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"It's going to be a boy, I can tell," Selene rambled to Drelissa with a soft giggle as they sat in the parlor sharing tea.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Wgqgqc6eJ
Drelissa smiled warmly, sipping hers. "I'm so happy for you two~ You know, Lorendeal and I have been trying as well," she said, laughing lightly. "Although it's quite difficult when one of us is fae and the other isn't."
Across the room, Veylan scowled at the piano, his long fingers idly pressing silent keys. Lorendeal stood beside him with a glass of whiskey in hand.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYO85BSK68
A boy.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisAShyREMQ
How charming.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEloFoSnsta
Veylan growled internally, his jaw tightening.
Lorendeal leaned down, voice low in his ear: "Why do I get the feeling you don't want this child... because you hate yourself?"
The words struck him like a blade.
Veylan gasped awake, bolting upright in bed. His chest heaved with ragged breaths; cold sweat slicked his skin.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADh24yxNfp
"Shit," he rasped.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡem6bwq6UCq
Those words...12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4cDU45oFt6
"Because you hate yourself?"12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4o4NgrgtlZ
No.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYZn7Fdrbf9
Yes.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBEX1cuEQx
Yes, he hated himself.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPQJMuq32I
And if this child came out anything like him— He would never forgive himself.
His breathing slowed as he glanced over at Selene, sleeping peacefully, her hand resting lightly on her stomach.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtB6Y5CLtAR
Was it the same for her?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOfBeaRKHJ
Was this why he could barely look at her now without feeling hollow?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgEy0elAmz4
Did she feel it too?12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWppMea4FGd
He barely knew her — only what she wanted him to know. Only what the murder stories whispered behind closed doors.
He sighed heavily and slipped out of bed, grabbing his robe and stepping carefully toward the window.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjs4E5ltx9v
The night air slapped his face as he climbed out onto the roof.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyn0wBnJ6R
He climbed higher, up to one of the castle's spiraling towers, and sat with his knees tucked against his chest.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CMp3hEAWg
The moon hung pale and cold above him.
He felt like a child.
Still reckless.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTkyxqyaa4
Still arrogant.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2YbfEd0pZ
Still pretending he wasn't slowly drowning.
He tipped his head back to the sky, eyes glistening.
Fuck.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFORSAgvo1i
A child.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeVSxqcCpg
He was only twenty-two — a child raising a child. A monster creating another monster.
Behind him, footsteps padded softly across the stone.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoGaZ0NBrma
The wind picked up, tousling his hair as someone sat down beside him.
"Vey..."
He knew that voice.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIgeFo6j7I8
His throat tightened.
Slowly, he turned his head — and his breath caught.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8VsSUExf4
"Kora...?" he whispered.
There she was.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRW91POX9B
Kora, in a white nightgown, her black hair spilling down in elegant coils, her smile soft and sorrowful.
"Don't let your mind win," she whispered, leaning in to kiss his closed eyelids.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAS64XrHwC
"You can still love... even if I'm gone."
A voice ripped him from the vision.
"Veylan? Vey—are you alright?"12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVGeSuVj5J
Selene.
He coughed harshly, realizing he'd been holding his breath. His whole body trembled as he looked up at her.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14XW8Eyu3s
She sat beside him carefully, the hem of her gown fluttering in the wind.
"Can't sleep?" she asked quietly.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzy062zSX7
He nodded, swallowing thickly.
"Bad dream..." he managed.
Selene bit her lip and nodded knowingly. "Because of me?"
He stiffened. Was it because of her? No. It was always because of himself.
"No," he said, his voice raw.
Selene sighed, standing and offering her hand to him. Her silhouette was lit by the moon, a soft bump already visible — Banshee pregnancies were fast, ruthless, often deadly.
His heart clenched.
He didn’t hate the child. He didn’t even hate her. He hated himself. All he had ever hated was himself.
And yet, trembling, he reached up and took her hand.
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Fog choked the garden in a thick, suffocating veil as Veylan’s boots pounded against the dirt path. The faint jingle of his jewelry echoed like distant bells in a tomb. He was back in Drakmire—but not the Drakmire he remembered. Not his mother’s garden.
The hedges loomed, wild and untrimmed, like claws reaching skyward. Once-brilliant flowers lay wilted and rotting. Thorns curled over every inch of the cracked soil, vines tangled like veins across the broken stone. The air stank of mildew and something metallic—blood, perhaps.
His heart thundered in his chest as he ran, the ribbon that once bound his hair unraveling and tearing away into the damp night air. He didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. When he risked a glance back, his breath caught—
A figure was gaining. Tall, inhumanly tall, cloaked in shadow, its white eyes glowing like lanterns in the dark.
