Chapter 22 Aurora
Moonlight Terrace embraced us through its stone archway. Water bubbled from the fountain, jasmine strangling the air from the blooming vines creeping up the buildings. A mesh of fairy light twisted overhead, throwing fractured shadows across cracked cobblestones.
“Is this the way in?” Radu jabbed his finger at the overflowing basin.
His whisper ricocheted off the walls. Wings beat somewhere in the darkness above us. My gaze snapped to the windows overlooking the terrace, zeroing in on the amber light leaking from one frame.
I held my breath. Counted heartbeats. But the drapes didn’t twitch.
Relief hissed between my teeth.
I pressed a finger to my lips and nodded, then circled the fountain’s base.
Father had mentioned hundreds of secret passages honeycombing the Republic—great-grandfather Traian’s paranoid genius designed for sieges that never came.
I’d cracked this one through sheer stubborn persistence, Lev clearing spiderwebs while I fought with the mechanism.
We’d used this entrance for our treasure hunts into the catacombs, slipping past guards who never thought to watch a fountain.
Octavian Hansen’s masterpiece rose from the basin—Marcus’ Arrival on Earth carved in marble that gleamed like fresh bone. The Creator commanded a hull-shaped chariot, arms flung wide as he drank from a plosca. Water burst from his mouth in an endless jet, the eternal power of blood made manifest.
Hansen had carved every ridge of muscle with obsessive detail, down to the locks that flowed like frozen rapids. But Marcus’ perfect torso wasn’t what I needed.
Below his vessel, dozens of figures captured in worship supported his divine weight. The mortals he’d reanimated during his time on earth. And one carried the switch that would crack the passage open.
“There.”
I hiked my skirt above my knees and swung a leg into the fountain. Water lapped against my calves, tugging at the hem despite my grip. Radu followed without sparing his cloak, jumped straight in and sent water cascading over the rim.
I shot him a glare for the noise and waded closer to the base, trailing my fingers along carved marble until they found the chain.
“That’s it?” he whispered, crouching beside me.
I traced the links of the diamond medallion circling the supplicant’s throat. Found the clasp. Pressed.
Stone rumbled beneath us with a grinding sound that crawled up through my bones.
The water level dropped with a mechanical hum.
I grabbed Radu’s shoulder as the basin floor trembled, then split apart like flower petals.
Hidden stairs descended into perfect darkness, carved smooth by centuries of use and running water.
“After you, princess,” he murmured against my ear.
I shot another glance at the windows—still no movement—then descended. Purebloods lived to report suspicious activity to the Nightwatch, but even if someone spotted us, the officers would need hours to comb the tunnel network. We’d vanish long before then.
I jumped from the last step as mechanical parts ground through the walls. Radu landed beside me, his boots splashing in the shallow puddle at the base. My pulse steadied as the ceiling sealed above us with a final click.
“What now?” Radu scanned the corridor, stretching in both directions.
Besides water dripping from his cloak, silence pressed against us. The tunnel reeked of stale air and decades of abandonment. That earthy cave scent that clung to forgotten places. Humidity thickened the smell as our boots stirred centuries of dust.
“Now we follow the tunnel eastward.” I reached for his hand without thinking.
His fingers locked around mine before my mind caught up with what I’d done.
The satisfied rumble from his chest tugged a smile across my lips.
“Every laneway leads to the palace. In the catacombs, every corridor leads to Derzelas’ Temple. ”
“Clever.” He sounded genuinely impressed.
“Great-grandfather’s paranoia. Father said he spent his final years convinced we’d face conquest or cosmic annihilation.”
We passed the first junction and climbed the gentle incline toward the Temple’s foundation. Every few steps we stopped, listening. Nothing but our own breathing echoed back.
“Wouldn’t be the first ruler to crack under power,” Radu said.
“Or ennui claimed him. Immortals fear boredom as much as sunlight.”
We were close. The last mile curved upward toward our Dark Father’s place of worship, but each step brought new tunnels crossing our path.
“Think you’ll go mad from immortality too?” he asked.
“I might not live long enough to find out.” The prospect hollowed my stomach.
He stopped so abruptly I nearly collided with his back. In the cramped space, he had to duck slightly to turn and face me, his shoulders filling the width of the passage. “Isn’t that why we’re here? To claim your power so nothing can touch you?”
I kept my gaze fixed on the darkness ahead, where the tunnel split in three directions.
