ELARA MONTOYA POV)

The one solace I had was the Fledgling Quarters' garden. Most vampires, especially the purebloods, despised the raw, "unclean" earth. I didn't. At least the soil was real, natural, and not the residue of someone else’s drunken decadence. The root vegetables and night-blooming flowers offered a strange comfort; they thrived regardless of my hybrid status, as long as I meticulously cleared the solar-poisoned weeds.

They never laughed at me or smirked. I snorted, self-deprecatingly, scooting along the row. I was humming a tuneless chant to the thriving, fresh-scented blood-root vegetables, picking the dry weeds out from their territory.

“Sun-parasite,” I whispered, holding up a dried stalk. “I cast you hence from the domain of the Montoyas’ Garden forthwith. Begone!” I flicked the desiccated weed over the rough stone wall. “May the mortal scavengers pick the marrow from your—"

“What do you think you’re doing, half-breed?”

The voice of the Sire, Lord Severino Montoya, was pure, panic-inducing poison. I spun around so fast I nearly toppled headfirst into the delicate lettuce beds.

Oh, hell.

No one could inspire pure, raw terror like the Sire. Cruelty was their nature, but he was the source point of all my pain. My arm began throbbing at once, a muscle memory of torture, just at the sight of him.

"Sire, I am. only. tending the Clan gardens." I was shaking. Even the plants seemed to quiver.

He didn't act like he noticed me kneeling. He simply stomped a polished boot onto a thriving blood-root vine as he approached, snapping it in half. I felt a reflexive twist of grief—a small, unnecessary death.

“You do not have the leisure for ‘tending’ if the work at my manor is incomplete," he snarled. "And judging by the abysmal state of the scrying room, the job is far from done. Vikki and her parents are arriving tonight. Now get your worthless backside up to the Manor and finish your servitude.”

He grabbed the top of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair, and lifted me to his height, suspending me by the roots. Pain exploded across my scalp. I clawed uselessly at his hand. Before I could connect, he released me, letting me fall into a bruised heap on the earth.

I didn't want to look at the few brown strands of my hair woven between his pale fingers. The sight was a sickening omen.

“Rise to your feet, you wretch.”

I forced myself up on shaky legs, hating the weakness he so easily commanded from me. I stood, body trembling, staring at his boots while my blood ran cold. He lifted a hand and ran it slowly down the side of my scarred forearm.

"One strike for not completing your task."

I froze in my entirety. He raised his other arm, showing a length of black iron rod—one he specialized in using on me. My forearm still throbbed fiercely from his last 'lesson.'

“Just finish it!” I ground out, jaw clenched. I finally lifted my head to meet his ancient, predatory gaze. It was the only defiance I had left.

He grasped my arm and whipped me around so I was pressed against the hardness of him. His body trapped mine, his arm caught taut as he raised the rod.

"This is the result of insufficient devotion. There is no tolerance for weakness or flawed lineage in the Crimson Talon Clan." He hunched over, whispering into my ear, his hardness pressed against my backside, his dry lips skimming my lobe. I almost dry-heaved, stopped only by the paralyzing fear of earning a second strike.

The rod came down right in the middle of my forearm. I clamped my teeth, determined not to scream or show one flicker of pain.

“Next time,” he purred into my ear as my stomach twisted with revulsion. “Next time I will apply it to a far more sensitive section of your impure body, and then, if you’re lucky, once you’ve Ascended, I will show you how I really like to use this.”

The pain from the rod was nothing compared to the absolute, consuming filth of his intent. His voice penetrated my skin and delved so deeply that my very marrow shook. He was more disgusting than Kael's blood-packs or the vomit-covered blankets.

“Now, back to work!”

I stayed on my knees, pretending to weed, until the sound of his footsteps disappeared completely.

It's just you and me, power. When you decide it's time to show, we hit the road. I made a silent, internal vow. We're not spending another minute more than we have to in this hell.

I went back to the Quarters, desperate to clean the raw welt.

“What in the name of the Void?” Lili stopped her kneading of black bread, hurrying over.

“I didn't finish the cleaning up in Sire's Manor this morning." I avoided eye contact. "I accidentally… caught Kael and his chosen Blood-Bond in a rather compromising position.”

