CHAPTER 25: A GREAT BIG WORLD AND CHRISTINA AGUILERA - SAY SOMETHING

"You cannot. Not now." Talon added.

Kyllian stopped, his breath heaving from the sheer force of self-restraint. His forehead rested on Luna’s shoulder for one lingering second longer before he finally stepped back, dragging in a breath.

"No!" Luna’s cry cracked the air.

"He’s right." Kyllian moved with mechanical precision, pulling her pants back up and zipping them gently. He reached for her bra and slid it into place without meeting her eyes. Her shirt, crumpled on the floor, was handed to her with finality.

"Kyllian...".

"This cannot happen." His eyes met hers, stormy and resolute. "It won’t happen. Not like this. Not when I don’t know if I’m yours or just... the easier option."

At least, not until he was sure she’d chosen him freely. Not until the weight of duty was gone, and only love remained.

Luna tugged on her shirt with shaky hands, blinking away tears of frustration. "Kyllian, I..."

"You should go, Princess." The title no longer sounded sweet from his lips, it was distant now, formal, as if they were back to the roles they’d been assigned rather than the truth they’d almost given in to. "And don’t come back until the two weeks are over. That’s... if you still want to."

Luna nodded, once. She walked to the door, her footsteps oddly loud in the echoing quiet of the room.

Talon was still standing there, looking like he wished he could turn invisible. He stepped aside quickly as she passed.

"I’m sorry, Princess," he said.

"I’m sorry too," she whispered. Her eyes were glassy but fierce. "Take care of him."

"I will." Talon nodded solemnly, already thinking about the gallons of whiskey he was going to hide.

Luna walked away without looking back, her heart heavy, her pride bruised but intact. Outside, the palace car waited, and she slipped into it. She had two weeks to prove to Kyllian that she wanted him.

She also had two weeks to deal with the walking migraine known as Damien.

*****

Damien was lounging on her window seat like he owned the place when Luna stepped into her room. He wore the smugness of a man who had just broken three laws and hadn’t been caught... yet.

"What the actual fuck are you doing in here?" Luna snapped, slamming the door behind her. She was exhausted, heartbroken, and in no mood for fangs and drama.

"Waiting for you," Damien replied, casually tossing a coin into the air and catching it.

"How the hell do you get in and out of my room without being seen?" she demanded, arms folded, hair still tousled.

Damien gave a nonchalant shrug, flashing a grin that could make angels swear.

Luna let out a groan and rubbed her temple.

"You have to come with me," he said quietly. "To the Blood Castle. Spend the two weeks there."

"You want me to go where?"

Luna let out a short, sarcastic laugh, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "And why would I do that, Damien?" she asked.

Damien raised a dark brow. He looked remarkably unbothered, leaning against her vanity. "Because there are too many distractions here," he said smoothly. "And let’s not pretend everyone in this palace hasn’t already voted me off. It messes with your judgment. And you, Luna, are very... persuadable."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Damien, I will not choose you. Never."

"We leave in the morning," he said simply, as if her passionate rejection had gone straight over his head.

Luna tilted her head, then against all logic blurted, "Would you still want me if I were pregnant?"

That stopped him cold.

Damien’s eyes narrowed, dark and stormy. He stood straighter, the lazy seduction gone in an instant. "Are you pregnant?" he asked. He stepped toward her.

"I... I may be." She met his gaze head-on, lifting her chin.

Damien stared at her for a beat too long, trying to process that. If he still had a living heart, it would’ve been doing backflips by now. "What are you saying, Luna?"

"I had sex with Alpha Kyllian," she lied, folding her arms across her chest. "Today."

Damien’s face hardened instantly. His jaw clenched. His shoulders stiffened. The storm behind his eyes turned icy.

Luna’s voice cracked with frustration. "I want to be with him, Damien! Why can’t you see that? Why do you keep forcing this?"

Damien stepped back slightly. "You know I have a royal concubine, Seliora."

Luna blinked.

"She’s been my friend since before I can remember," Damien continued, a faraway look softening his sharp features. "Our families tried to match us, of course. But I refused. I refused her, Luna, because I believed...no, I knew...you were out there. Somewhere. And that I’d find you."

