The purple fissures on the ceiling of the frost dome widened with a sickening shriek.
Outside, High Justice Julianus Thorne was relentless, his gravity magic crushing the icy sanctuary inch by inch.
Inside, the atmosphere was suffocating.
Scarlett’s ruby mana was still sparking dangerously, a chaotic fire struggling to settle beneath her skin.
Valerius didn’t let her go immediately.
His body remained pressed hard against her back, a forced, burning proximity in the middle of a freezing grave.
He could still hear the echoes of Lucas’s name vibrating in her newly unlocked thoughts.
Valerius’s gaze lingered on the broken human boy in the distance for a second too long.
The ice beneath his boots cracked sharply under the sudden, silent spike of his heavy aura.
“He is watching us from the mud, you know,” Valerius whispered, his voice dangerously smooth, his lips brushing the shell of her ear as the ice walls groaned around them.
“The little human assassin.
He is watching my hands trace your waist.
Tell me, Scarlett…
does it break his fragile heart to see you trapped in my shadow?”
”Shut up,” Scarlett spat, her fingers clenching into fists as she desperately suppressed the explosive energy inside her veins.
“He knows what I am.
He knows I am a weapon meant to destroy beasts like you.”
The chilling laugh that left Valerius’s lips had zero warmth.
His dark eyes were fixed on the cracking ice wall that reflected their faces as his hands slid down to grip her hips with a bruising, territorial force.
“A weapon?
No, my love.
You are a masterpiece.
And a master never lets his prize return to the dirt of Sector 4.”
CRASH!
The dome exploded.
Millions of sharp, glittering ice shards rained down into the courtyard like a storm of diamond blades.
Through the freezing mist, Julianus Thorne stepped forward, his obsidian cane pulsing with a terrifying, heavy violet light.
Valerius shifted like a phantom leaping through the rain, vanishing from his spot before Julianus could even raise a hand.
The impact was thunderous, creating a shockwave that blew the surrounding rainwater into a cloud of white steam.
But Julianus was not a novice.
Anticipating the raw speed, the elder pureblood pivoted smoothly.
He slammed his hand against the air, expanding his gravity field with a violent force.
The sudden weight hit Valerius like a falling mountain, smashing him sideways into the stone pillars of the grand estate.
The reinforced concrete shattered, and a dull crack echoed through the rain as Valerius’s ribs took the heavy impact.
Valerius staggered for a fraction of a second, coughing up a drop of dark crimson blood.
Yet, his expression remained completely flatline, almost regal, as he wiped his chin with the back of his hand.
With a graceful, lethal surge of strength, he lunged back into the fray, his clawed hand gripping the sharp edge of Julianus’s cane, ignoring the gravity magic burning his skin.
”You have grown arrogant in your old age, Uncle,” Valerius hissed, his fangs fully extending.
With a brutal twist of his forearms, he ripped the cane out of Julianus’s grip and shattered it across his knee before delivering a devastating palm strike that sent the elder vampire flying back across the wet concrete.
The surrounding Council enforcers gasped, freezing in absolute terror as their leader fell back.
Valerius slowly turned around, his chest heaving, his eyes locking back onto Lucas.
In the mud, despite his fractured bones, Lucas forced himself onto one shaky knee.
Blood spilled from his lips, staining his chin, but his trembling hand firmly raised the broken hilt of his plasma dagger toward the pureblood king.
He was completely outmatched, but his fierce gaze was fixed entirely on protecting Scarlett.
Valerius stopped just two paces away from him.
The absolute silence in his head was now filled with the sight of a mortal willing to face execution just to reach her.
For the first time in centuries, the ruthless king looked painfully human—his jaw tight, his dark eyes filled with a raw, complex vulnerability that he couldn’t hide.
”No!” Scarlett screamed, rushing forward.
She intercepted Valerius, placing her body directly between him and Lucas.
Her silver-ruby eyes flared with defensive panic, her hands extended to push him back.
“Touch him, and I swear to you, Valerius, I will destroy myself before you can ever use my silence again!”
Valerius looked down at her small hands pressing against his blood-stained chest, then at her fierce, protective expression.
The heavy silence between them stretched, thick with unspoken tragedy.
”Look at him, Scarlett,” Valerius commanded, his voice dropping into a soft, chilling whisper that carried a dangerous weight.
“He is weak.
He is temporary.
You say you hate me…
but have you ever looked at him with the same intense fire you use to look at me?”
Before Scarlett could answer, the loud, mechanical sirens of the Supreme Syndicate echoed from the forest.
Backup was arriving, and the entire Grandcrest sector was locking down.
Valerius forced his monstrous aura to settle back beneath his skin, re-attaching his cold, elegant royal mask over his bleeding sanity.
His expression went flatline again, though his eyes remained fixed on her like a predator locking its prey in a cage.
”The game is changing, my love,” Valerius murmured, his long fingers gently catching a strand of her wet hair and tucking it behind her ear.
His touch was freezing, yet possessive.
“The High Council cannot have you.
The Syndicate cannot have you.
And this boy…
will live only because I allow him to breathe another day as a reminder of your obedience.”
He waved his hand coldly, and a squad of his personal shadow guards emerged from the estate, immediately seizing the perimeter.
Valerius gripped Scarlett’s wrist firmly, his fingers locking over her star-shaped scar.
”We are returning to Grandcrest Academy,” Valerius whispered against the wind, his voice dripping with an absolute, terrifying dominance.
“But you will not be a student anymore, Scarlett.
You will sit beside my throne, where everyone can see exactly who owns the storm.”
Scarlett said nothing.
But somewhere beneath the chaos of her trembling mana, a cold, dark realization settled into her heart.
The horrific war between them was no longer private.
The entire world of Grandcrest was about to witness it.
The lines have been drawn and the chessboard is set!
High Justice Julianus has been pushed back, and Lucas proved his ultimate loyalty by standing up even with broken bones.
But Valerius’s obsession has taken a dark, political turn—he is dragging Scarlett back to Grandcrest Academy to claim her right in front of the entire supernatural world!
Question for the readers: Now that their toxic war is going public, how will the academy handle the new power dynamic?
Valerius looked painfully human for a second—is his obsession driven by love, or just a terrifying need to control his sanctuary?
The tension is burning hot!
Chapter 15 is up next!