Did you think binding yourself to her would save her? All you've done is ensure you'll be there when I flip the switch. You'll feel everything when she turns on you. Every moment of her trying to stop herself and failing. Every second of her hands around your throat. The bond won't protect you. It will just make sure you experience the full horror of what I've built.
She's my masterpiece, Maximus. My greatest weapon. And now she'spointed directly at your heart, closer than I ever could have positioned her myself. This is the most fun I’ve had in centuries, Maximus. You have truly brought life to my dull existence. Don’t worry. I fully intend to take my time and savor these moments.
Give my regards to your inner circle. One of them, at least, already has mine.
—Konstantin
P.S. I have your sister, Celeste. She has your eyes. I can see why you fought so hard for her. Now let's see how hard you'll fight to get her back.
The paper crumples in my fist.
Celeste's reaction hits me before she speaks. Horror. Pure, absolute horror, flooding through our connection like ice water.
"Simone." Her voice is barely a whisper. "He has Simone."
I turn to her, and her face has the expression of someone whose worst nightmare just became real.
"He can't..." She shakes her head violently. "She wasn't part of this. She doesn't know anything. She's human, she's innocent, she..."
Her voice breaks. And I feel it. The guilt crashing into me. The terrible, crushing weight of it. Her sister is in Konstantin's hands because of her. An innocent human who knows nothing about vampires, nothing about this war, dragged into it because Konstantin needed leverage.
The mark on my chest aches. A deep, throbbing pain that mirrors what she's feeling. Her grief, made physical in the crimson lines etched into my skin.
"We'll get her back." I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to meet my eyes. "Do you hearme? We will get her back."
"How? We don't even know where he is. We don't know what he wants."
"We know exactly what he wants." My voice is hard. Cold. "He wants you. And now he has leverage."
"So I'll go. I'll trade myself."
"No." The word comes from multiple voices. Mine, Marcellus's, Nadia's, even Ethan's. We all speak at once, a rare moment of unity.
Nadia steps forward, and for the first time, her expression holds something other than suspicion. "Walking into Konstantin's hands is exactly what he wants. We'd be giving him everything."
"She's right," Isabelle adds quietly. "A trade would only strengthen his position. We need leverage of our own."
"Then what do we do?" Celeste's voice cracks. "He has my sister. My baby sister. The only family I have left."
I pull her against my chest, holding her as she shakes. Her terror, her grief, her desperate love for the sister she's protected since childhood. All of it pours into me until I can barely separate her pain from my own.
And I feel something else, too. Something growing beneath the fear.
Rage.
"We find him," I say over her head, meeting the eyes of my inner circle one by one. "We find where he's keeping her. We identify the traitor who told him about the bond. We find a way to remove the trigger from Celeste's blood. And then we burn his entire operation to the ground."
"The message mentioned friends in the right places," Julian says slowly. "And he told us to give his regards to the inner circle. He's saying one of us is feeding him information."
The room goes tense. I watch them, all of them. Marcellus, steady and unreadable. Nadia, bristling at the implication. Julian,frowning thoughtfully. Ethan, fingers frozen over his tablet. Isabelle, face carefully blank. Caleb, dark eyes revealing nothing. Dr. Sullivan, looking genuinely disturbed. Elena, the only human, pale and frightened.
One of them. Or someone close to one of them.
"I know." I let my gaze sweep the room. "But we're going to find out who."
"I've been in the field," Ethan says, an edge of defensiveness in his voice. "My loyalty isn't in question."
"Everyone's loyalty is in question," Caleb counters from his corner. "That's how moles work."
