VERA’S POV

My hands were still shaking.

Even as I paced back and forth on the edge of the training field, the fury in my chest boiled so hot I thought it might tear me apart. I could barely remember the path I’d stormed down, only the echo of that councilman’s voice playing on a vicious loop in my mind.

“If your own chosen advisor questions her capacity, perhaps it’s time to reconsider her appointment.”

I stopped and stared at the ground, as if the marble might give me a better explanation than the man himself.

The same man who’d told me three days ago that my blade work was cleaner. That my reaction time had sharpened. That my form had become lethal, precise. That I was getting closer to being the kind of vampire who led covens.

Had all that praise been a lie?

He was there, still rubbing his jaw where I’d punched him. Still composed. Still too damn calm.

“Don’t,” I snapped, backing away before he even opened his mouth.

But he didn’t listen.

He walked straight up to me and grabbed my arm.

“Let go of me.”

“Not until you tell me what that was about,” he growled. “What did I do, Vera?”

I yanked my arm free and took a step back. “You told the council I wasn’t ready.”

His brows knitted. “What?”

“Don’t act confused.”

“I’m not acting.”

“I heard it. With my own ears,” I said, voice rising. “One of the council members said you were the one who told them I was unfit to be Queen. That you questioned my ability. And you stood there with your smug little smirk and pretended like we were fine?”

Caelen stepped toward me again, slower this time.

“I never said that.”

“Liar,” I hissed.

“I’m not lying!” His voice was sharp now, fangs barely visible. “Why the hell would I put you through hours of training every night just to tear you down behind your back?”

“Exactly my question!”

He ran both hands through his dark hair, exhaling hard. “I submitted a report to the King yesterday, yes. You know what it said?”

I didn’t answer.

“I said you were improving at a rate I’ve never seen. That you were adapting, enduring, and beginning to think like a leader.”

“You expect me to believe that?” I asked.

“I expect you to ask him yourself,” Caelen snapped. “He has the report. Go read it.”

Silence pulsed between us.

He took another breath, slower now. “Maybe… maybe you misheard.”

I laughed once, bitter. “No. I didn’t. I heard it clearly. They meant you.”

He shook his head. “Then someone’s trying to turn you against me.”

I stared at him. “Why?”

“I don’t know. But if someone’s planting lies, it means one thing—they don’t want you to become Queen.”

That stopped me cold.

I swallowed. “Why wouldn’t they?”

Caelen shrugged, but his jaw was tight. “Maybe because your existence means change. Threat. Power. You’re not controllable, Vera.”

I looked away, the words striking something deep and dangerous inside me. “So what now?”

“Now,” he said, stepping beside me, “we train harder. We prepare. We get ahead of the whispers before the next blood moon.”

My head snapped toward him. “Why then?”

“Because that’s the Coven Conclave. Every Lord, every council member, every ambitious traitor will be in one place. And that’s where you’ll have to prove yourself, not just as the King’s daughter, but as his successor.”

I felt my pulse spike.

“The Conclave,” I repeated. “When vampires from every territory gather to—”

“To challenge. To test. To determine who’s worthy of power,” he finished. “And they’ll all be watching you.”

“Great. No pressure.”

“There’s something else,” he said quietly. “Something about that night. About your failed awakening.”

I turned to face him fully. “What about it?”

“I’ve been researching. The Blood magic your mother wrote about, it’s not just forbidden. It’s tied to bloodlines. Ancient ones.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means maybe you didn’t fail to awaken. Maybe you just weren’t ready.”

“And now?”

“Now you’re angry. Now you’re desperate. Now you’re exactly where you need to be.”

He extended his hand toward me.

“Vera,” he said, voice quiet but firm. “We do this together. Take my hand.”

I looked down at it. It was pale, scarred from centuries of training, and steady.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you find what you’re looking for.”

“Which is?”

“Your true nature.”

The moment I touched him, the world changed.

A shock of something hot and ancient ripped through my spine.

My knees buckled, and I dropped to the ground with a gasp.

“Vera?” Caelen knelt beside me, reaching for my shoulder.

But I couldn’t see him anymore.

Because I saw them—women cloaked in crimson and gold, vampires drinking from goblets of liquid fire. A river made of blood. A mountain throne rising from shadow. A voice, no, many voices, all whispering the same word:

Awaken.

Pain split through my chest, but it wasn’t pain—it was power. Every inch of me burned, as if my blood had decided it no longer belonged in mortal form.

My breath caught.

And then I screamed.

Crimson light erupted from my skin, but it didn’t burn. My eyes blurred, my fangs elongated, my fingers stretched into claws. My skin rippled with power, veins glowing like molten gold beneath the surface.

Caelen stumbled back, shielding his face from the light I didn’t even know I was casting.

“Impossible,” he whispered.

The power surged through me, and I felt my vampire nature respond—not just to blood, but to something deeper. Something primal. I could sense every heartbeat within a mile radius, could smell the fear and awe radiating from Caelen, could feel the very life force of every living thing around us.

I rose to my feet, but I wasn’t the same person who had fallen.

My reflection in the fountain showed eyes that glowed like liquid fire, skin that seemed to pulse with inner light, and an aura of power that made the air itself shimmer.

Caelen’s eyes widened as he fell to his knees.

His voice was a whisper, but it cut through the shock like thunder.

“She is… she is the Blood Princess.”

His blade dropped to the ground with a clatter.

“With the golden light.”