After the potion wore off, I was completely drained.

Chloe video-called me. "Did it work?"

"Yeah," I said, using the wall to pull myself up. "It's gone."

"I booked you a flight to Santorini," Chloe said. "Sun, sand, amazing food… basically, a vampire-free zone. Perfect for healing."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Thank your own courage," she said, then paused. "So, when are you going to tell Damon you switched schools?"

"I'm not," I said calmly. "To him, I'm just a blood bag he can replace at any time."

After we hung up, I blocked Damon on everything.

Ten years of entanglement, ending with a simple tap of a screen.

On my way out, I ran into Damon's friend, Felix.

"Elena!" Felix greeted me warmly. "Are you heading off to Paris with Damon for vacation?"

I froze. "Paris?"

"Yeah, he booked the Royal Suite. Said he needed to blow off some steam," Felix said with a suggestive wink. "Have a great trip, you two."

I didn't bother correcting him. I just smiled. "Thanks."

The smile vanished the second I turned away.

I had asked Damon to take me to Paris so many times. He always said he was too busy with clan affairs.

This trip, obviously, wasn't for me.

Turns out it wasn't that he didn't have time. He just didn't have time for me.

I dragged my suitcase out of the castle. The sunlight felt warm on my skin. After a decade as Damon's servant, I was used to living in the dark. Even though a vampire prince like Damon wasn't harmed by the sun, the species had an instinctual hatred for the day. And I had forced myself to adapt to his world.

The airport was bustling with the vibrant energy of human life.

I was checking in when I heard a commotion behind me.

"It's Mr. Damon and Miss Serena!"

"Oh my god, he's even hotter in person!"

I stiffened and slowly turned my head.

A short distance away, Damon was shielding Serena from the paparazzi's flashing cameras. He looked protective and gentle, a knight guarding his princess.

I'd never seen him act like that.

I hid in the crowd, watching them walk toward the first-class security line. Damon kept glancing at his phone, looking agitated, as if he were waiting for a message.

Just then, my phone rang. An unknown number.

I answered. It was Damon. "You blocked my number?"

His voice was laced with fury. "Elena, what is this little tantrum all about? Have you forgotten we're supposed to be starting at the same university?"

I watched his back, his shoulders tense as he spoke into his own phone.

"I'm going on a trip for a while," I said calmly, ignoring his question.

"Where?"

"Santorini."

There was a dead silence on his end. Santorini, with its intense, ever-present sun, was the kind of place vampires despised.

"Is this your way of rebelling?" Damon's voice turned to ice. "I forbid it."

"You don't have the right," I said, and hung up. I blocked that number, too.

Across the terminal, I saw Damon slam his phone down in fury. People around him scattered. Serena grabbed his arm, trying to soothe him.

I turned and walked toward my gate.

I could faintly hear his enraged voice behind me, but this time, it didn't scare me at all.

The sun in Santorini was blindingly brilliant.

I lay on a lounge chair, letting the light soak into my skin. It was the first time in ten years I had basked in the sun without a care in the world.

"Another mojito," Chloe told the waiter before turning to me. "You've got your color back. You don't look like a ghost anymore."

"That's what happens when you're not a walking blood bag," I said with a small smile.

My blood had a natural, potent allure for vampires, which was likely the real reason Damon kept me around for a decade. He fed from me weekly, and after ten years of it, my health had suffered.

"Look at this," Chloe said, handing me her phone.

It was an entertainment alert: [Royal Night in Paris! Damon & Serena on the Seine, Proposal Rumored!]

The photo showed them on a river cruise, looking very close.

I glanced at it and felt that familiar ache in my chest, but the good news was, it was duller than before. I handed the phone back. "You don't have to show me this stuff anymore."

"You're really over him?" Chloe asked, skeptical.

"Yeah," I said, sitting up. "You know, for the last two months, I've felt the obsession just… fading. Like a tide going out, washing it all away."

Maybe it was the distance. Maybe it was a side effect of having the bond mark removed.

Whatever it was, I felt free.

I took a picture of the Santorini sea and posted it with a simple caption: New beginnings.

Then I closed the app.

Ten minutes later, my phone rang. Another unknown number.

I answered, and Damon's deep voice came through. "When are you coming back?"

I wasn't surprised he'd found a way to call. "I haven't decided."

"School starts in a month," he said, his voice tight with frustration. "I got you a welcome gift. Come home and get it."

"Don't worry about it. I can handle my own registration."

"Elena," Damon’s voice hardened. "Stop being childish."

"I'm not being childish," I said, looking out at the turquoise water. "I'm just living the life I want."

"The life you want?" he sneered. "Running off to a beach to get a tan?"

"Yes. This life," I said peacefully. "A life with sunlight and freedom, where I don't have to worry about who I might be upsetting."

There was a long silence.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Damon's tone became threatening. "Keep this up, and I'll take the offer of the Embrace off the table."

I laughed. "Good."

"What?"

"I said, good," I repeated, each word precise. "I don't want your Embrace, Damon. I don't want to be a vampire."

Click.

He hung up.

Chloe looked at me. "He's pissed?"

"Yep." I leaned back in my chair. "But I don't care anymore."

I was actually already planning my trip back, but I had no intention of telling him.

That evening, my parents called.

"Elena, we just got a tuition bill from Oxford," my mother said, confused. "Aren't you going to New Orleans?"

I gripped the phone. "Mom, I changed my mind. I want to go to England, to follow my own dream."

"But Damon…"

"Please don't tell him," I interrupted. "I'm begging you."

There was a long pause on the other end before my father sighed. "Alright, honey. We promise."

"I don't want to see him before I leave," I added softly.

After hanging up, I walked out onto the balcony. The sea breeze was salty and cool. In the distance, a cruise ship passed, carrying the sound of laughter and music across the water.

This was the human world—warm, vibrant, and alive.

Damon's world was eternal night and cold castles.

I was never going back.