amelia knelt beside him, brushing the snow from his face. "You need blood."
He turned away. "No. Not from you."
"I trust you," she said.
But he shook his head. "This hunger… it's not something I control. I won't lose myself in you."
Tears welled in her eyes. "What if I want to be the one who saves you?"
He looked at her then — truly looked. "I don't want to be saved. I want to earn it. For you."
Silence.
Then she leaned forward and placed her lips gently against his — cold meeting warm, night meeting dawn.
It was not desperate. It was not hurried.
It was real.
And in that moment, the frost in
side him cracked again.As they rested, the moon above reached its highest point — and a new terror began.
The Frost Court unleashed its secret weapon.
A creature born of blood magic and winter, created to destroy Lucien should he ever break the curse.
A Silvyr Shade.
Amelia felt its arrival like a thunderclap in her soul. She bolted upright, Lucien following, eyes already glowing.
"We have to run again," she said.
"No," he said grimly. "We can't run from this."
From the shadows came a growl that didn't belong to any living thing.
The Silvyr Shade stepped into view — a towering beast made of swirling black mist, crimson lightning streaking through its body. Eyes like red stars locked onto Lucien.
"I'll hold it off," Lucien said. "You find a way to sever the curse. The altar—"
"I'm not leaving you again!" Amelia shouted.
The beast lunged.
Lucien met it mid-air, his body flashing with ancient energy, strength returned in full by her touch. The
clash shook the earth.Amelia ran to the ruined altar.
The carvings were clearer now under the blood moon: Love can bind. But only sacrifice can break.
She placed her hand on the center stone. Light flared beneath her skin. Her vision blurred.
Suddenly, she was in a memory — not her own.
The Winter Queen, standing in this very chapel, tears streaming down her face as she watched Lucien taken from her.
"She'll come," the queen whispered. "My daughter's daughter's daughter. When the moon turns red. When frost burns the ground."
The vision vanished.
Amelia gasped, then shouted toward Lucien, who was bleeding, staggering beneath the weight of the Silvyr Shade.
"Lucien! I know what to do!"She stood on the altar, arms open.
The beast paused, sensing the shift. Its red eyes flicked to her.
Lucien's voice broke through the chaos. "No, Amelia! Don't!"
"If I give myself," she shouted, "the curse will break. All of it."
Nyssara appeared then — materializing like smoke. "She's right. One of you must die."
Lucien cried out. "No! You don't get to choose her fate!"
Nyssara sneered. "You loved a queen once. And you failed to save her. Will you fail again?"
Amelia looked at him — tears glistening, heart full.
"I'm not afraid," she said.
Lucien's eyes flared. "Then I am."
He launched himself forward — not toward the beast. But toward her.
And the world exploded in light.