The forest was cold. Wet with night and regret. The false Elias , felt every step of Valen's presence behind him like gravity given fangs.
They hadn't spoken since Valen found him.
Not truly.
Not with words that mattered.
But now, as the trees thinned and the manor loomed like a shadowed cathedral ahead, Elias hesitated.
He could feel Valen watching.
Not the way a predator watches prey.
Not anymore.
But like a man standing at the edge of an old scar… wondering if reopening it would finally kill him.
Valen stepped ahead and opened the door himself. The heavy oak creaked under his hand, no servants in sight, no grandeur tonight , only silence.
"Inside" Valen said, voice cool but frayed.
Elias obeyed.
Not because he was afraid.
Because he had missed the silence of this place. Missed the weight of being watched like he was something worth devouring.
Valen didn't gesture to the drawing room, or the fire, or the chaise where so much had been said and undone. He led him to a smaller room , one with dark velvet curtains and low golden light. A room meant for honesty.
He closed the door behind them.
Then turned.
His eyes burned like wine left too long in the sun.
"You could have told me the truth" Valen said quietly.
"I didn't think you'd want it" Elias replied, just as quiet.
Valen stepped closer. One slow step at a time, circling him like he had the very first night.
"But you didn't even give me the choice"
"No" Elias said. "I didn't"
Valen's gaze dragged over him. Not lustfully. Not yet. Just studying like he was trying to remember whether the shape of his lips, the pitch of his voice, the heat of his presence… had ever been real.
And Elias ,to his shame , let him.
"You wore someone else's name" Valen said. "Someone else's face"
"And gave you everything else that was mine"
That made Valen pause.
Everything else.
The longing. The defiance. The questions. The trembling, breathless truths whispered in the dark.
That had been real.
Valen crossed the space between them in a breath. One hand slammed into the wall beside Elias's head, but he didn't touch him. Not yet.
"Why?" he asked, low and razor-sharp. "Why go to all that effort , just to lie?"
Elias swallowed hard. "Because I knew you wouldn't see me otherwise"
Valen laughed, bitter and soft. "You think I'd ignore someone who spoke the truth?"
"I think you don't believe anyone can"
Silence bloomed between them. Thick. Heated. Unforgiving.
Then Valen's hand curled around Elias's jaw.
Not gentle. Not cruel.
A warning. A question.
"You made me feel something" he said. "Do you understand what that means to a creature like me?"
Elias met his gaze. "I do. Because I felt it too"
Valen's breath caught.
And then… he stepped back.
The touch dropped.
The moment shattered.
"I should burn you" Valen said. "For what you did"
"I know"
"But instead…" He turned, pacing the room like a wolf with nowhere left to run. "I'm standing here wondering if I want to kiss you again… or kill you slowly"
Elias didn't flinch. "Then let me make it worse"
Valen stilled.
Elias stepped forward, closing the space. Inches from him now. This time, uninvited.
"I came here as a lie" Elias said. "But I stayed because I fell in love with you"
The words were a blade drawn across silence.
Valen stared at him. Unmoving. Unbreathing.
"And I don't know which part of that hurts you more" Elias whispered. "That I lied to get close… or that you still want me despite it"
For a long time, Valen said nothing.
Then, finally, he murmured.
"You'll sleep here tonight"
A command. Not a request.
"But not in my bed"
He turned and opened the door.
"Not until I decide what you are to me now"
And with that, he left Elias standing in the center of the room, heart hammering, blood singing, and soul caught between hope… and ruin.
The door shut with a soft finality, but it echoed in Elias's bones like a slammed gate.
He stood there for a moment, unmoving. Letting the quiet seep in. Letting the distance between him and Valen stretch out like a chasm wide, dark, and full of sharp things.
Not in my bed.
The words had cut deeper than he expected. And gods, he knew he didn't deserve anything more not warmth, not forgiveness but he had hoped.
He had always hoped.
With trembling fingers, Elias found the velvet cord that lined the wall and pulled.
A servant didn't come. Of course not. Valen had dismissed them long before.
Instead, a soft mechanical click echoed behind one of the wooden panels, and a hidden door opened into a chamber lit only by a single golden candelabra. A guest room, by appearance though it felt more like a vault.
It was beautiful. Quiet. Safe.
And cold.
Elias stepped inside, breathing in the scent of cedar and wax. His boots left damp prints on the stone floor. His fingers brushed the carved edges of the bedposts, the velvet covers, the untouched sheets.
