VERA’S POV

“Cealan is waking up.”

The doctor’s voice cut through the tension like a knife. All eyes turned to the bed where Caelen stirred, his eyelids fluttering. I pushed past Lucien and Alrik, ignoring their protests as I knelt beside him.

“Caelen,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “Can you hear me?”

His eyes opened slowly, unfocused at first, then sharpening as they found mine. Recognition flickered across his face, followed quickly by alarm. He tried to sit up, wincing as the movement pulled at his wound.

“Easy,” I warned, placing a hand on his uninjured shoulder. “You took a bolt meant for me, remember?”

“Not meant for you,” he rasped, his voice rough from disuse. “Meant for me.”

The room fell silent. Father stepped closer, his shadow falling across the bed.

“Explain yourself,” he demanded.

Caelen’s eyes darted around the room, widening when they landed on Lucien. “What’s he doing here?”

“Never mind him,” I snapped, impatience getting the better of me. “What do you mean the bolt was meant for you? Lucien says he heard your name among the assassins.”

Confusion flashed across Caelen’s face. “What? No, that’s not—” He broke off, coughing. The doctor hurried forward with blood wine, helping him drink. When he could speak again, his eyes were clearer, his voice stronger. “I was assigned to you, Vera. As an advisor.”

“Assigned?” I repeated, the word tasting bitter on my tongue. “By whom?”

“The Council,” he admitted, shame coloring his words. “They wanted someone close to you, someone who could report back on your… stability.”

The truth hit like a physical blow. All those conversations, those quiet moments when I’d thought he was the one person who saw me as just Vera—had it all been a lie?

“So you were spying on me.” My voice came out flat, emotionless, though inside I was screaming.

“At first,” he confessed, meeting my gaze steadily. “But things changed. I changed. I started refusing to tell them certain things. Started feeding them half-truths instead of full reports.”

“Why should we believe anything you say?” Lucien interjected, moving to stand beside me. His presence was like ice at my back, familiar and foreign all at once.

Caelen’s eyes hardened as he looked at Lucien. “Because unlike some, I didn’t abandon her when things got difficult.”

The barb found its mark. I felt Lucien stiffen beside me.

“That doesn’t explain why someone tried to kill you,” Father cut in, his patience clearly wearing thin.

Caelen sighed, the sound heavy with resignation. “When I stopped being useful, I became a liability. I knew too much about their plans, about how they intended to control Vera through me, or remove her entirely if that failed.”

“Who is ‘they’?” I demanded, leaning closer. “Give me names, Caelen.”

“The same vampires who’ve been whispering about the dangers of a Blood Princess for centuries,” he replied. “The ones who fear what you represent, change, power they can’t control.”

“Names,” Father repeated, his voice like steel.

Caelen’s eyes darted to Alrik, who was standing unnaturally still by the door. “Some are in this very room.”

Alrik’s hand moved to his silver blade. “Watch your accusations, fledgling.”

“Or what?” I challenged, rising to my feet. The golden light beneath my skin pulsed in response to my anger. “You’ll arrange another ‘accident’?”

“Vera,” Father warned, but I was beyond heeding caution.

“Was it you, Alrik?” I took a step toward him, satisfaction coursing through me when he took a corresponding step back. “Did you orchestrate the attack? Is that why you were so quick to blame me? To blame Lucien?”

“You’re delusional,” Alrik sneered, but there was a flicker of something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Fear.

“Am I?” I pressed. “Or am I finally seeing clearly? You’ve been at my father’s side for decades, perfectly positioned to gather information, to influence decisions.”

“Your Majesty,” Alrik appealed to my father. “Surely you don’t believe these baseless accusations? The girl is clearly unstable, just as we’ve feared.”

“The girl,” Father said slowly, “is my daughter and your future queen. Address her with respect.”

I felt a surge of gratitude toward my father, unexpected and powerful.

“I was given a choice,” Caelen continued, drawing our attention back to him. “Continue to spy on you or face elimination. I chose neither. That’s when they decided I was more useful as a martyr than a spy.”

“A martyr?” I echoed.

“My death at the hands of assassins, with you nearby, would have been convenient. Evidence of your inability to protect even those closest to you. Another reason to question your fitness to rule.”

The pieces were falling into place, a puzzle I hadn’t even known I was solving. Every slight, every whispered doubt about my capability, every ‘coincidental’ failure, all orchestrated. Also about how Caelen was brought in, to be by my side always. They were all orchestrated.

“Why take the bolt then?” Lucien asked, skepticism evident in his tone. “If you knew they wanted you dead, why play into their hands?”

Caelen’s laugh was bitter. “Because the alternative was watching Vera die. Whatever you think of me, whatever I was sent to do, I couldn’t let that happen.”

I searched his face for deception and found none, only a raw honesty that made my chest ache.

“So when you told me you were interested in me…” I began.

“I meant it,” he said firmly. “Every word. That wasn’t part of any assignment, Vera. That was real.”

“How am I supposed to know what’s real anymore?” I whispered.

“Because I’m telling you now,” he said, struggling to sit up further. “I’m telling you everything. I could have taken that secret to my grave, but I chose to trust you with it.”

“Names,” Father demanded for the third time. “Who sent you? Who ordered the assassination?”

Caelen opened his mouth to respond, but before he could speak, the clinic door burst open. A guard stumbled in, his face ashen.

“Your Majesty! Come quickly, it’s Lord Alrik!”

I turned just in time to see that Alrik had disappeared from the room.