Chapter 4: The Fire Between Us
"This hasn't changed. Even after a hundred years. Even when you hated me. Even when you left."
Her breath caught.
"I didn't leave because I stopped loving you," she whispered.
"Then why?" His voice cracked.
She looked up at him.
"I think it's Because I betrayed our love".Because I loved you too much. Enough to die for you. