Zina stared at Luca.
She had stopped hearing the city beyond Damien’s office.
Even the quiet hum of the air conditioner seemed distant.
“A bite.”
Luca’s expression remained serious.
“A ceremonial bite,” Damien corrected.
Zina turned slowly toward him.
“That somehow sounds better to you?”
“Marginally.”
Despite herself, she almost smiled.
Damien noticed.
His eyes lingered on her face for a second longer than necessary before he looked away.
Zina caught it.
Something warm moved through her chest, irritatingly out of place considering the conversation.
She folded her arms.
“Explain.”
Damien stood.
He didn’t approach her.
He simply rested one hand against the edge of his desk.
“The mark is part of vampire marriage tradition.
It isn’t something created specifically for human brides.”
“So every vampire marriage involves this?”
“Yes.”
“Regardless of who they’re marrying?”
“Yes.”
Zina’s eyes narrowed.
“And you’ve known this your entire life.”
Damien held her gaze.
“Yes.”
There was no attempt to soften the answer.
For some reason, that honesty unsettled her more than an excuse would have.
She looked away first.
“Fine. Continue.”
Damien opened the black box on his desk.
Inside was a small crystal vial filled with dark red liquid and a narrow silver instrument whose surface was engraved with symbols Zina didn’t recognize.
She approached despite herself.
“What is that?”
“My blood.”
She looked at him.
“Of course.”
“The vial contains a measured amount of my blood.
It is used before the mark is placed.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re human.”
Zina waited.
Damien understood the look.
“A vampire body already recognizes the bond.
A human body doesn’t.
My blood gives the ritual something it can recognize as royal lineage before the mark is made.”
“So your blood makes it possible for me to survive the ritual.”
“Yes.”
“And if you didn’t give it to me?”
“The ritual wouldn’t be performed on you.”
That answer came quickly.
Zina’s gaze softened slightly.
“You wouldn’t try anyway?”
“No.”
Something in his voice made her believe him completely.
Damien closed the box.
“The blood doesn’t turn you.”
“Good.”
“It doesn’t make you a vampire.”
“Even better.”
“And it doesn’t give me control over you.”
She looked at him.
“Then what does the mark do?”
“It binds the marriage.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Among vampires, marriage isn’t considered complete until the mark is given.”
Zina glanced at him.
“So the contract my father made isn’t enough?”
“It may satisfy the human legal requirement,” Damien said.
“But it does not satisfy vampire law.”
That was the part that made the whole thing feel suddenly more real.
Zina looked at Damien.
“So once you mark me, every vampire who sees it knows I’m your wife.”
“Yes.”
“And knows I’m under the protection of the royal house.”
“Yes.”
She touched her neck unconsciously.
“What does it look like?”
Damien’s gaze followed the movement of her fingers.
“On you?”
“Yes.”
“A dark mark beneath the skin.
It will settle where the bite is made.”
“How convenient.”
“Would you prefer something less noticeable?”
She looked at him.
“I haven’t decided whether I want anything noticeable at all.”
His expression softened.
“Fair.”
The simple answer caught her off guard.
“You really aren’t going to pressure me.”
“No.”
“Even with this blood moon situation?”
“No.”
Luca watched them quietly.
There was something almost amused in his eyes now, but he wisely kept it to himself.
Zina moved closer to Damien’s desk.
“And what happens after?”
Damien looked at her.
“The bond becomes permanent.”
Her pulse quickened.
“Permanent.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll be able to feel me?”
“Not every thought.
Not every emotion.”
“That would’ve been terrifying.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“I agree.”
She smiled before she could stop herself.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, neither looked away.
It was a small thing.
Barely anything.
But the room seemed suddenly too intimate for three people.
Zina remembered the rose he’d given her that morning.
The breakfast.
The way he’d opened the door before she knocked because he’d heard her coming.
The way he had looked at her when she wasn’t watching.
She cleared her throat.
