Page 26 of A Touch of Madness

I hesitate, the memory rushing back with all its sharp edges and bitter aftertaste.

“I tied myself to him when trying to end the war. My blood gave him a link to me, a way to find me, to summon me, to demand... whatever he chooses. I’ve spent decades trying to keep my distance, trying to avoid being pulled back into his games. But now...”

I trail off, unsure how to finish the thought. Now he’s here again. Now he’s threatening her.

Sylvie steps closer, her voice firm but quiet. “What is he asking you to do?”

I let out a sharp breath, dragging a hand through my hair. “He’s asking me to choose a side. To join forces with him in his war against the Unbound faction. He wants the Ascendancy and the Midnight Alliance to come together as one. The council is splintering, the Solstice Society is stirring up disorder, and Viago sees an opportunity to consolidate power. He believes I’m a valuable ally—or perhaps just a convenient pawn. Either way, he won’t let me stay neutral. I believe he wants to rid our region of the Unbound, and I know he wants to eliminate the Solstice Society.”

Her eyes narrow, and I see the sharp edge of her intelligence cutting through the confusion. “Well, I know nothing about the Unbound, but I mean…I can’t see why we wouldn’t want to help him destroy the Society.”

“This is true, and I do intend on helping him take out Solstice in any way possible, I just…” I trail off, thinking about his threat to use Sylvie and her power. “I want to help on my own terms and not in the ways he’s asking of me. He’s capable of destroying much of our world.”

Sylvie tilts her head, her gaze piercing. “Is that why you showed me the memory? So I’d understand what he’s capable of?”

“In part,” I admit. “But also so you’d understand why I can’t afford to fail him—or to defy him outright. He has a way of twisting the knife, of finding the things you care about most and exploiting them.”

I force myself to stand, intent on retreating to my desk, to distance myself from her, but the weight of the vision—and the hunger gnawing relentlessly at my core—makes my body falter. The room tilts, and I stagger, my knees threatening to buckle.

“Lucian!” Sylvie moves without hesitation, her hand shooting out to steady me.

The warmth of her touch bleeds into my arm, grounding me in a way that is both comforting and dangerous. For a fleeting moment, I let myself lean into her, my head lowering just slightly toward hers as if some primal instinct in me craves the solace she offers.

But then it happens—the scent.

It’s subtle at first, like a whisper carried on a summer breeze. But it grows stronger, richer, wrapping around me like silk, tantalizing and intoxicating. Her blood. It sings to me, its melody haunting and inescapable, calling out to the deepest, darkest parts of me.

I freeze, the beast in me clawing its way to the surface, and I pull back as if her touch burns me. My chest tightens, my fangs aching in their sheath as my restraint begins to crumble.

“Lucian?” Sylvie asks, confusion and concern etched into her features.

“I can’t,” I rasp, my voice jagged and raw, cutting through the silence like shattered glass. I press the heel of my palm against my forehead, as if the pressure might force the hunger back into the abyss where it belongs. “I can’t be near you like this. Not right now. I’m too...”

My words falter as the scent wraps tighter around me, threading through my senses like a drug. I step back, desperate to put distance between us, but it’s like trying to outrun a shadow.

“Hungry,” she finishes for me.

The hunger lashes out, raw and unrelenting, and my mind betrays me with flashes of what it would feel like to give in—to sink my fangs into her neck, to taste the life that pulses beneath her skin. The image is vivid, almost tactile, and I dig my nails into the desk to stop myself from moving closer.

“Lucian...”

Her voice, her scent, her presence—it’s all too much. I spin around, my hands gripping the edge of the desk so tightly I hear the faint crack of wood beneath my fingers. “Do you understand what I am? What I’ve done?” My voice is low and trembling, the words laced with desperation. “I’ve spent centuries starving the monster inside me, denying its every craving, and then you?—”

I choke on the thought, the memory of her blood still lingering on my tongue from that single, accidental taste. “You’re undoing me, Sylvie. And it’s not your fault, but it’s happening. Your blood—it’s like nothing I’ve ever encountered. It calls to me in a way I can’t... I can’t fight forever. It’s our bond. It’s inescapable.”

“You won’t have to,” she says. “The supply has already started to replenish. Ravenna has bought you time.” She pauses and then adds, “Do you honestly think you’ll hurt me?” I’ve told her I could never. It may now be a lie. Until I can replenish myself.

“Before I was sure I could never. Now, at this point, I don’tthinkI could hurt you,” I whisper. “Iknowit’s possible. After you willingly gave me your blood. It was different than when you felt you had to in the chamber. You wanted to this time. And it created yet another bond between us,” I tell her. “But with my current state, I don’t know how to control myself around you.”

She steps closer, and I force myself to stay still, though every instinct screams at me to retreat. “You haven’t used any of the bloodpacks from Ravenna, have you?” she asks, confusion lighting her eyes.

“I refuse to utilize those. Not until the faction is able to replenish their systems. Not until all of my people have been replenished.”

She lifts a hand to my face, once again closing the space I’ve put between us. Running her fingers down my cheek, she says, “You’re a good man, Lucian.” She pulls away when she senses my frustration over her nearness. “I trust you,” she says, her voice unwavering.

“You shouldn’t,” I reply, my fists clenching at my sides. “Not right now.”

I so badly want to pull her in, to kiss her, to right every wrong I’ve done to her—that I’ve done to all of mankind. But I can’t. Not right now, not while this hunger courses through my veins like a feral beast.

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