He turned and bolted harder, chest burning. The garden blurred past him until he skidded around a half-collapsed wall and crouched low, panting, eyes wide with terror. The silence lasted only a second.
Then—
A hand seized him by the scruff. He was yanked off his feet and hurled into the side of a spiraling black spire. The stone cracked behind him; air fled his lungs in a burst. He slumped, gasping, the world tilting. His vision flickered. The figure was coming closer. It carried something—long, metallic—gleaming faintly in the dark.
Veylan tried to move, to flee, but his limbs were jelly. He had only risen halfway when—
Crack.
A brutal pain split his skull as the weapon connected. His legs gave out. Blood poured from his nose and ears. The taste of copper flooded his mouth. The figure knelt before him, head tilted in a grotesque mimicry of curiosity.
He could barely make it out—silky black hair fell over a grinning face, and in one pale hand, four jagged railroad spikes gleamed. In the other… a hammer.
“Please…” he rasped, voice thick and broken.
The figure only laughed, low and hollow. “Shhh… it’ll all be over soon~”
The spike drove in.
Pain exploded through his skull as the hammer struck again and again, each blow more deafening than the last. Blood ran down his face in rivers, his vision flickering with every heartbeat. He gurgled, trying to scream, the agony too great.
“I’ll see you soon, Veylan…”
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Veylan jolted upright, clutching his chest, eyes wild. Another nightmare—no, something worse. A memory disguised as a warning. A familiar omen of death.
His breath came in shallow bursts as he ran a hand through his damp golden hair, sweat clinging to his skin. Sunlight poured through the tall windows, too warm, too gentle for the storm churning inside him.
I’ll see you soon...
What did it mean? Another death? Another haunting?
He sighed, glancing around the room. Selene must’ve let him sleep in. How generous. He bit his lip, then threw the covers off with a frustrated groan. He needed a bath. And caffeine. Desperately.
“Good morning, my Lord,” a maid greeted politely as he slipped on his robe. Veylan nodded with a tight, forced smile. Oh, the irony. There was nothing good about waking up from a vision of a railroad spike to the skull. Honestly, he’d take one of his self-loathing, self-destructive dreams over a death omen any day.
The scent of citrus and cinnamon drifted through the hallway as he stepped into the bathroom. Selene must be cooking. She always used those fragrances—comforting to some. Not to him.
He tapped the bath lightly, murmuring a spell to fill it with steaming water. The sound soothed him. He let the robe slip from his shoulders, stepped out of his pants, and sank into the bath, letting the heat unwind the knots in his muscles.
And then Selene walked in.
She smiled sweetly as she let down her hair, her silver eyes glinting. “Good morning, my love,” she purred.
Veylan scowled. He needed to get used to this—to her—especially with the dream still lingering and the knowledge that he was soon to be a father pressing against his ribs.
“You let me sleep in,” he said coldly, draping an arm over the edge of the tub.
She hummed, pulling her hair into a neater bun. “You needed the rest. You looked like you were about to die of the plague this morning.”
He scoffed. The plague. Death. Hilarious, when directed at a vampire.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked, eyes flicking to the empty space between his legs.
He blinked, caught off guard. “I—”
But it didn’t matter. She was already sliding her nightgown off, piece by piece. His breath caught. He’d seen her bare countless times, but this felt… different. More intimate. More dangerous.
The light from the stained glass bathed her pale skin in shards of color, her silver gaze locking onto his. The soft curve of her stomach—the child growing inside her—caught the light, too.
She was… gorgeous. And he hated himself for thinking it.
He swallowed thickly and looked away, but not before she slid into the water between his thighs. He stiffened. His mind raced, torn between revulsion and temptation.
Why was he reacting like this? After everything she’d done?
She saved you, a voice whispered. You were rotting in chains and she pulled you out. She gave you life again. And how have you repaid her?
He exhaled shakily, then slowly pulled her closer by the waist. His fingers drifted along the skin of her thighs, and she shuddered against him. Her smile softened. Finally—he was opening up to her again.
“If you want… you can try to drink from me again,” she said gently, too gently. “I know you’ve been trying, and you’re getting better at keeping it down.”
His breath hitched. Again? From her? Could he really? Could he survive it—control it?
“I… I don’t know, Selene,” he murmured. “Maybe not this time.”
She frowned, then slowly turned to straddle him, wrapping her legs around his hips. Bathwater rippled around them, heat rising.
“Veylan. Bite me.”
Her voice wasn’t just hers—it was layered, woven with screams, whispers, power. It crawled into his head and rooted itself there. He froze, breath shallow. Then, slowly, nodded. His trembling fingers swept her hair aside, exposing her neck. His fangs ached.
