The night returned quiet and still, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Asher stood outside the house, barefoot on the cool grass, the moon high above him. Its glow touched the silver edges of the forest, painting everything in shades of calm. Yet inside him, nothing felt still.
The locket resting against his chest pulsed faintly — not enough to glow, but enough to remind him that it was alive. When the wind shifted, he thought he heard whispers again. But this time, it wasn't Amara's voice. It was softer. Familiar.
"You shouldn't wander alone," came Lucian's voice from behind him.
Asher turned. Lucian stepped from the shadows, his coat brushing the grass, his crimson eyes catching the moonlight. He looked less like a creature of the night and more like something the night itself had shaped — steady, silent, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
"I couldn't sleep," Asher said quietly.
Lucian's gaze softened. "Dreams again?"
Asher nodded. "It feels like she's trying to reach me through them. Sometimes I hear my name… sometimes I see her. Always the same eyes."
"Amara's," Lucian murmured.
"I don't think she wants to hurt me," Asher said after a pause. "It's like she's… warning me."
Lucian's eyes narrowed slightly, though his voice stayed calm. "Warnings from the dead rarely come without cost."
Asher looked down at the locket, holding it between his fingers. "It keeps getting warmer when I dream of her."
Lucian moved closer, the space between them narrowing until the moonlight framed them both. "That warmth isn't hers," he said softly. "It's yours responding to her call. It means your blood is listening — and I can't tell if that's a gift or a curse."
His voice carried something rare — uncertainty.
Asher met his gaze, searching for the coldness he expected to find, but there was none. Only quiet worry. "You're afraid," Asher said gently.
Lucian's lips curved faintly. "Of course I am. The last time Amara's blood stirred, it burned half a kingdom to ash."
"And yet you're still here."
Lucian looked at him then — really looked — and for the first time, the centuries in his eyes seemed to soften. "Because I promised I'd protect you," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "Even if it means standing against fate itself."
The air between them hummed — not from magic, but from something deeper. The mark beneath Asher's collarbone shimmered faintly, and the locket grew warm against his skin.
Lucian noticed. His gaze flicked to it, then back to Asher. "It reacts to emotion," he said quietly. "It listens to your heart."
Asher swallowed. "Then maybe… it's listening to both of ours."
For a heartbeat, the night seemed to stop — moonlight pooling around them, a silent confession hanging between their breaths.
Lucian stepped back first, breaking the spell. "You should rest," he murmured. "Tomorrow will bring more questions than either of us are ready for."
Asher smiled faintly. "You'll still be here, though?"
Lucian turned toward the trees, his voice low but sure. "Always."
To be continued.....