Lili snorted, laying a cool cloth against the welt. “Chosen Blood-Bonds. What crap. No wonder you ran.”

I swallowed against the urge to correct her: Kael's backside was anything but flabby. The sight of him, moving against Vikki, still held my attention captive—a disgusting addiction.

“There is more,” I said, detailing Kael’s humiliation at the Academy and the Sire’s threat, including the nauseating, intimate press of his body as he struck me.

“Gods above and below, that man is the very shadow of the devil,” Lili gasped. She turned to the sink, muttering to herself as she always did. “So, he knows your Ascension is imminent. I suspected. Your blood’s scent has changed.”

"What does that actually mean?" I asked, turning to her.

Lili let out a little yelp, soapy water spraying. She smiled, pushing back gray hair. “It means I can scent a massive surge of power hormones on you. That’s all. Your potential power spikes when Ascension is near. It is a good sign.”

It is a wonderful sign. It means freedom.

I couldn't tell Lili my plan; she was the one good thing here, and my leaving would crush her.

“You are stronger than you know, Elara,” Lili went on. “They don't know what to do with a will like yours. So, they try to beat it out of you. But you will not be broken."

I forced a snort. "Are you sure? Because right now, I feel pretty busted up."

A soft smile touched Lili's face. "Just maintain that defiance. Once you Ascend, you will be the one shaking the very foundations of this Clan."

Lili had no idea how true that was. I just wouldn’t be doing it from inside the Clan.

(ELARA MONTOYA POV)

The duffel bag in my hand felt impossibly heavy, though it contained only the few clothes I owned. My 'wardrobe' was minimalist by necessity—the discarded rags of the Crimson Talon Clan. Now, my lack of possessions felt like a profound blessing.

The plan of escape, perfected all week, was set in concrete. Repetition had been the only thing that got me through the agonizing week after the Sire’s whipping. I had remained docile, done my chores, and, astonishingly, everyone had mostly left me alone.

Now, the wait was over. The night of the Blood Moon, the night of my Ascension, was finally here. I had never felt such a blinding mix of excitement and terror.

I found the cluster of Shadow-Weeping trees, a tranquil, clean spot untouched by the foul scent of vampires. I crouched by a tree with a hollowed-out center, stuffed my bag inside, and covered it with dry leaves. The clothes were irrelevant; the small pouch of coins I’d saved was vital.

I wiped my hands together. For the next few hours, my job was to act terrifyingly normal.

“Elara!” Lili called as I approached the Fledgling Quarters. She stood there, brow furrowed with concern.

“What? Did I forget a chore?”

Lili rolled her eyes. "No. I woke to prepare your final pre-Ascension meal, and you were already gone. Tonight's the night. Tonight everything changes for you."

A wave of profound sadness washed over me. Lili was my one true regret in leaving. She always knew when I was plotting.

“Lili, I need to speak with you.”

She waved me inside. A plate sat waiting. She had noticed my sparse belongings were gone, but she didn’t mention it. “Go on. Spit it out. Eat while you talk.”

I scraped the chair against the dirt floor. How could I break her heart?

“I’m leaving tonight. Once I Ascend, I will run until I’m far away. I cannot tolerate this existence anymore. I am broken, bruised, and terrified all the time. This is no life at all.”

Lili sucked in a sharp breath, tears welling in her deep gray eyes. “You cannot do that, Elara. You were destined for more here. Your parents would never have wanted this flight for you.”

“What?” I shot to my feet, every ounce of my hybrid energy snapping to high alert. No one ever mentioned my parents; it was forbidden. “What do you know about my parents?”

“I knew your parents,” Lili whispered, leaning close, their noses nearly touching. “I knew who they were. You are meant for great power, Elara. Your Ascension will reveal your true Blood-Bond and your fate.”

“Why haven’t you said anything before now?” Pure anger surged. Years I could have spent discussing them.

Lili shook her head, terrified. “You know I am forbidden to speak of it. But please, know that you must not run. It is not the way.”

I grasped Lili's hand. "Tell me about them. Anything. Please."

“I am sorry, Elara.” Lili shook her head, stepping back, her hand sliding from my grip. “They would not want this coward’s escape for you. That is the last I will say.”

Story of my life—finally getting answers, only for them to be locked away again.

“It is time,” Lili said that night, giving me the longest, tightest embrace I had ever received. The Blood Moon hung high, full and ominously luminescent. “I know your decision is set, but you always have shelter with me if you change your mind. Good luck.”

I turned, expecting us to walk together, but Lili had stopped. The sadness in her eyes spoke of a final goodbye. “You aren’t coming?”

Shaking her head, Lili fought the tears. “Not tonight. I will see you again, Elara. Follow your destiny.”

The finality of her words nearly broke me. I steeled myself and walked away, making a silent promise to see Lili again someday.

I walked alone to the gathering yard outside The Sire’s Manor. The grounds were packed with Clan members, all huddled near the treeline, leaving the six Fledglings isolated in the center. All the purebloods who had tormented me stood together, smug smiles fixed in place.

As I walked over, the other Fledglings quickly moved away, snickering as if I carried a foul contagion. They can laugh all they want. Tonight, I will be the one laughing, free from their arrogant faces forever.

“Gather close, my Clan,” The Sire boomed. “Those of you here for your first Ascension, step forward now.”

Even with my perfectly executed escape plan in place, I was a wreck of nerves. My stomach was twisting itself into painful knots.

Kael sauntered over to stand directly beside me, laughing darkly as he stared past me. He chose not to acknowledge my presence, but his action pinned me in place.

This will end badly.

“I felt it appropriate to stand here,” Kael whispered, leaning down to my ear. “To show the Clan how utterly magnificent my Blood-Bond is next to your weak, common bloodline. Don’t you agree?”

“Absolutely,” I said, forcing a genuine-looking smile. I agreed with his monstrous words, hoping my power would manifest as a monstrous, unseen force that knocked him flat. Not going to happen, and it would derail the escape.

My lack of argument seemed to confuse him. He knit his dark brows in a furious knot. He had expected me to fight, and I would—just not in the manner he anticipated.

“Beneath the light of this glorious Blood Moon,” the Sire’s voice rose. “Let us shed the bindings of our mortal forms and unleash the power within!”

This was the part I dreaded the most. As I began to shed my clothing, the crude calls started behind me—the whooping and hollering mixed with comments about my scarred back. I ignored them. I caught Kael’s gaze lingering for a second as I stripped my tunic.

Take a good, long look, future Sire. It’s the last time.

When we were all bare, the Sire stepped before us. “Ascend,” he ordered.

I gasped as a searing pressure began in my spine. My bones ached, muscles stretched and tore, accommodating the sudden, raw rise of another presence inside me. Every bone felt like it was breaking and reassembling. My fangs pushed painfully through my gums. I was on my knees, barely able to contain the rising power, when a massive wave of pure, concentrated energy slammed into me, a blast of white-hot recognition that nearly bowled me over.

He is ours, we are his, and fate has joined us.

Gasps erupted from the crowd and the Sire. They knew. Every single vampire knew that Kael Whitmore was my fated Blood-Bond.

And so did he. He stood rooted, staring at me, his face a mask of revulsion.

Shit, he does not look happy.

I tried to shift my focus to the woods, to my bag, to the promise of freedom. But my newly awakened power was focused only on him. It screamed for him, Kael, the man who despised my existence.

The Sire crossed his arms, amused. Kael looked at me, then stumbled away as if his legs were lead. He walked over to Vikki, whose pureblood status made her the socially acceptable choice, and took her hand. He stood beside her, caressing her smooth, pale skin, deliberately staring at me with cold, furious eyes.

I was his fated Blood-Bond, and he was publicly rejecting me, choosing the pureblood. My heart shattered, the newly activated power within me fracturing into a million stinging shards. He had denied me, rejected their sacred Bond in front of the entire Clan.

It was the ultimate, soul-crushing betrayal. My lungs seized. The entire purpose of a Blood-Bond was sanctity; it was sacred. And my fated partner had chosen to turn his back on me, humiliating the one person he was born to cherish.

No. This was the reason I had to leave. My life here was a recipe of pain and rage, and his rejection was the final, corrosive ingredient.

I have to run. I have to go. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to walk away. The power, the bond, the rage—it pinned me to the very ground he had scorned.

ELARA MONTOYA

“You cursed me, didn’t you, you half-breed wretch?”

Kael Whitmore's voice ripped through the bitter cold of the Crimson Talon grounds like a death sentence, more like that of an executioner rather than a predestined partner. He had transformed back from the monstrous shape of his Ascension, his skin white and dripping with the sweat of transformation. He did not regard Elara as any vampire should their Blood-Bond, with awe and rapt adoration. He regarded her with the same loathing that seemed to thrum within the earth itself.

“I didn’t do anything to you either, Kael,” Elara whispered, though the shock of her own Ascension caused her voice to shake with the pain of it. Her body ached as if her bones are still being sewn together with hot thread. “The Blood Moon decided this. Not me.”

"Don't you lie to me!" Kael bellowed, moving into her personal space. "I saw you! You've also been lurking in the shadows of the Manor for weeks. You were watching me and Vikki Blake, days ago, yes, you were! You were in the doorway, like a hungry beast, watching us rut, imposing your filthy lusts on me. You've also been working with that blood witch Lili, haven't you? You hexed our lineage ceremony to make me bond with you!"

Elara scoffed, a jagged, dry sound that flapped the edges of his mouth with the taste of copper. The utter ridiculousness of his ego would have been hilarious if the rest of the Clan wasn't closing in like sharks sensing a hole in the life raft. “I was cleaning up your trash, Kael. It's what I do. I wasn't watching you because I wanted to; I was waiting for you to get finished so I could clean the pheromone trails out of the floor before the Sire noticed the mess you left.”

"Lairs and betrayers!" Kael turned to the crowd, his voice thundering. "The Crimson Talon Clan will not be led by a petitioner who practices dark magic to snare its heir! She seeks to take my own strength! She seeks to steal the throne my own father constructed!"

The crowd burst into whispered, venomous chatter. Elara scanned it, her heart pounding against her breastbone. She saw Alias Marwood leaning against a stone column, a mirthless laugh playing on his lips. She saw the other Fledglings, those she had called friends, huddled together, pulling their cloaks around them as if she was some sort of plague.

“Is this true, Kael?”

The voice of Lord Severino Montoya, the Sire, sliced through the din like a saw blade. "He came for the virus." "We can't leave the damned creature with–" "Silence!" Lord Severino cut Elara off with a narrow glance. "This isn't about you or our kind." Elara had the feeling he was referring to her as a parasite to be eradicated.

“Yes, Father,” Kael spat, grinding his teeth together. “Yes, the bond is there, but it is twisted. It is an abomination. My blood reviles her blood.”

Lord Severino’s eyes shifted to Elara. “You were an error from the moment you drew breath, Elara. A half-breed blot on the Montoya honor. We chose to let you live, to serve us in some capacity as a means of atonement for your parents' betrayal, and this is how you reward us?”

"It's not magic!" Elara shouted, the desperation at last breaking through the terror. "It's the Blood Bond! It's ancient! You prattle on about the purity of the bloodline, and the first thing the bloodline hands you that you don’t like, you deem it a curse!"

“Silence!” The Sire’s hand was quicker than her sight, a sharp smacking sound ringing out as his palm met her face. Elara spun, landing on her backside on the packed earth, the metallic tang of her own blood exploding in her nose. "You have no voice here. You are a servant. A servant who plots against the Crown is a servant who must be broken."

Elara did not wait for what came next. She had never listened to her Ascended senses before, and now she knew she had to move. She struggled to stand, and everything around her moved. The Shadow-Weeping trees were only fifty yards out. She could make it to her backpack and get to the coins she had hidden.

She bolted.

The wind rushed through her hair, and for one moment, she realized the incredible speed that came with her new gift. Her legs could move in ways that had always eluded her, her senses heightening to the point where she could hear the individual heartbeats of the vampires following her. But she wasn’t quick enough. She wasn’t a pureblood, and her gift was shattered from the rejection of the bond.

“Catch her!” Kael’s voice rang out in the forest. “Don’t let the traitor escape!"