Adriana's POV
She wouldn't eat.
That was her only power left. Lucien could chain her, trap her, keep her locked in this too-beautiful room. But he couldn't force her to cooperate. He couldn't make her weak by feeding her.
The first day, he brought food three times. Bread and fruit and water. She refused to touch it. He left it sitting on the table like he wasn't disappointed, like her defiance didn't matter.
The second day was harder. Her stomach was starting to hurt. Her head was getting fuzzy. But she still refused. Every time Lucien appeared in the doorway with new dishes, she turned away from him.
"You're being stubborn," he said on the evening of the second day.
"I'm being smart," she shot back. "You want me weak and willing to listen."
"I want you alive," he replied, setting down another tray. "Whether you eat or not won't change what happens, Adriana. Only how fast it happens."
She didn't respond. She'd stopped responding to his visits after the first few hours. What was the point? He asked questions. She refused to answer. He left. He came back and did the same thing again.
It was torture, just not the kind she expected.
On the third day, the door opened and it wasn't Lucien.
The woman who entered was pale and beautiful in a way that made Adriana's breath catch. Her hair looked like moonlight and her eyes were lavender. Actually lavender. Not a color human eyes came in.
She was a vampire. Adriana knew that immediately. But she was smiling like she wasn't about to hurt anyone.
"I'm Seraphina," she said softly, setting down a stack of ancient books on the table. "I study the histories of our kind. Lucien says you're resistant to vampire mind control, which is quite unusual. May I test it?"
Adriana's entire body went rigid. This was it. The real questioning. The torture starting.
"If you try to hurt me..." she began.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Seraphina said gently. "I'm just going to push my power at your mind the way Lucien did. If you resist it like he says you did, then we'll have confirmed something amazing. If you don't resist, well, then we know something else entirely."
It was such a casual way of describing it. Like she wasn't about to try to control Adriana's mind. Like this was just another test in a laboratory.
Lucien stood by the door, watching. He nodded at her like it was okay. Like she could trust this.
Adriana didn't have a choice anyway. She was chained to a bed.
Seraphina's eyes began to glow. Just slightly. A soft red light that was beautiful and terrifying. Then Adriana felt it. The pressure. The power trying to slide into her mind like smoke, trying to make her obey, trying to make her a puppet.
She thought of Helena. Of the moment she understood she'd been lied to her entire life. Of the rage that burned in her chest every time she remembered her father's name in those books.
She thought of refusing. Of being impossible. Of being something they couldn't control.
The power slid right off her.
It was exactly like water hitting stone. The mind control didn't grip. It didn't hold. It just broke apart against something in her mind that wouldn't let it in.
Seraphina's eyes widened. She lowered her power slowly, her mouth falling open slightly.
"No," she whispered.
"Yes," Lucien said quietly.
Seraphina turned to him, her lavender eyes wide with shock and something else. Something like awe.
"Ancient magic," she breathed. "The kind we thought was gone. The magic of the first witches, before the Order, before the killing. Before..."
She stopped, looking at Adriana like she was seeing her for the first time.
"How is this possible?" Seraphina asked. "The Order killed all the magic users two hundred years ago. There shouldn't be anyone left who carries this bloodline. It's impossible."
"Apparently not," Lucien said. He stepped forward and did something that made Adriana's breath catch. He unlocked the restraint on her wrist.
Just like that. The chain fell away. Her wrist was free.
Adriana stared at the empty manacle like it was going to bite her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Making you a deal," Lucien said. He held out his hand to her, open and honest. "Stay here willingly. Help us understand what you are. Help us understand this magic that shouldn't exist. In exchange, I promise you're not my prisoner anymore. You're my guest."
Adriana looked at his extended hand. She could run. She could try to fight. She could scream for help.
But something in his red eyes was sincere. Something in the way Seraphina was looking at her with curiosity instead of hunger made her believe they weren't lying.
And the truth was, she had nowhere to go. Going back to Helena meant death. Running into the vampire lands alone meant death. Staying here was the only option that didn't end with her body being found broken.
She reached out slowly.
Lucien's hand closed around hers and the world exploded silver.
It wasn't like the forest. This was bigger. Brighter. All-consuming. The light filled her entire vision and she felt it pulling her somewhere else, showing her something that wasn't here and wasn't now.
A woman stood in a circle of flame and her face was Adriana's face. But older. Stronger. Wearing armor made of starlight and magic that blazed silver brighter than the sun.
Vampires knelt before her. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. Their foreheads touching the ground in respect.
And standing beside the woman was a vampire lord with black hair and crimson eyes, and the love in his expression was so raw and desperate that it hurt to see it.
The woman spoke but Adriana heard the words in her chest instead of her ears.
"I choose love over duty. I choose him over the crown. I choose to burn the world if it means we get to exist together."
Then a voice that sounded like thunder and starlight combined.
"The witch's daughter returns. The prophecy awakens. The choice is made and fate bends to will."
Adriana gasped and pulled her hand back. The vision shattered like glass. She was back in the room, her entire body shaking, her hand still tingling from his touch.
Lucien was staring at her with shock written across his face.
"What did you see?" Seraphina asked, moving toward her.
"I don't know," Adriana whispered. She could still see the woman's face. Could still feel the burning intensity of that moment. Could still sense the vampire lord's desperate love like it was her own heartbeat.
"You saw something," Lucien said. His voice was strange now. Shaken. "When you touched my hand. You saw something."
Adriana looked at him and understood something then that terrified her more than chains ever could.
Whatever she was, whatever magic slept in her blood, it was connected to him. Somehow. In some way that defied logic or explanation.
The woman in the vision had loved that vampire lord with everything she had.
And as Adriana looked at Lucien standing across from her, she realized with horror that history might be repeating itself.