“Fine,” he muttered, pouting like a stubborn child.
She smirked and tilted her head, baring her throat to him. He leaned in. His lips brushed her skin. Then his fangs sank deep.
She gasped—a soft, blissful sound—and clung to him as the blood met his tongue. A soft groan escaped his lips as he drew her blood into his mouth, swallowing it as the flavor bloomed across his taste buds. But when it once used to be bitter and revolting, this time he found it sweet…and intoxicating.
The taste of it fogged his mind as he drank from her, his fingertips gripping her waist tighter as he buried his teeth into her neck deeper. Eliciting a soft moan from Selene’s lips, her back arching in a subtle curve.
He could feel her fingertips intertwine in his hair and he gasped against the curve of her neck as she pulled him closer, her bare folds lightly grinding against his length, the water rippled as she moved her hips. He hissed against her skin as she did so, his eyes rolling back until they closed and moaned.
“Such a good boy~” she cooed, a lilt to her voice as she bit her bottom lip, holding back another moan as she grinded against him. His length twitched beneath her, pulsing with arousal as he gave into the pleasure she had offered him with open arms.
And a thought crossed his mind that he never thought would.
He wanted to be in her. 12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinBps4kmGE
To kiss her.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFfllTRESK
To taste her.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZILspICmpB
To drag his tongue across her clit, across her soft skin.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5uWoMWv3I
To leave blooming marks all across her skin, to make her his, more his than he was hers.
He pulled back from her neck and gasped. “Selene- wait-” he breathed out, huffing, finding it a lot harder to breathe now. As if she had stolen all the oxygen in the vicinity.
Selene groaned in annoyance. “For the love of god Veylan, what?” She hissed, coming down from the high she’d been building for them. He looked at her with vulnerable eyes. Chewing the inside of his cheek. But, he couldn’t find the words.
She rolled her eyes and sighed, standing up abruptly, she climbed out of the bath. Grabbing her robe as she went to storm out, Veylan’s eyes widened and he was out of the tub in a split moment, grabbing her wrist.
“Wait! I just-fuck…” he sighed, grabbing a towel to cover himself as if she weren’t just grinding against him. Selene turned and cocked her head with a scowl, her eyes flickering over his body as if assessing him.
“Oh~” she purred, taking notice of his predicament.
“Shut up” he chided, She smirked, walking towards him again and dragging a finger down soft muscles. Her eyes glinting with mischief.
“So~ You finally got a hard on for me…” she cooed, his brow twitched and he grabbed the hand she was tracing down his chest. Shoving her backwards til her back hit the sink. “Wha- Veylan!” she gasped, looking up at him in disbelief before his lips came crashing down against hers.
She tasted sweet. Of Oranges and Mistletoe. Her lips were soft, plump against his as they parted and allowed his tongue to snake into her mouth, warm and sensual. His tongue dragged against the palette of her mouth, curling to drag across the inner part of her teeth, her own tongue sliding into his mouth to do the same.
She moaned into the kiss softly, his grip on her hand loosening until it dropped to her hips, pushing her back against the marble. Fingertips sliding across soft flesh until he could grab a handful of her ass, squeezing appreciatively.
He groaned into her mouth, licking the insides before he pulled away slowly and dropped to his knees. She gasped as he looked up at her with dazed red eyes, wanting, yearning, needing, every inch of her.
“I knew you’d crack eventually” she breathed out in a hushed whisper.
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“So… what exactly are we supposed to do now that Veylan’s not here?” Sarnan asked, voice low, almost reverent. The group stood frozen just outside the meeting room, the air thick with dread.
The doors loomed before them—splintered, cracked, practically torn from their hinges.
Oddfellow stepped forward and scowled at the scene inside.
There, on the obsidian council table, lay Viktor.
Sprawled like some sort of offering, his limbs were pinned by brutal railroad spikes, blood pooling beneath him, dripping steadily over the edges. The table had split down the middle, a jagged crack spidering through its polished surface. Blood painted the walls.
It wasn’t just a killing. It was a message.
Whoever had done this… wasn’t just powerful. They were precise. And they hadn’t made a sound. That silence said more than screams ever could.
The council—fractured, fearful—would be useless in the face of this.
Except for one.
Veylan.
“Oddfellow?” Sevina’s voice broke through the quiet, sharp and urgent.
He blinked, dragged from his thoughts. With a sigh, he folded his arms behind his back, jaw tight.
“Write to him. Immediately,” he said. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
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Viktor Cross Penislai12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JEItz3BTe
Age: 34/ Race: Arcane Scholar
It’s not his fault the room gets brighter when he walks in—blame the gods for showing off.12Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDUrvHlxYi
