Page 1 of Luca

TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO

“No, no, no,” I cried, wrestling against the guard’s clutch as they hauled me from the Veil. “You can’t do this. I have done nothing wrong!”

My mate would be waiting for me in our usual spot behind the library, away from prying eyes, wearing one of her ankle-length dresses dotted with flowers, her red plaits hanging down her back. Every week we would meet and spend hours eluding the king’s spies and savoring what little time we had to spare, but today, I wouldn’t show up.

She will think the worst.

I was forced to my knees in front of the dais, my hair tugged roughly until my neck arched. My gaze landed on the looming figure atop his opulent pedestal, his sharp features set in a callous mask, yet his black eyes burned with outrage.

“I think you will find that I can do whatever I please,” the king said, his voice as cold as ice and laced with threat. Two gloved fingers rose from the arm of his throne, and before I could anticipate his next move, my arms were yanked behind me, cold metal hooked over both my wrists.Shackles. I panicked, but it was no use. The restraints clicked into place, and I felt my magic weaken to a faint shimmer.

If it hadn’t been for the guard’s grip on my hair, I would have doubled over. The energy draining from my body left me grappling at consciousness. I was almost grateful for the bastard who kept me upright. The king did not deserve to even pretend I’d thrown myself at his feet.

“Why are you doing this?” I demanded, slurring the words through my fangs. “What harm have I caused? I’ve done all that you asked. I’ve been a loyal subject, a friend. I have?—”

“You had notions of breeding with a human, of bringing it through the Veil.” The words dripped like venom off his tongue. “I will not have my kingdom polluted with filth.”

“She is not—” I gritted my teeth, stifling the protective instincts clawing at my belly. It would not benefit my cause to show anger. “I didn’t bring her back. We haven’t even bonded, so how can you say?—”

“You planned to.” He cut me off again, his fingers flexing so subtly I almost missed the crack in his composure. “You think I am ignorant of your purchase of land, your hopes to take your human pet there?”

I barely suppressed the hitch of breath in my throat, my chest tight.

My journal.I thought I had been careful. I thought I had locked away my flyaway thoughts and innocent fantasies of our future together. Mentions of a home I had wanted to one day make our own, but knew it would doubtless never be. None of it had been plans set in motion, only the delusions of a lovesick male and impulsive decisions with no real conclusions, but he had found them.

How could I have been so careless?

“Th-that is speculation.” My courage wavered, though I hadn’t an abundance of it to begin with. “You can’t punish me for?—”

“You forget that I know you.” He leaned forward, a hint of smugness creeping into his demeanor. “You lose yourself to flights of fancy. You forget your place. I already refused your appeal to remove the ward once before. Do not believe me a fool.”

“Youwere the one who ordered the Veil open,” I argued lamely, the heavy shroud of anxiety making my voice shake. “Youwere the reason I was in the human realm in the first place. I would not have met her otherwise, and now you’re punishingmeby taking it all away?”

She would be standing there on that quiet little cobbled street, glancing up at each set of approaching footsteps, a smile spreading over her sweet lips, her breath hitching in anticipation of seeing me walk around the corner. My heart shattered at the vision of the dejection that would fill her sapphire eyes when she realized I wouldn’t.

How long would she wait? Would she return every day to see if I was there? Would she look for me?

Will she forget?

“You disregarded the orders of your king,” he said, eerily calm. “And this is not your first transgression, is it? Your task was simple, to oversee the humans, but you let your greed prevail. You have no one to blame but yourself.”

“Greed?” I scoffed in disbelief, dejection worming its way deep into my bones. “I fell in love. It was not a decision I made. I didn’t do it out of spite, or whatever other nefarious reasons you’re inventing. It just happened. The Creators’ will.” Despite the situation I was in, for a split second, frustration overtook my senses, and I bared my fangs. “But I suppose you wouldn’t know what that feels like.”

The minute hint of an expression on the king’s face vanished in an instant. My blood ran cold.

He straightened, lifting his chin—a ruthless leader, preparing to dole out my sentence. I had signed my own death warrant.“Zadok Velarde, you are hereby banished from the kingdom,” he decreed. “You will remove all memory of yourself from the creatures who knew you and be shipped to the Outerlands, where you will reside for the rest of your days.Forgotten, except by the one you love most.”

No.

No, no, no.

“Banish me to the human realm,” I begged, tears welling in my eyes as I struggled against my bonds, my scalp burning. It was what he wanted. To see me broken and humiliated. Well, he could have it. I would forfeit what remained of my pride. I’d give upeverythingif it won me the chance to be with my mate. “I won’t return! I won’t bring her back through the Veil, I swear!”

“If you make an attempt to return to the human realm, I will have your human killed,” he rumbled, the sound a death knell haunting my very soul. “Do you understand me?”

I trembled, feeling three feet tall, a child in the shadow of a monster. “L-let me send her a missive, a note to explain that I won’t return. Grant me that mercy, at least? Please.”

“No. I want you plagued with the knowledge that she will spend whatever human years she has left believing you abandoned her.”

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