Chapter 24
XXIV
LUCIAN
She should’ve been back by now.
Ten minutes, I told her. Just ten minutes to collect her things.
I offered to come with her. She said it would be faster if she went alone.
I told her to wait for me. Begged her to.
But she told me she needed time to be alone with her thoughts and the ten minutes was all she needed. I let her go—partly because I needed time to explain things to my parents. To soften the blow before I brought her home.
The woman who I embarrassed in front of London’s high society.
I needed time to explain to my mum that the very woman she told me not to hurt, to handle with care—I’ll be bringing her to their home, broken and bruised. I didn’t want another war since Eden is so frayed at the edges.
Because Mum would have surely started one with me.
By the time I got off the call, everything was settled.
Mum handed my ass to me while my father watched in quiet amusement.
The jet had been charted, her name cleared with our private security team.
Mum also agreed to give her the suite in the west wing—tall windows, warm floors, bookshelves that I planned to fill with everything she loved.
A view of the garden where no one ever walked, so she could breathe without being watched.
Eden will be safe with me.
The call ends—and that’s when I realize it’s been nearly an hour since she left.
The sun is dying outside, casting long, sharp shadows across the flora. I’ve always loved the rich gold that makes everything look straight out of a movie.
I call her.
Nothing.
It doesn’t ring.
There’s no warm, playfully annoyed voice on the other end telling me I’m being overprotective. I’m already on my feet before the panic finishes forming, moving before the fear finds a shape.
I leave the cottage—stride turning to a jog, jog turning to a sprint. The wind bites, but I don’t feel it. Every step pounds into me like a countdown, like I’m already too late.
The dormitories loom ahead, gothic and silent.
When I get to the Girls’ Dormitory, I push the doors open so harsh they slam against the walls.
Girls scatter out of my way as I run up the steps to Eden’s dorm room.
She wanted to get the last of her clothes.
Since she was certain her parents would cut her off, the clothes she had at school was all she had left.
It didn’t matter how many times I reassured her that I would spare no expense to get her everything she needed, or that my mother would be beyond excited to take her on shopping trips. Eden was insistent.
So I let her.
She had to endure so much to develop a backbone that I wasn’t about to stand in her way. Now, as my heart is beating so fast it might jump out of my chest—I wonder if that was the right choice to make.
I get to Eden’s door and knock.
There’s no response but the door creaks open.
That’s not good. Adrenaline burns in my throat. I push the door, and what I see stops me in my tracks. There she is.
Not Eden, but Anastazya.
Her body lies in the middle of the room, neck twisted unnaturally, eyes blown wide. Her mouth is still parted. A single rose-colored smear of blood has dried on her lip. There’s more pooling behind her skull—congealed now. The smell of it is faint but metallic.
Her blonde hair fans out like a halo, mockingly perfect.
But she’s dead.
She’s dead.
And Eden? She’s nowhere.
My breath stutters. I feel it in my gut like a punch. Eden is in grave danger because there’s only one person who could have done this.
I take one slow step back.
Then another.
My hand grips the frame of the door, steadying me.
“Eden,” I call out, my voice low, cracking.
All that meets me is cold silence.
I turn, heading back out to the hallway. The room is on the top floor, but there’s no sign of anything else. I pace the walkway, my eyes scanning every square inch, even though I don’t know what I’m looking for.
Blood?
A sign of struggle?
Her shoes abandoned?
Her sweater hastily thrown off?
But I know I won’t find anything here.
Anastazya wasn’t just killed, she was left out in the open.
It was a display, a warning, an extreme, debauched message.
And I know who it’s from.
Silas.
The realization sinks into my bones like ice water.
Of course.
Of course he wouldn’t let her go.
Of course he wouldn’t give her up without blood.
I was stupid to think he’d slithered back into obscurity.
Monsters don’t disappear—they wait.
