Raina awoke in the same bed where everything had changed.
The sheets were tangled around her legs, damp with heat and memory. Her body still pulsed with the echo of Lucien his hands, his mouth, the way he'd made her feel like nothing in the world existed except for them. But now, the heat was different. It wasn't desire this time.
It was power.
She sat up slowly. The room was too quiet. No birds. No wind. The silence clung to her like a second skin. Her limbs were heavier. Her breath was louder. She placed a hand over her chest. Her heartbeat thudded against her palm, but it wasn't just hers.
Something else beats with hers. Beneath her.
The mark on her wrist pulsed.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and caught her reflection in the tall mirror near the balcony.
And froze.
Her eyes were changing.
The brown she'd known all her life now shimmered with gold like someone had poured sunlight into her irises and left it there to burn.
She staggered to her feet, staring at her reflection as if it were that of a stranger. Her pupils had narrowed slightly. Her skin glowed faintly under the pale light. And the mark it had spread. The sigil from days ago now wrapped around her forearm like a vine.
"What the hell…" she whispered.
A sudden gust blew the balcony doors wide open.
The wind rushed in, whipping her hair around her face. The candles flickered violently, shadows dancing across the room.
Then Lucien appeared.
He didn't speak. He just stood there, breathing hard, his eyes unreadable but not surprised.
"You knew this would happen," she said.
He stepped closer, careful. "I hoped it wouldn't come this soon."
"What is it?"
He took her arm gently, examining the mark. "It's your inheritance. From the woman you were before."
"I thought I was just a bonded human."
"You were never just anything, Raina."
Her knees buckled. Lucien caught her. They sank onto the bed. She curled into him.
"You called it the Huntress line," she whispered.
Lucien swallowed. "You were bred to keep balance between the supernatural and human worlds. When wolves went rogue, you ended them."
"So I used to kill people like you?"
"Not people. Beasts. You didn't hunt innocents. You were our defense."
"And I was your greatest threat," she said.
He didn't deny it.
The mark shimmered. Gold under her skin.
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
"It's you," Lucien said. "Both beauty and terror."
Their foreheads touched.
And then "You promised me."
The voice came from inside her. A woman's voice, bitter. Grieving.
Raina jerked back. "I heard someone."
Lucien tensed. "What did she say?"
"That I promised her something. She sounded angry."
Lucien moved to the window. "It's starting."
"What is?"
"You're not just regaining your past life, Raina. You're bringing it with you memories, power... debts."
A knock. The door burst open.
Elias.
"She's glowing," he said.
Lucien nodded. "Her aura's no longer hidden."
"She's calling power," Elias warned.
"I didn't mean to."
"Doesn't matter," Lucien said. "We need to bind it."
Elias stepped forward. Lucien blocked him. "I'll do it."
Raina backed up. "Do what?"
"Bind you. Temporarily. Just until we know your strength."
"Will it hurt?"
"Yes."
She nodded. "Do it."
Lucien took her hand. He kissed her palm.
Then he began to chant a language old and heavy. The air thickened. The candles turned blue.
The mark on her wrist ignited.
Pain lanced through her. She screamed, her body arching. The symbols ran across her skin like molten ink.
Lucien held her. "You're doing so well. Almost there."
The fire roared in her blood. Then darkness.
She collapsed into him, sobbing.
"It's done," he said. "You're safe."
Elias spoke from the shadows. "No. She's seen."
Lucien's jaw clenched. "Then we prepare."
Raina lifted her head. "Prepare for what?"
Elias met her eyes. "War."