“And what can I feel?”
“Me.”
“That is vague.”
“You’ll know when I’m near.
If something is seriously wrong with me, you may sense it.”
“And you’ll know when something is wrong with me?”
“Yes.”
“That’s all?”
“For the bond itself, yes.”
Luca nodded.
“The protection comes with it.”
Zina turned toward him.
“What protection?”
“The royal mark recognizes you as part of Damien’s bloodline once the marriage is sealed.
It doesn’t make you immortal, but it can reinforce your body when you’re in serious danger.”
“Meaning?”
Damien answered.
“If you’re attacked by something far stronger than a human should survive, the mark can protect you long enough for help to reach you.”
Zina stared at him.
“Can it heal me?”
“To a degree.”
“Can it make me impossible to kill?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Damien raised an eyebrow.
“Good?”
“I’d rather know where the limits are.”
Something approving flickered in his expression.
“That,” he said quietly, “is exactly why I trust you.”
The words caught her.
Zina looked at him.
“You trust me?”
“With my life.”
The answer came so naturally that neither of them seemed prepared for the effect it had.
Her breath caught.
Damien’s eyes remained on hers.
The distance between them suddenly felt smaller than it had a moment before.
Luca cleared his throat.
Neither moved.
“I’m still standing here.”
Zina blinked and stepped back.
Damien looked away, the faintest amusement returning to his face.
Luca shook his head.
“Good. At least now I know you’re both capable of hearing something other than each other.”
Zina gave him a look.
“Don’t start.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were.”
“I absolutely was.”
Damien closed the box.
“Enough.”
Luca’s amusement disappeared almost immediately.
His attention returned to Zina.
“The ritual isn’t the reason I came.”
Her smile faded.
“I know.”
“The blood moon is.”
Zina leaned against the edge of the desk.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it matters.”
“Why?”
Luca didn’t answer.
Zina waited.
“Luca.”
He looked at her.
“I need you bound to Damien before the blood moon.”
“You said that already.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me why.”
“I can’t.”
Zina stared at him.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.”
She sighed.
“That’s incredibly frustrating.”
“I know.”
“Does Damien know?”
Luca glanced at him.
Damien shook his head.
“I know the blood moon is coming. I don’t know why Luca believes the marriage has to be completed before it.”
Zina looked between them.
“So neither of you actually intends to explain this to me.”
“I intend to,” Luca said.
“Just not yet.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
She pushed away from the desk.
“Then answer one thing.”
Luca waited.
“Why are you so afraid of the date?”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But she saw it.
The hesitation.
The calculation.
The knowledge he wasn’t sharing.
Zina’s voice softened.
“Luca.”
He looked toward the window.
The last of the daylight had disappeared behind the buildings.
“When the blood moon rises,” he said quietly, “things that have been sleeping don’t always remain asleep.”
Zina frowned.
“What things?”
Luca looked back at her.
He didn’t answer.
She studied him for another moment before turning to Damien.
He was already watching her.
There was something different in his expression now.
Not fear.
Concern.
And beneath it, something warmer that neither of them seemed willing to name yet.
Zina looked at his mouth for half a second before catching herself.
Damien noticed.
Of course he noticed.
His eyes darkened with quiet amusement.
“You’re staring.”
“So are you.”
“I was.”
Her heartbeat stumbled.
“Was?”
“I changed my mind.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Liar.”
His smile was slow.
“Possibly.”
For one suspended moment, the strange conversation, the ritual, the blood moon, all of it seemed to fall away.
There was only the man standing in front of her.
The man she was supposed to marry.
The man she was beginning to want to know beyond the contract.
Then Luca spoke.
“The seal has been broken.”
Zina turned toward him.
“What seal?”
Luca said nothing.
And that was the answer that frightened her most not because she understood it, but because she didn’t.
She had no idea what seal he was talking about.
But Luca did.
And whatever he knew, he clearly wished she didn’t.