96

Ian’s POV

I woke up to the sharp sting of unease prickling at the edges of my mind. The sun had barely risen, casting a faint glow across the room, but something felt wrong. Very wrong.

Without thinking, I threw off the covers and moved swiftly through the halls, my instincts guiding me. My mind raced, replaying the events of last night. Sophia had insisted on sleeping in her own room. She wanted some space to process everything that had happened recently. I’d respected her wishes, giving her the distance she needed, but now… something was pulling me toward her.

“Trust me, if she was dead, you’d know,” Lyanna had once said one night when I was worrying about Sophia. Was it because of the bond I had formed when I marked her? Was it that bond that made me feel like something was wrong?

As I approached her room, the metallic scent of blood hit me like a freight train. My stomach lurched, and I froze, the scent triggering every alarm in my body. My feet moved faster, panic rising in my chest.

“Sophia…” I whispered, pushing open the door. The sight that greeted me stole the breath from my lungs.

Blood. Everywhere.

The room was a mess—furniture overturned, the bed sheets shredded. And in the center of it all was a body, or what was left of one. The vampire’s limbs were twisted at grotesque angles, his neck snapped, his face a frozen mask of terror. His blood pooled around him, thick and dark, staining the floor.

I stood frozen for a moment, taking in the scene, my eyes scanning the scene. Whoever this vampire had been, he wasn’t just here by chance. He had come for Sophia. And she had killed him.

I swallowed hard, my throat tightening with rage. She had defended herself. She had fought for her life. But that meant someone had sent him to take it. Someone had sent him to hurt what was mine. To hurt her. To kill her.

My chest heaved with fury, my vision narrowing. The council. They had been against her from the start. They had never accepted her, and now… now they had gone too far.

I knelt down beside the body, my fingers grazing the cool skin. He was older, not by much, but experienced. Skilled enough to evade detection in my own realm, in my own home. My fists clenched so tightly my knuckles turned white.

Sophia had survived this, but it could have gone differently. This could have been her blood on the floor.

I stood, my muscles coiled with tension, barely keeping my rage contained. My thoughts were a mess, each one darker and scarier than the last. Someone had ordered this. Someone had thought they could take what was mine.

I turned and stormed out of the room, my jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might crack. This wasn’t just an attack on Sophia. This was a direct challenge to me, to my authority. They had crossed the line.

The council. It had to be them. No one else could confidently plan this.

My vision tunneled as I reached for my phone, punching in the number for the council with trembling fingers. The line rang only once before it was picked up, the familiar voice of Viktor, on the other end.

“Ian,” Viktor greeted, his voice cool and composed. It made my blood boil even more. “What can we do for our king today?”

“Call a meeting. Now,” I growled, barely containing the venom in my voice. “I want every single one of you in the council chamber within the hour. And if anyone’s late, they’ll regret it.”

There was a brief pause, and I could almost hear the amusement in his silence. “Of course, your majesty. Is there a particular issue at hand?”

I didn’t bother answering. I hung up the phone, my heart pounding in my chest. Viktor and the rest of the council had been pushing me, testing me since I returned to the realm. But this… this was a death sentence.

I stormed through the halls, my mind a whirlwind of anger. The council chamber loomed ahead, its grand doors towering before me, a reminder of the centuries of rule and tradition that I was supposed to uphold. But now, all I could think about was blood. Their blood.

Inside, the council was already assembling, their faces turned toward me with varying degrees of curiosity and disdain. Viktor stood at the head of the long, stone table, his expression unreadable as usual, but I could see the flicker of interest in his eyes.

I slammed the doors shut behind me, the sound echoing off the stone walls like a gunshot. The room fell silent, all eyes on me. They knew. They had to know.

“I trust there’s a reason for this urgent meeting, Ian?” Viktor asked, his voice oozing with false politeness.

“There was an attack on Sophia last night,” I said, my voice cold and deadly. I felt the rage rising again, barely keeping it in check. “A vampire. In my home. He tried to kill her.”

A murmur swept through the council, their eyes widening with feigned shock. Some of them glanced at each other, exchanging quick, subtle looks. I clenched my fists, my patience hanging by a thread.

“I don’t care who it was,” I continued, my voice rising. “But I will find out. And when I do, I swear to you, I will rip them apart with my bare hands.”

Viktor raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly. “An attack on your… consort is indeed troubling. But do you have any evidence to suggest who might be responsible?”

I slammed my fist on the table, the wood splintering under the force. “Don’t play games with me, Viktor,” I snarled, my fangs bared. “You know damn well this isn’t a coincidence. Someone on this council gave the order.”

Viktor met my gaze, unflinching, his expression cold and calculating. “You’re angry, Ian. Understandable, given the circumstances. But accusations without proof…”

“I don’t need proof,” I growled, my voice a low rumble. “I know someone here is behind this. And when I find out who, they’ll beg me for death before I’m through with them.”

The council members shifted in their seats, some glancing at each other, others looking down at the table. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. I could feel their fear. They had underestimated me because I kept being patient with them but this was the last straw.

“Ian,” Viktor began, his tone almost patronizing. “We all understand your… attachment to the girl. But if she’s causing this much trouble—”

“She’s not the problem,” I interrupted, my voice sharp. “The problem is that someone thought they could undermine my rule by going after her. By going after what’s mine.”

Viktor’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. The room was dead silent, the meaning of my words hanging in the air.

“I’m giving you all one chance,” I said, my voice deadly calm now. “One chance to come clean. Because if I have to find out on my own, there won’t be mercy. There won’t be negotiations. There will only be blood.”

Silence. No one moved. No one spoke.

I turned on my heel, storming out of the chamber before I could lose control completely. My heart was pounding, my mind still racing with fury. Whoever had sent that vampire after Sophia had made the biggest mistake of their life.

And I would make sure they paid for it. In the most brutal way imaginable.

By the time I had gotten back to Sophia’s room, she was there, sitting on the bed and just staring at nothing. “Sophie,” I breathed out in relief, my eyes accessing her carefully. There was not a single scratch on her body but she looked very tired.

“Sophie,” I called out again but there was no reply. I gulped, waking into the room and avoiding stepping in the blood. “Sophia?”

She flinched, and then turned to me with dead eyes. “Ian,” she said flatly.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to protect you,” I apologized, sitting beside her and taking her hands which was just as cold.

She just gave me an humorless smile in return. “You did tell me you won’t be here to protect me all the time. Toh were right. And all the training did pay off,” she replied, gesturing to the corpse on the floor.

“I swear I’ll find whoever did this and kill them,” I promised her.

“Can we just go home?” She asked instead, something shifting in her eyes. “I just want to go home at this point.”

“I’m so sorry, Sophia,” I pleaded, rubbing my forehead and she shook her head.

“No,” she said. “It’s not your fault. You did tell me that it’s risky and complicated here. Now I’ve witnessed it firsthand.”

“Soph-“

She shook her head. “Please, let’s just go home.”