She crouched beside Felix, lifting his chin with a single finger. His pulse fluttered weakly beneath her touch. Fragile. Human.
And yet—
Beneath that, buried so deep even Felix himself had never felt it…
"Well," the Queen murmured, "that explains everything."
She straightened and turned to the Vampire Lord.
"That foolish prophecy. The one our ancestors whispered about for centuries." Her eyes narrowed. "The one you dismissed as myth."
The Vampire Lord stiffened.
"You don't mean—"
She smirked.
"It seems the Nameless King has finally chosen to return."
The court erupted.
Lilith, bloodied and barely conscious, lifted her head.
"Felix… is what?"
The Queen shrugged.
"Honestly, I expected a dragon. Or a god." She nudged Felix lightly with her toe. "A human is… tragically poetic."
Felix groaned, eyelids fluttering. Oblivious to the fact that immortals now stared at him like he was the answer to a thousand-year-old riddle.
The Queen exhaled.
"Heal him. Now."
Her gaze sharpened. "I have questions."
Several vampires rushed forward.
"The… Nameless King?" the Vampire Lord echoed. "The Void Walker? The Wanderer?"
She nodded.
"All the same being. That boy is his current incarnation."
"But he's human," the Lord protested. "How is that even—"
"Reincarnation isn't precise," the Queen cut in. "The body is human. The soul is not. That is why the blade answered him."
A pause.
"And why the curse nearly killed him."
Lilith frowned weakly.
"But… that kind of knowledge is something only ancients like you would know."
The Queen's fingers twitched.
A rare thing.
Unease.
"You're right," she said quietly. "This shouldn't be possible." Her gaze hardened. "The cycle was absolute. The King was meant to awaken in a vessel worthy of him."
She looked down at Felix.
"Not this."
Lilith dragged herself upright.
"What are you saying?"
The Queen didn't answer. She pressed her palm to Felix's chest.
She searched.
Then—
Her breath caught.
"Oh."
A whisper.
"Oh… this is bad."
"Explain," the Vampire Lord demanded.
She pulled her hand back as if burned.
"His soul isn't whole," she said slowly. "It's spliced. Two broken halves forced together." Her eyes darkened. "Someone tampered with Fate itself."
Silence swallowed the hall.
Then—
A wet, broken laugh crawled out of Felix's throat.
His eyes opened.
They were not his.
A voice scraped free, ancient and vast.
"Wrong Fate… isn't it?"
The world screamed.
The Queen recoiled. Even her immortal blood ran cold.
Then the presence vanished.
Felix gasped, body shuddering back into itself.
"…What… was that?"
The Queen stared at him, composure shattered.
"That," she said softly, "was the real thing."
She turned sharply to the Vampire Lord.
"Find whoever interfered." Her claws bit into Felix's shoulder. "Because if Fate itself can be broken—"
Her voice dropped.
"—then none of us are safe."
Across the hall, Lucien sneezed.
"Achoo!—huh?"
He wiped his nose, blinking.
"…Why do I suddenly feel like I overheard something I absolutely wasn't meant to?"
No one answered.
A whisper brushed his ear.
You did.
Lucien froze.
"Oh." He swallowed. "That's… bad."
He turned on his heel.
"I'm just going to pretend that never happened."
The whisper chuckled.
Too late.
Lucien paled.
"Fantastic."
Felix lay sprawled across the shattered marble, breath coming in uneven, broken pulls. His body felt barely stitched together, blood seeping from half-healed wounds, mixing with the black ichor left behind by the werewolves. The ceiling swam above him, light bending, sound stretching into distant echoes.
Cold fingers pressed to his forehead.
"Interesting," the Queen murmured. "You're still holding on to yourself. Most mortals would have shattered by now."
Felix coughed, iron flooding his mouth.
"…Hurts…"
She regarded him coolly. "Yes. It should."
Then—
A smaller hand grabbed his.
Lilith, battered and shaking, dragged herself closer. Her grip tightened around his fingers.
"Felix," she whispered hoarsely. "Don't you dare die."
His lips twitched, a weak attempt at a smile.
"…Wasn't… planning on it."
The Queen watched them for a long moment. Then she sighed, annoyed, and flicked her wrist.
Shadows slithered over Felix's body, stitching torn flesh together just enough to keep him breathing.
"Temporary," she said flatly, turning away. "Don't waste it."
Felix's eyes slid shut.
Just for a second.
Something moved inside his chest.
Something old.
Something wrong.
Wake up.
He gasped—
—and the world burned white.
The next day
Felix woke with a groan as pain flared across every nerve he owned. He cracked one eye open.
Bad idea.
Sunlight stabbed straight through his skull.
"Ow," he muttered, shielding his face. "Sun… bad."
A soft laugh answered him.
"Morning, sleepyhead."
Felix opened his other eye. Lilith sat on the edge of the bed, wrapped in silver silk, looking far less dead than she had any right to. A bruise still darkened her cheek, but she was upright. Smirking.
His brain stalled.
"…Why are you in my bed?"
She propped her chin on her hand.
"Technically, it's my bed. You're in the royal healing chambers."
Felix glanced around.
Silk sheets. Embroidered canopy. A fireplace large enough to cremate a cow.
"…Right."
He shifted—and immediately regretted it.
"Why do I feel like I got trampled by a herd of werewolves?"
"Because you did," Lilith said. "Then you almost got eaten by an ancient sword, then my mother woke up after three centuries just to intimidate everyone, and then—"
"Stop," Felix groaned. "I remember now."
She grinned.
"Good. You also screamed at an immortal queen, called her father's blade 'mine,' and passed out like a dramatic heroine."
Felix pulled the pillow over his face.
"Kill me."
"No." She patted his head. "You're too entertaining."
"…Are the werewolves gone?" he asked from under the pillow.
"Mostly."
"…Mostly?"
"Mother incinerated the rest."
Felix sighed.
"Of course she did."
A pause.
"…Wait," he said slowly, lowering the pillow. "Did someone say I'm the reincarnation of an ancient Nameless King, or was that a hallucination?"
Lilith's smile tightened.
"Ah. Yeah. About that."
"You're joking."
"I wish."
Felix groaned louder this time and buried his face again.
"Wake me up when reality apologizes."
Lilith laughed.
Later, Felix pushed himself upright, wincing as he touched his ribs.
No pain.
Almost no pain.
He blinked.
"…How am I not dead?"
Lilith folded her arms, looking far too pleased.
"Vampire blood."
Felix stared.
"…What."
"You heard me."
"…You gave me vampire blood?" His voice cracked. "Like the illegal, morally questionable, definitely-comes-with-strings kind?!"
"Relax," she said. "One drop. While you were unconscious and very dramatic."
He dragged his hands down his face and groaned for a full ten seconds straight.
When he finally looked up again, his eyes were wild.
"…Did I just get turned into one of those 'mortal but weirdly resilient' side characters?"
A beat.
"…Is this canon now?"
Lilith smiled sweetly.
"Yes."
Felix fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"…I hate my life."