“Very soon, I’ll face an opponent just as cunning and powerful as the Shepherd,” I said, choosing the center passage. “That battle, I take alone.”
He tightened his grip on my hand. Midnight roses and dark roasted beans filled the air. “Lev.”
I nodded and forced myself to meet his stare. What I found was the lethal focus of a predator that had chosen its prey. The same look he’d worn in Brasov when he’d carved that crimson line across his chest to bait me.
“The Wurdulaks didn’t just steal my throne,” I confessed, and my voice echoed off the stone walls. “They destroyed my coven’s reputation. Trampled Father’s legacy into dust. Madness runs in my bloodline, but cowardice doesn’t. I’d rather die fighting to restore our honor than let that bastard win.”
“You won’t fight alone,” he growled. “That’s not how this works.”
“How what works?” I asked, confused.
“Us.” He raised my chin with a knuckle. “Thought we’d established you’re mine to protect.”
“Arrogant ass,” I said even as butterflies swarmed inside me.
He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Your arrogant ass.”
His smile was warm fire after bitter cold. Those damned dimples scattered every rational thought I had.
Which explained why I nearly missed the blue electric lights flickering in the distance.
The last junction lay a hundred yards ahead. A crossroads where four tunnels met in a curved X formation. Blue lights pulsed along the uneven stone walls of the eastern passage, seeming to race toward us.
No footsteps. No voices. Just that eerie blue glow cutting through the darkness.
A knot of fear climbed my throat, and I swallowed hard to think clearly. Even if the government had wired the catacombs since my last visit, why install sensors in this forgotten side passage? It wasn’t even a major route.
The realization hit like ice water.
Those weren’t electric lights.
I grabbed Radu’s arm, fingernails digging into his sleeve.
“We need to move. Now—”
A large, calloused hand clamped over my mouth, dragging me backward.
My heart nearly exploded in my chest. I recognized Radu’s addictive scent, the heat radiating from his body, but instinct still screamed at me to fight. Every fiber demanded I break free and run before the Nightwatch patrol spotted us trapped in the open intersection.
Then a man’s voice echoed from around the bend.
Radu’s arm locked around my waist and lifted me clean off my feet. He moved with dizzying speed, my hair whipping forward as he rushed us back down the tunnel. He pressed me against the wall of a shallow alcove we’d passed moments before, his body covering mine.
His scent turned sharp and bitter—the telltale sign of magic use—as he threw up a portal to shield us from view. If the Nightwatch decided to explore our passage, they’d find nothing but empty stone.
I forced my breathing to slow, every muscle coiled tight as voices grew closer.
“Do you think she’s really dead?” the voice asked, and it wasn’t hard to figure who this ‘she’ was. The Commander’s narrative to avoid Mother’s inevitable search parties. How perfectly that had worked in our favor.
Armor clinked and echoed in the silence. I stopped breathing altogether.
The guard’s voice carried a high, slightly pitched timber that young men possessed before transitioning to deeper, more authoritative tones. Though if he hadn’t managed it by now, he never would. Every Nightwatch officer had at least half a century on me.
I twisted my head until Radu freed my mouth, but didn’t dare draw breath for fear of discovery. Nervous anticipation made me nauseous. I would make a terrible spy.
I knew they couldn’t reach us without teleporting through Radu’s portal, but if they raised an alarm, my plan to petition Dracula for the Blood Aura would crumble to ash.
Every beat of Radu’s heart hammered against my ribcage.
He pressed his furnace of a body against me so tightly our bodies molded together.
The scent of him wrapped around me, making my head spin despite the danger lurking mere yards away.
Less than an inch separated me from darting my tongue out to taste that delicious golden column of his throat.
The voices grew louder, boots scraping against stone as the patrol moved closer to our junction. Radu’s grip tightened impossibly, and I felt rather than heard the low growl building in his chest.
His hand moved from my mouth to cradle the back of my neck, fingers threading through my hair. He pulled me closer to his chest still and rested his chin on top of my head.
My heart melted, body sagging against him. Even in hiding, even with enemies prowling nearby, he surrounded me like a shield.
The Nightwatch guard came to a halt not far from where we’d stood seconds ago, his armor clinking as he fumbled with the buckles.
Metal clanged as pieces hit the ground, followed by the unmistakable sound of him relieving himself against the tunnel wall.
I rolled my eyes and grimaced in disgust at every trickle and splash.