The panic that’s been bubbling in my chest turns white hot, blazing, sharp. Fury burns my blood, and now all I can feel is fury.
I bolt from the dorm. There’s only one place on campus dark and twisted enough for his theatrics—those fucking catacombs. If Silas has laid a hand on Eden, I am going to kill him with it. She’s mine now, and she always will be.
My lungs burn with every breath. My legs don’t feel like mine. The sky overhead is bruised and bleeding, the last light swallowed by the rising dark. Gravel scatters beneath my boots, the wind slashes across my face like a warning.
Too late, too late, too late.
I don’t stop until I reach the crumbling old chapel. I jump over the fallen pillars, the loose stone, my heart beating faster with every step. Damp cold air seeps out from the catacombs, the kind of cold that creeps under your skin and wraps around your spine.
That’s when I see her, a crimson-stained shadow crawling out of the catacombs.
My heart drops out of my body.
She’s on her knees, gripping a knife. Her entire body is soaked with blood. The glow has left her skin, leaving her with a ghostly pallor. Her hair’s matted to her skull, tangled and wet, and her right arm hangs limp at her side.
She looks like she’s bleeding straight from her soul. Yet when her eyes meet mine she manages a soft smile. She smiles like she didn’t think I’d come. Like she thought this was it—and now that I’m here, she can let go.
And she does, her body crumpling.
“Eden!”
I reach her in time. I drop to my knees and catch her before her head hits stone. Her body folds into mine, trembling and broken. Her blood seeps through my shirt in seconds. My hands, my arms, and my chest are all soaked.
“Stay with me,” I choke. “Stay the fuck with me, please.”
I pull her tighter against me, cradle the back of her head, press my cheek to her temple like I can hold her soul in place just by being close enough.
She exhales, but it’s too slow.
It’s too shallow.
“I killed him,” her voice is as thin as the wind. “I’m free, Lucy.”
Her pulse is faint against my wrist. “I’m proud of you, Edie.” The words slip from me, even though I’m certain now isn’t the time or place to talk about this.
Her lips are pale and cracking. Her mouth moves but no sound comes out, but her lips wrap around each word like she’s praying, like she knows how close she is to death.
“No, no,” I breathe, fury rising behind my ribs. “You’re not leaving me. You’re not. I just got you back. I just got you back.”
I slide my arm under her knees, the other behind her shoulders, and lift her.
She’s too light, and Eden should never be this light.
The Eden I know? She should be full of heat and defiance and fire—cursing me for being dramatic, for always barging into her ruin and trying to fix it.
Her head lolls against my chest, and I start running.
My feet hammer the ground. My vision blurs, but I blink it away. I can’t afford to fall. Not now. Not when I’ve already failed her once. This is my fault.
I let her go alone.
Told myself it would be fine.
Told myself ten minutes wouldn’t matter.
I thought I had time.
I thought I’d planned for everything, as if evil waits politely while you finish making arrangements. As if Silas—fucking Silas—would ever let her walk away unpunished. I thought embarrassment would send him into hiding.
I was arrogant, and now she’s bleeding out in my arms.
I press my mouth to her bloody temple.
“Just hold on,” I whisper again. “Please. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”
My words are paper-thin, and don’t even sound believable to my own ears. They’re useless against the weight pressing down on my chest. Underneath my pleading, underneath my panic, is a truth so loud I can barely breathe around it.
If Eden dies, I have nothing.
My name doesn’t matter.
My family’s wealth doesn’t matter.
None of the havoc I wreaked matters.
Nothing.
Because I was never fighting for power. I was fighting for her.
And if she slips away from me now, like a dream I wasn’t allowed to keep, I wouldn’t even be able to mourn.
I’d burn everything down. I would destroy more than the school.
I’d destroy more than the city. I would destroy everything that anyone had ever loved.
I’d end bloodlines, searching for just a glimmer of the happiness she gave me in the ashes.
I can’t lose Eden.
She’s all I have to live for.