Escaping From His Love

Five years ago, I offered up my neck to Kieran, the Shadow Lord.

After that night of insatiable hunger, he didn't drain me dry.

Instead, he sank his fangs deep into my veins. At the zenith of pleasure, he whispered repeatedly into my ear, "You are mine."

Just as I mistakenly believed this twisted possession was love, his so-called "savior," Seraphina, returned.

To appease her, Kieran demanded my heart's blood every night. He callously tossed my mother's only keepsake into an auction. Worse still, to quell her jealousy, he personally locked me away in a prison bristling with silver torture devices...

When I finally broke the blood pact and, my heart shattered, fled to Los Angeles to marry his sworn enemy, Lucian, Kieran descended into complete madness.

I was in my fifth year of a secret affair with Lord Kieran, and everyone noticed he treated me differently.

By day, I'd dismiss any talk of our relationship with a simple, "I'm just the Lord's blood perfumer."

No one knew that each night, he would hold me possessively, his lips tracing my neck as he murmured, "You are mine."

On our last night together, he held me so tightly, it felt as though he wanted to crush me into his very being.

"Aurora, your blood smells like roses that have begun to rot."

Kieran's voice was low as his fingers clamped around my wrist in the dark.

His touch was unnervingly cold, even for a creature of the night.

Usually, I would have instinctively wrapped my arms around him.

But this time, a bitter ache blooming in my chest, I simply pulled my hand away.

"If that is how you feel, then you should let me go, my Lord."

He didn't.

Instead, he leaned in, his fangs brushing against my carotid artery, sending a shiver of pain through me.

"Don't move, Moonlight," he rasped, using the private, ancient nickname we shared. "You know I can't resist your scent."

I closed my eyes, surrendering to the last vestiges of my affection, and embraced him once more.

He had no idea I was about to marry someone else.

The next evening, the grand hall of Nocturne Castle blazed with light.

I managed a faint smile. Only yesterday, I was his secret lover, the only "antidote" he ever spoke of.

But now, everything had changed.

In the center of the hall, the crystal chandelier's light converged on two figures.

One was Kieran. The other was Seraphina.

That girl, with her half-human blood and dress of faded white, trembled like a porcelain doll.

She wasn't even a noble, merely a low-ranking hybrid.

But Kieran did something that silenced the entire room.

He unclasped his black and gold velvet cloak, a symbol of the Nocturne family's highest authority, and gently, almost reverently, draped it over Seraphina's shoulders.

"That's the token of every mistress…" a gasp rippled through the crowd.

I stood in the shadows, my knuckles white, clutching a glass of crimson liquid.

Beside me, my father, Magnus Thorne, was ashen-faced.

"Aurora, if you had only tried a little harder, that cloak would be on your shoulders right now."

I let out a humorless laugh.

Five years ago, the first time I met Kieran, I fell for him instantly.

To win him over, I worked tirelessly, eventually creating a scent that eased his family's hereditary manic depression. The price? My blood, every month.

After he received the perfume, Kieran treated me with respect, but no affection. No matter how hard I tried, all I received was a simple, "You've worked hard."

Unwilling to let my first love end like this, during a test of a new formula, I added something to my own blood.

That night, Kieran lost control in a way I'd never witnessed. He was so moved, it was as if he intended to drain me dry.

At the last moment, he stopped, burying his head against my neck, and softly called me Moonlight.

From that day on, outwardly, we maintained a purely professional relationship.

But in private, he was incredibly tender with me. Only when he wanted something did he become all-consuming, leaving me with the feeling he might devour me.

I thought I had conquered Kieran.

For the next five years, we maintained this dynamic.

Until my birthday. He said he had a surprise for me.

I heard he'd been preparing for this day for years.

A proposal?

I waited from morning till night, brimming with anticipation.

But I didn't receive a diamond ring, nor flowers or gifts.

Only the news that he had brought a human girl back to the estate.

That night, he held me gently.

"Happy? You won't have to give blood anymore."

"My antidote has returned."

After that day, our relationship continued as usual.