He sat at the edge of the mattress and stared at his hands.
They were still shaking.
Not from fear.
But from restraint.
Because every part of him wanted to chase Valen down the corridor. To press himself into that cold, powerful body and whisper: I never meant to become this undone. Not for you. Not for anyone.
But he couldn't.
He wouldn't.
Because love wasn't enough. Not after what he'd done.
And yet…
He looked around. At the room he'd been given. Not the dungeon. Not the outer wing. But a guest suite.
Still close.
Still inside.
Still… wanted even if Valen wouldn't admit it.
That was something.
That was dangerous.
Elias lay back against the pillow, letting the scent of the manor bleed into him. The fire wasn't lit, but the embers still glowed in the hearth, casting flickers of gold across the ceiling.
He wondered if Valen was pacing in his own chambers.
If he was remembering their six nights.If he missed the sound of Elias's voice asking questions in the dark.If he hated himself for still wanting the one who wore another's name.
Because Elias didn't know how to be anyone else anymore.
He closed his eyes.
Tried to sleep.
But sleep didn't come.
Only memory.
Only Valen.
Only the echo of a voice saying "I should burn you''
And the deeper, darker truth that had gone unsaid,"But I can't."
Elias turned onto his side, pulling the velvet blanket up to his chin.
He didn't cry.
He didn't speak.
He simply waited.
Because love was a wound.
The hour was late — that strange time between night and morning, when even the shadows seemed to pause their creeping.
Elias hadn't slept.
Not for lack of trying. But the room, though warm, felt too still. And every time he closed his eyes, he saw Valen's expression before he turned away. Not anger. Not betrayal.
Longing.
And something older. Sadder.
Like grief.
Elias turned again beneath the velvet blanket, pressing a hand over his eyes. He had prepared for rage. Even for punishment. But not this: silence. Distance. Kindness laced with refusal.
It was almost worse.
A sound broke the hush.
The faintest creak.
The door.
He sat up just as the shape emerged from the shadows, already halfway across the room. Smooth. Silent. Tall. Familiar in a way that stirred the ache in his ribs.
Valen.
The vampire said nothing at first. He wore no cloak. No boots. Just a dark, open shirt and the kind of stillness that wasn't human.
Elias's breath hitched. "What are you..."
"Ssshh" Valen murmured, lifting one finger to his lips.
He came closer.
Sat on the edge of the bed with the same reverence as a priest approaching an altar. But he didn't touch Elias. Not yet.
His voice, when it came, was barely a whisper.
"Let me see your face."
Elias's lips parted. "You already have."
Valen's eyes burned gold in the firelight.
"No" he said. "I've seen the mask. The version of you made for me. The version that seduced and questioned and held me like I was still something worth holding."
He leaned closer, his scent brushing over Elias like rain and smoke and memory.
"But I want to see the man who lied to me… and still chose to stay."
Silence.
Elias didn't move.
He could've lied again. Hidden behind wit or sarcasm. But there was no armor left in him. Not tonight.
So he reached up, slowly, and unfastened the illusion charm bound at his throat. A spell no more elaborate than a whisper, yet powerful enough to shape perception.
And as it fell away ,he changed.
Not drastically.
But enough.
His jaw was more angular, his brows a little sharper, his mouth not quite as soft. His coloring darkened slightly. A scar, once concealed, appeared beneath his right ear , a memory carved in silence. His real face.
Unmasked.
Exposed.
Elias.
Valen's breath caught.
Not out of disappointment.
But reverence.
And then he reached up, his hand trembling with restraint, and brushed a thumb along Elias's cheekbone , as if confirming he was real.
"You're beautiful" Valen whispered. "Even more so now"
Elias swallowed hard. "You should hate me"
"I did" Valen said. "For a moment. And then I realized I hated the part of me that believed I didn't deserve to be wanted"
He leaned closer.
Their foreheads nearly touched.
"You made me feel again. And I don't know whether to bless you for it… or bleed you"
Elias's smile was a broken thing. "That's fair"
A pause.
Then Valen's voice again soft, aching.
"Will you let me stay tonight? Not in power. Not in possession. Just… here"
Elias nodded once.
And Valen, slowly, lay beside him. Their hands didn't touch. Their bodies didn't entwine.
But their hearts , whatever fragments remained of them , beat in fragile rhythm beneath the silence.
And for the first time, the night held no hunger.
Only truth.
Only them.