"Vienna."
His voice. Low, smooth, laced with the tension of unspoken things.
She stopped walking. Slowly, she turned to face him.
Valus stood with one hand in his pocket, the other clenching at his side. His usual composed demeanor was gone. In its place was raw emotion—restraint barely hanging by a thread.
"Valus…"
"You've been avoiding me," he said, taking a step closer. "Is that what we're doing now? Pretending nothing happened?"
Vienna's lips parted, but words betrayed her. Her heart thudded violently, like it wanted to leap out and reach for him. But she held her ground.
"I wasn't avoiding you," she whispered, eyes dropping to the floor. "I just… needed time."
"Time?" Valus's voice dropped. "Time to forget? Time to make sense of why you gave yourself to someone like me?"
Vienna's gaze snapped up, hurt flashing across her face. "Don't twist it. I didn't regret it. I just… didn't expect it to mean so much."
A breath caught in Valus's throat.
"Then why run from me?" he asked, voice softer now. "I wake up every damn day thinking about that night. About you. And you won't even look me in the eye."
Vienna bit her lower lip, trembling slightly. "Because I don't know what it meant to you."
There. The truth, laid bare.
Valus stepped forward, standing just inches from her now. His gaze searched hers like he was trying to memorize every detail of her face.
"I wish I could say it didn't matter," he murmured. "That it was just one night. But it wasn't. It was everything I wasn't supposed to feel."
His hand reached up, brushing a stray curl from her cheek. "Vienna… that night, you made me feel something."
Her heart squeezed painfully.
"Then why do I still feel like I'm standing alone?" she asked, voice cracking.
Valus's jaw clenched. His golden eyes dimmed with the weight of what he couldn't say.
"Because I'm a prince," he said at last. "Because I'm bound by duty, by bloodlines older than empires. I can't be with you, Vienna. You know that."
She looked away, tears threatening to spill. "Because I'm a witch."
"Because you're everything I want and everything I'm forbidden to have."
Silence stretched between them, thick with unshed tears and impossible truths. The distance that had once been physical now hung like an invisible wall.
Vienna took a shaky breath and looked up at him. Her hands reached up, cupping his face gently. The feel of his skin beneath her fingers was warm, grounding—real.
"Maybe," she said softly, "we're not meant to be together in this life."
Valus closed his eyes at her touch, leaning into her palm like a man starved. "Don't say that…"
"Maybe in another lifetime," Vienna continued, her voice breaking, "when we're not bound by crowns or covens. When I'm not a witch, and you're not a prince. Maybe then…"
His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close. "Maybe then I'd make you my queen," he whispered against her hair.
A sob escaped her lips, muffled by his chest.
They stood there, clinging to each other like the world was ending, because in a way, it was. Their world—the secret one built in glances, in stolen moments—was crumbling.
Valus tilted her chin up, his thumb brushing away her tears. His eyes bore into hers with so much longing it hurt to look.
"Let me kiss you," he said, voice rough. "Just once. Let me pretend, just for tonight, that you're mine."
Vienna nodded, and the moment their lips met, the rest of the world faded.
The kiss wasn't wild or heated—it was desperate. Slow. Aching. A kiss of memories, of what-ifs, of last chances. His lips tasted like sorrow and promise, hers like surrender.
When they pulled apart, their foreheads rested against each other, breaths mingling.
"I don't want to forget you," Valus said quietly. "But I'm afraid I'll have to."
Vienna smiled sadly. "Then I'll remember for the both of us."
As they stepped back, the air between them shifted. Something was different. Valus's eyes narrowed.
"Wait…"
Vienna blinked. "What is it?"
Valus inhaled deeply. "There's something… off."
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
He moved closer again, his hand hovering just inches from her chest. "Your aura. It's… changed."
Vienna's heart skipped.
He was right. She had felt it too, a few days ago. A flicker of something ancient inside her. Something sleeping—and now slowly waking.
"I don't know what's happening to me," she admitted. "But something is changing. I thought it was just stress or magic fatigue… but maybe…"
Valus's gaze darkened. "Have you been using spells recently? Forbidden ones?"
"No," she shook her head. "Nothing dark. Nothing dangerous."
But his instincts as a vampire prince screamed otherwise.
"It's not just magic," he said. "There's something deeper. Something older."
Vienna looked down at her hands, which trembled slightly. "I've felt it too. Like… I'm not entirely myself."
Valus's breath caught.
Could it be?
No. That was impossible.
And yet…
He reached for her again, his thumb brushing against the base of her neck where her pendant lay.
"What if your bloodline… isn't what you think it is?"
Vienna's eyes widened. "What are you saying?"
But before he could answer, a loud chime echoed through the ballroom—final call for all students to board their designated carriages and return to the university dorms.
It was time to say goodbye.
Valus hesitated. His fingers curled into a fist at his side. He didn't want to let her go—not again.
But duty whispered in his ear. Crown, blood, kingdom.
He offered her a small smile. "Get some rest. You looked stunning tonight, by the way."
Vienna blinked, touched by the gentleness in his tone. "Thanks… for everything."
They turned away at the same time, walking in opposite directions.
But as Valus reached the hall's arched doors, he stopped. One last glance back.
Vienna hadn't moved.
She stood in the center of the room, under the chandelier's soft light, looking at him.
And in that moment, he made a silent vow:
If not in this lifetime…
Then in the next, I will find you.