Kieran still stayed with me at night, but each morning as the sun rose, he'd return to that girl.

He'd say, "She is too fragile; she cannot be without me. I have to look after her."

He paused when he said it, likely seeing the look on my face. He tried to comfort me, "If you remain good, we can still be as we were. Nothing will change."

But I no longer wanted to wait around for him.

"It's more than just a cloak, Father." I stared at Kieran in the center of the ballroom, now lowering his head to speak to Seraphina with a tenderness he'd never shown me.

"He is declaring his claim to everyone."

At that moment, an elder from the Ashford family beside me whispered, "I heard Lord Kieran fell into a deep slumber a hundred years ago, all to use some forbidden magic to keep a dying human girl alive. That girl… was Seraphina, wasn't she?"

"He slept for a century for her? Gods, what kind of devotion is that."

In that instant, my blood ran cold.

I had been with Kieran for five years.

I thought I was special.

I thought I was the one who could calm him.

But compared to a century, five years felt like a mere joke.

So, I was just a replacement. A useful vessel to keep him company while he waited for his true love to awaken.

On the dance floor, Seraphina looked up at Kieran, tears welling in her eyes. "Kieran, this is too precious. I can't…"

"You are the only one worthy of it." Kieran's voice wasn't loud, but it cut through to me like a rusty saw scraping my eardrums.

I placed my wine glass on a passing waiter's tray. The glass clinked.

"I am leaving this place," I said to Magnus, turning to him.

"You dare!" Magnus hissed, his voice low and furious. "Kieran is about to announce the arranged marriage. If you walk out now, you will shame the Nocturne family!"

"He will announce a marriage, but the bride won't be me."

I met Magnus's eyes, not backing down for the first time. "Since you want power so badly, sell me to the Ashford family in Los Angeles. Hasn't Lucian Ashford been proposing for ages?"

Magnus froze, then a glint flashed in his eyes. "Are you serious? Lucian doesn't have Kieran's influence, but he has just inherited the Los Angeles territory…"

Amidst his ecstatic expression, I nodded. "I am serious. You can contact him."

The next second, I hitched up my skirt and strode through the crowd.

I moved through the long corridors, towards Kieran's private chambers in the east wing of the castle.

I had access. It was a "privilege" he'd granted me, so I could bring him his medicine anytime.

The door opened.

The chambers were dark, but I could see in the gloom.

Shelves lined the walls, filled with the blood perfumes I'd crafted for him over the past five years.

Each bottle contained my heart and soul.

But at the deepest part of the shelf, in a temperature-controlled compartment, I saw a row of crystal vials I didn't recognize.

I walked over and picked one up, my hand trembling.

The label, written in ancient script, read: Seraphina, 1925.

The next: Seraphina, 1926.

A full hundred bottles.

Before he fell into his slumber, he had collected a blood sample from her every year.

Even in his sleep, he had used his family's power to preserve these, cherishing them.

And my blood?

I glanced at the trash can nearby.

There lay the latest batch of perfumes I'd brought him not long ago. I'd excitedly handed them to Kieran, telling him it was a new formula I'd spent half a year developing to relieve his headaches.

But now, these perfumes, unopened, were simply discarded.

Because Seraphina was back, and he no longer needed a replacement.

A burning rage, unlike anything I had ever felt, consumed me.

For him, I had endured five years of painful bloodletting, refused Lucian's proposals, and faced cold glances from within my own family.

And he had tossed my sincerity aside like garbage.

"Screw you, Moonlight."

I grabbed the row of precious Seraphina blood samples.

"Aurora, what are you doing?"

Kieran's voice came from the doorway.

He sensed my intrusion.

I turned, looking at the man still in his formal wear, breathtakingly handsome.

Seeing me holding his treasures, a flicker of panic flashed in his eyes.

I smiled. "I am cleaning up your mess, Kieran."

The next second, I raised my hand and smashed the crystal vials to the ground.

The crisp sound of shattering glass echoed through the chamber.

The dark crimson liquid splattered everywhere, flooding the floor.

That cloying sweet scent instantly filled the entire room.