Dion stares at the ceiling of Durell Palace. The frescoes depict the Moon God and his children, painted in a pigment that shimmers like crushed diamonds. The light reminds him of the lake-blue silk Ruby Kingsley wore at the ritual... the way the gauze clung to her skin.

He can't shake the image of her at the altar. While the court chanted empty words, she had looked at him with a gaze of pure, jagged disgust. For a heartbeat, he felt like just another monster in the room.

He scoffs, his lips pulling back in a dry sneer. Pity? For a human? Ridiculous.

The chronometer hits 4 AM. Dion throws the covers back and stands. Châtelet is a tomb at this hour, buried in the ancient fear of the rising sun.

He jerks the velvet curtains open and unlatches the window. He doesn't bother with the guards at the door; he simply drops into the abyss of the courtyard.

His boots hit the stone with a silent thud. He wanders the grounds of his own palace until the boredom becomes a physical weight. His feet lead him toward the Moon Archway, the path to Solara Palace.

He shouldn't be here. She's sleeping. He has no reason to stalk a dreaming girl.

A rustle in the tall grass breaks the silence. A cat? Dion leans over the stone railing of the archway.

A flash of navy fabric caught on a thorn. A patch of pale, radiator-warm skin.

Ruby Kingsley stands up and brushes the dirt from her skirts. She begins to claw at the vines covering the high stone wall. Dion's pupils dilate as he watches from the shadows above.

She looks different. Her black hair is pulled into a high, tight tail—exposing the vulnerable line of her neck. She moves with a frantic, quiet focus he hasn't seen before.

Her fingers stop on a hidden seam in the masonry. The stone groans. A door appears where there was only vine and moss.

Dion's knuckles turn white against the railing. A secret exit. She found a loophole.

The Princess of the Kingdom of Aurelia is running away. Brian's bride is vanishing into the night.

A dark, possessive heat rises in his chest. If he hadn't walked this way, she'd be a ghost by sunrise.

Ruby lets out a tiny, breathless cheer. It sounds like a needle against Dion's eardrums. She pushes the door open and peeks into the world beyond the walls.

Dion tenses, ready to blur down and snatch her by the throat.

She hesitates. Her shoulders drop, and a heavy, broken sigh escapes her lips. She looks back at the palace, her eyes scanning the dark, before finally stepping through the threshold.

Dion doesn't jump. He blurs to a higher vantage point on the stone wall, his red eyes tracking her shadow as she moves into the trees.

He wants to see how far the little bird thinks she can fly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruby hiked her skirts and sprinted down the mountain slope.

The secret door hadn't opened to the Kingdom of Aurelia... just a winding forest path.

Princess Ronal's diary was a fairytale. No magical door existed, but the air outside the palace tasted like freedom.

Ruby walked until her legs burned, reaching the valley floor as the sun began its final descent.

A golden goddess statue towered over the crossroads. The sunset caught the metallic cheekbones, reflecting a warm, blinding light toward the river.

The trail smoothed into a paved road lined with silent shops. Ruby moved past the darkened windows, her eyes scanning the displays.

Apothecary jars held dried bats. Jewelry sat in velvet cases, the styles sharper and heavier than anything in Aurelia.

She flipped a menu outside a cafe. The final page listed blood types by the glass.

A wooden barrel crashed in the shadows of a side alley. Ruby ducked behind a stack of crates, her heart hammering against her ribs.

"Put the cloak on, Master!" a voice hissed.

"I'm not... I'm not going back," a slur responded.

A second crash echoed. "I said stay back! You're just a servant... you have no right..."

A jagged scream cut through the air. "The sun! Your skin is blistering!"

The drunk vampire groaned, his voice weakening as the light touched him. "Fine... we go."

Footsteps crunched on the gravel, drawing closer to Ruby's crate. She stayed low, her fingers digging into the dirt.

A shadow stretched across the ground, long and jagged. Ruby looked up into a pair of muddy, dark red eyes.

The pale man sneered, his breath smelling of stale iron. He didn't have the regal bearing of Dion or Brian Lancaster.

His chaotic gaze focused on her exposed skin. "A little bird out for a walk? No cloak?"

Ruby's fingers closed around a handful of sand. She didn't move.

"Stand up," the vampire barked.

His servant reached for his arm, but the master shoved him aside. He yanked off his heavy cloak as the sun dipped below the horizon, his strength returning with the shadows.

He lunged.

Ruby slammed her back against the brick wall and hurled the dirt into his face.

"My eyes!"

The vampire shrieked, his hands flying to his stinging face. He thrashed blindly, his long arms swinging until his fingers locked onto Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby fumbled in her pocket.

"You're going to pay for that, girl," he spat. He wiped the grit from his eyes and swung.

A palm cracked across Ruby's face. Her jaw throbbed, the world spinning into a blur of heat and pain.

She'd never been hit... not once in her life.

Her fingers closed around the cold hilt of the silver dagger. She squeezed her eyes shut and drove the blade forward with a desperate shove.

A guttural howl ripped through the alley. Pressure vanished from her arm.

Ruby's heels skidded on the cobblestones as she lost her balance. A pair of solid, marble-cold arms caught her before she hit the ground.

A severed hand twitched in a spreading pool of red on the stones.

"Where did you get a silver dagger?"

Dion Lancaster's voice was a lethal rasp against her ear. Ruby didn't look up.

Warm liquid soaked into the silk of her shoulder. She touched the smear—blood.

Behind her, Dion's chest heaved. His jaw locked against a white-hot agony.

His palm smoked where it had brushed the silver. The burn was deep, a steady, invisible fire eating into his skin.