Updated Dec 14, 2025 • ~9 min read
CASS
Four days until exile.
I spent them researching. Desperate. Looking for any loophole, any ancient spell, any possibility that I could keep my pack and avoid the bond.
Found nothing.
The laws were clear. The history was clear. Witch-vampire bonds were forbidden. Period.
On the fourth morning, Alaric appeared at my cabin.
“You’re persistent,” I said without looking up from the grimoire I’d been studying.
“The bond makes it hard to stay away.”
“Try harder.”
But I didn’t mean it. The truth—the humiliating truth—was that his presence eased something in me. Made the constant ache of the bond fade to background noise.
I hated that I needed him.
“I brought something,” he said. “The evidence. From Kael’s trial. You asked to see it.”
I looked up sharply. “You brought classified vampire court documents into witch territory?”
“I brought my mate proof that I’m not a monster. There’s a difference.”
He set a leather folder on my table. Official vampire court seal. The kind of documents that started wars if they fell into the wrong hands.
“Are you insane?” I stared at it. “If anyone finds out you stole these—”
“I didn’t steal them. I’m a prince. I have access.” He sat across from me. “And I want you to see. Want you to understand why I did what I did.”
I didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to see justification for my brother’s murder.
But I opened the folder anyway.
The evidence was damning.
Letters in Kael’s handwriting, detailing witch military movements. Maps of pack territories marked with defensive weaknesses. Encrypted messages to known vampire operatives—enemies of the crown, ones who’d been trying to undermine the fragile peace for decades.
“This is…” I couldn’t finish. Because it looked exactly like treason.
“I know.” Alaric’s voice was quiet. “When I saw it, I tried to find another explanation. Wanted to believe he’d been coerced or acting under duress. But the evidence was clear. Kael was passing intelligence to our enemies.”
“But he was working for peace. You felt it through the blood link.”
“I felt his belief he was doing the right thing. That’s not the same as being innocent.” He pulled out another document—the formal charges. “By vampire law, passing military intelligence to hostile forces is treason. The penalty is death. No exceptions. No appeals. No mercy.”
“So you just followed orders.”
“I followed the law. As I’m sworn to do as crown prince.” His hands clenched. “Do you know how many times I’ve questioned it? How many nights I’ve lain awake wondering if there was another way? If I could have saved him?”
“And?”
“And there wasn’t. Not without violating every law I’m supposed to uphold. Not without proving to my mother that I’m unfit to rule because I let personal feelings override duty.” He met my eyes. “I chose duty. And I’ve hated myself for it every day since.”
I studied him. Really looked at him. Saw the exhaustion. The guilt. The weight of an impossible choice.
“You’re asking me to forgive you.”
“No. I’m asking you to understand that I didn’t have a choice.” He gestured at the documents. “Your brother committed treason. By our laws—laws that keep our kingdom stable—he deserved execution. I carried out that sentence. It was just.”
“Just?” My magic flared. “Murdering a man working for peace is just?”
“By the law, yes. Morally?” His voice cracked. “I don’t know. I don’t know if following rules makes you right or just complicit. But I do know that princes don’t get to pick and choose which laws matter.”
“You could have shown mercy.”
“And been executed myself for dereliction of duty. My mother made that clear.”
I blinked. “She threatened you?”
“She said if I refused the execution, she’d see it as proof I was unfit to rule. That I cared more about personal feelings than the crown. That I’d be stripped of title and someone else—probably Lucian—would carry out the sentence instead.” He looked away. “At least if I did it, I could make it quick. Painless. A mercy Lucian wouldn’t have granted.”
The manipulation was breathtaking. His mother had forced him into a corner: execute Kael or lose everything.
“So you chose your crown over his life.”
“I chose to be the one who wielded the stake instead of letting someone crueler do it. I chose to give him the ceremonial drink, to ease his passing, to hear his final words through the blood link.” His eyes were haunted. “And I chose to carry the weight of it so Kael’s death would at least mean something to someone.”
I didn’t want to understand. Didn’t want to see his side. But the evidence was there. The laws were clear. And Alaric—
Alaric had been trapped just like Kael had been. Both of them caught in a system that demanded sacrifice.
“The vampires who were supposed to receive this intelligence,” I said slowly, studying the names. “They’re radicals. Ones who oppose peace.”