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

"She became a royal concubine because someone had to continue the bloodline." He exhaled. "I made sacrifices long before I met you. I put another woman’s life on pause. I risked the stability of my people. I bet everything on you. And I hadn’t even met you yet."

Luna’s throat tightened. It was hard to hear, even harder to dismiss.

"You talk about duty," Damien said. "But duty with a dead heart is a curse. You learn the value of love when you’ve lived centuries. I waited for you, Luna. I loved you before you ever said my name. And now..."

He looked at her, broken and fierce at the same time.

"You’re a selfish princess," he said, not cruelly, just truthfully. "You’ve hurt me every step of this journey. You’ve dismissed my pain. Ignored the bond between us as if it’s just another inconvenience."

"I didn’t ask for the bond," she whispered.

"But I can’t ignore it," Damien snapped, pointing to his chest. "If the bond breaks, Luna, I break. I die with it. Not all at once, but slowly. I won’t be able to lead my people. I’ll lose pieces of myself every day."

"I am sorry..." Luna whispered, though even she wasn’t sure who the apology was really for.

Damien turned around slowly. "Sorry?" he echoed, the word tasting sour on his tongue. "You’re sorry? I was right there, Luna. Standing right there with you. And what did you do?"

Luna swallowed hard, guilt already settling in her bones.

"You ran off to let him fuck you," Damien finished. "I must be absolutely insane. Delusional. Out of my eternal, damned mind."

He let out a humorless laugh.

"You know what?" he continued, pacing now, his steps full of pent-up fury and centuries of unprocessed feelings. "I’ll never be anything more than a vampire. That’s it, isn’t it? The first disqualification. Doesn’t matter if I bleed devotion or breathe your name in my sleep, still not enough. Still too undead to win your living, breathing, panting little heart."

His words cut deep, even though Luna knew they weren’t entirely fair.

Damien paused in front of the door, then spoke again. "Schedule the severance whenever you want," he said. "Trying to change your mind is like trying to convince the sun not to rise."

Luna heard the soft click of the door as it closed, gentle yet final.

Luna stood frozen, staring at the door. She pressed her fingers against her temples, her heart a mess of frayed wires and impossible decisions. None of this was fair.

Why would the Moon Goddess do this? Why bind two souls together by fate, only to place them on opposite sides of love’s battlefield? What was the grand plan here? Eternal heartbreak?

*****

The next morning, the palace was quieter than usual. It seemed all the guests that came for the wedding had left. Luna had her bags packed before the sun had fully risen. She sat at the edge of her bed in silence.

Her two maids bustled in nervously, picking up her luggage and headed toward the waiting palace car. They tried not to look too curious, but failed miserably.

"What should we tell the King, Your Highness?" Dena asked carefully. "You know he’ll ask where you are."

"Tell him... I went to the Blood Castle."

"Princess!" both maids gasped in horrified unison, hands flying to their chests as if she had just declared she was moving in with a dragon.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You...you can’t just say that," said Mira, the older of the two. "You can’t just go to the Blood Castle."

"I’ll be fine," Luna said as she slid into the back seat of the long black palace car, trying to inject her voice with more confidence than she felt. Her hands betrayed her, still, she kept her chin high.

"Princess, at least let one of us go with you," Mira pleaded. "Or a guard.!"

Luna rolled her eyes but offered them a small smile. "Since when can’t I take care of myself?"

Luna reached forward and tapped the driver gently on the shoulder. "The Blood Castle, please."

The driver nodded once and eased the car out of the palace gates.

Luna sat back, watching the familiar fade behind her: the towers, the forest, the sun.

She had made a promise to herself last night.

She would spend the next two weeks with Damien. Just be with him. They would forget about everything else, just for a little while. Pretend. That’s all. Pretend they weren’t doomed.

About an hour later, Luna saw the edge of vampire territory, and her jaw went slack.

It was like driving into a polished dream. Silver towers that spiraled toward the sky, beautiful bridges, glowing lanterns hanging in the air that would light up at night. Even the streets looked waxed to a shine. The entire territory looked like someone had given a team of immortal architects too much time.

"They live like this?" she whispered under her breath, impressed.