The morning sun over the Thorne Academy of Cognitive Sciences did nothing to warm the stone courtyards.
Instead, it exposed the jagged, hollow crater where the western wall of the amphitheater used to stand.
Yellow tactical tape fluttered in the damp wind, sealing off the entire upper tier.
Scarlett walked through the central courtyard, her black cloak buttoned tightly up to her chin.
The whispers started the exact moment her boots crunched against the gravel.
*”That’s her.
The scholarship student from Sector 4.”*
*”I heard she didn’t even use a spell.
Just a single kinetic strike.”*
*”Did you see how Lord Thorne shielded her?”*
Scarlett kept her eyes fixed straight ahead.
Beneath her long sleeves, the skin of her left wrist was tender.
The star-shaped scar was dark again, dormant, but the memory of it pulsing with crimson light felt like a ticking time bomb.
She reached her locker, but before her fingers could input her biometric code, a sharp chime echoed from her wrist-comm.
The interface flashed a dark, obsidian crest—the seal of the Thorne Syndicate Council.
**NOTICE OF COMPULSORY EVALUATION**
**Subject:** Scarlett – Identification ID: 009-Sec4
**Evaluator:** Lord Valerius Thorne
*Attendance is non-negotiable.*
Scarlett’s thumb hovered over the glowing screen.
She took a breath, turned away from the crowded hallway, and took the restricted lift straight into the belly of the academy.
Sub-Level 3 was built of sterile titanium and muted violet fluorescent lights.
The heavy pressurized doors slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a massive evaluation room.
Valerius was already there.
He had discarded his formal academy jacket, wearing only a tailored black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms.
He stood before a massive data wall, his fingers sorting through structural documents.
The bandage wrapped tightly around his left palm was the only proof of yesterday’s chaos.
The doors slid shut behind her with a mechanical click.
“Sit,” he commanded quietly.
Scarlett remained near the exit, her hand resting near her hidden launcher.
“I prefer to stand, Lord Thorne.”
Valerius slowly turned, his dark eyes locking onto hers.
“This isn’t a classroom request, little ghost.
Yesterday, a vault-class beast bypassed five squads of guards just to target you.
And you dropped it with an unregistered underworld neurotoxin.”
He stepped away from the console, closing the distance between them with silent, predatory strides.
“The Academy Council wants you dissected,” Valerius murmured, stopping just inches away from her.
The scent of rain and cold cedar enveloped her.
“They want to peel back your skin to see how a human girl defies gravity.”
Scarlett met his gaze, refusing to step back.
“And what do you want, Lord Thorne?”
“I want the truth.”
His hand shot out, his fingers catching the edge of her hood.
With a fluid pull, he pushed the fabric back, exposing her face to the stark laboratory lights.
The sudden proximity made Scarlett’s heart thud against her ribs.
She triggered her neural block, forcing her mind into a state of absolute, icy silence.
Valerius watched her expression, a faint, low chuckle escaping his lips.
“There it is.
The absolute silence.
It’s like looking into an empty room.”
He lifted his left hand—the one wrapped in white linen—and held it between them.
Through the bandage, a dark red shadow of a star was clearly visible, burned into his palm.
“Purebloods don’t scar from human weapons, Scarlett.
The moment I touched your wrist, my own genetic structure recognized you.”
He leaned down, his breath warm against her cold cheek.
Scarlett felt a traitorous flush creep up her neck, her body betraying her mind.
“You can hide your thoughts from my telepathy,” he whispered, his thumb pressing lightly against the pulse point beneath her ear, “but your blood is screaming.
It knows exactly who I am.”
Scarlett didn’t let the tension break her.
She brought her right hand up, locking her fingers onto his wrist with surprising strength, forcing him away.
“If my bloodline is your curse, Lord Thorne,” she whispered, her voice deadly, “then be careful.
Weapons go off when they are handled too roughly.”
Valerius smiled, a dark, amused expression.
He didn’t pull away.
“Fierce.
A human girl threatening a king.
If the Council saw this, they would execute you.”
He stepped back and swiped his hand across the console, launching a highly classified file onto the main holographic display: *PROJECT SANGUIS – EXTINCTION LOGS.*
“The Executioners of the Rose,” Valerius muttered, his eyes reflecting the violet glow.
“History says my family incinerated every last one of them.
Until you.”
Scarlett felt a chill.
Her handlers had never told her about her lineage.
She was just a weapon meant to die.
“You didn’t know,” Valerius observed, reading her silence.
He walked toward a stainless steel case, opening it to reveal a sleek, violet injector vial.
“To clear your profile for the Council, I need a blood sample.”
Scarlett snatched the injector from his hand, slamming the needle into her own forearm before he could touch her.
She drew the dark crimson fluid herself, but as she pulled the needle away, the wound refused to seal.
A thick, dark stream of blood began to spill down her arm.
The scent of her ancient blood filled the room.
Valerius’s pupils dilated, swallowing the iris until his eyes were entirely black.
Before she could move, he gripped her wounded forearm.
He didn’t take the vial.
With a slow, heavy deliberation, the powerful pureblood king dropped straight onto his knees right in front of her.
Looking up at her through his dark, hooded arches, he pulled her bleeding arm down to his lips.
He began to slowly, possessively lick the crimson winding down her skin, his sharp fangs grazing her flesh.
His breath was erratic, his tongue warm and wet against her skin, entirely intoxicated by the forbidden enzyme of her blood.
He was on his knees, completely at her feet, yet he felt more dangerous than ever.
Scarlett’s heart raced, a fierce blush burning hot against her cheeks at his sudden submission.
With her free hand, she blindly grabbed a heavy metal stylus from the console and drove the sharp tip into the side of his neck.
Valerius paused, his tongue still against her skin.
He didn’t pull back.
Instead, he reached up, wrapped his warm hand over hers, and with a brutal, sudden force, he shoved her hand downward, driving the pen deeper into his own neck.
“Don’t stop,” he whispered, his voice a rough, breathless growl against her skin, his eyes hazy with a dark, unhinged desire.
“I want you to feel the warmth of my blood against your fingers, princess.
I want you to feel my life pulsing against your touch.
Don’t be gentle—show me how much you want to destroy me.”
He pulled the pen from his neck, and before she could even blink, the true horror of his pureblood heritage showed itself.
The deep puncture wound on his throat began to bubble with dark blood, stitching itself together with unnatural, blinding speed.
The torn flesh knitted tight right under her fingers, leaving behind nothing but smooth, unblemished pale skin.
He didn’t even flinch.
He looked at her, his eyes blazing with a psychotic, obsessive promise.
“You are an impossibility, Scarlett.
And the more you try to slide into the shadows, the more I am going to tear this academy apart to find out exactly what you are.”
He slammed his hand against the door sensor, opening the exit with a loud, mechanical click.
“Go back to your dorms,” he murmured, his gaze heavy and possessive as the wound on his throat finished disappearing entirely.
“But remember…
every breath you take from this moment on belongs to my evaluation.”
Scarlett fled, the sound of his low, amused chuckle following her into the hall.
She was inside his inner circle, but as the elevator doors slid shut, she realized the truth: the predator wasn’t just hunting her—he was becoming obsessed with the trap.
Valerius is officially unhinged!
Seeing a pureblood king drop straight onto his knees just to taste her blood left me completely breathless.
And that line “I want you to feel the warmth of my blood against your fingers, princess” while his neck healed under her touch?!
Pure insanity.
Drop your comments: What was your favorite part?
Valerius on his knees licking her blood, or the psychotic healing scene?
Let’s dominate the rankings!