“Yes.”
“So if Kael was sending them information—”
“He was helping our enemies. Ones who want war, not peace.” Alaric pulled out another page. “But here’s what doesn’t make sense. These particular enemies have been working against peace treaties for years. Why would someone like Kael—who believed in cooperation—help them?”
I read the names again. Felt something click. “Unless he wasn’t helping them. Unless he was—”
“Infiltrating them,” we said together.
The pieces fell into place. Kael passing intelligence wasn’t treason—it was deep cover. He was feeding these radicals information to gain their trust, to get close enough to their operations to dismantle them from within.
“But he never explained,” Alaric said. “At the trial, he could have defended himself. Could have revealed his mission. Instead, he stayed silent.”
“Because revealing it would have compromised other operatives. Or endangered people he was trying to protect.” I thought of my brother. His stubbornness. His willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good. “He let you execute him to keep his mission secret.”
“And I let him die without knowing the truth.” Alaric looked destroyed. “I failed him. Failed to ask the right questions. Failed to see past the evidence to what he was actually doing.”
We sat in heavy silence. Both of us reeling from the realization that Kael’s death had been a tragic misunderstanding. That he’d been a hero, not a traitor. That Alaric had executed an innocent man working for the exact peace both kingdoms claimed to want.
“Your mother knew,” I said finally. “She had to. The evidence was too perfect. Too damning. She set him up.”
“I think you’re right.” His hands shook. “I think she discovered his mission, planted additional evidence, and forced the execution before the truth could come out.”
“Why?”
“Because peace threatens her power. As long as witches and vampires are enemies, she’s essential. She’s the strong queen protecting her people from threats. But if peace happens—” He looked sick. “She becomes obsolete. Just another monarch in a world that doesn’t need war.”
The scope of the betrayal was staggering. Queen Seraphine had sacrificed Kael to maintain her own relevance. Had forced her own son to execute an innocent man. Had started—or rather, prevented ending—a cycle of violence that had cost thousands of lives.
“We have to prove it,” I said. “We have to expose her.”
“With what evidence? These documents just show what I already knew—that Kael committed technical treason. They don’t prove my mother’s involvement.”
“Then we find more evidence. We investigate. We—”
“Cassia.” He caught my hand. The first time he’d voluntarily touched me. The bond sang at the contact. “If we go after my mother, she’ll kill us. Both of us. She’s powerful, ruthless, and has the entire vampire court under her control.”
“So we do nothing? Let her get away with murder?”
“No. We bide our time. Gather evidence carefully. Build alliances. And when we’re ready—when we have proof even she can’t deny—we strike.” His thumb brushed my knuckles. “But we have to be smart. Patient. United.”
United. The word carried weight. Because taking down his mother would require us working together. Trusting each other. Being actual mates instead of reluctant allies.
“I can’t work with you while hating you,” I said.
“Then stop hating me. Or at least hate me less.” His smile was sad. “I know that’s asking a lot. But Cassia—we’re on the same side. We both loved your brother. We both want justice. And we’re both stuck with this bond.”
He was right. I didn’t want him to be right, but he was.
My brother had died for peace. The least I could do was work with his killer to honor that sacrifice.
“Three days,” I said. “I have three days until exile. Help me survive that. Help me figure out how to say goodbye to everything I’ve ever known. And then—” I took a breath. “And then I’ll come to vampire territory. Work with you. Try to build something from this disaster.”
His relief was palpable. Through the bond and in his face.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I’m still going to be difficult.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” He stood, leaving the documents. “Keep these. Study them. Maybe you’ll see something I missed.”
“Alaric?” He paused at the door. “Did you mean it? About your mother threatening to strip your title?”
“Every word.”
“Then she’s hurt both of us. Killed people we loved. Destroyed lives for her own power.”
“Yes.”
“Good.” My magic sparked gold. “That makes her our enemy. And I’m really good at destroying my enemies.”
His smile was genuine this time. Fierce. “So am I.”
He left. I stared at the documents for hours. Memorizing every detail. Every name. Every piece of evidence that had been used to justify my brother’s murder.
And I started planning.
Not revenge anymore. Something bigger.
Justice.
For Kael. For Alaric’s impossible position. For every life Queen Seraphine had sacrificed on the altar of her own power.
Three days until I joined the vampires.
And then the real work began.
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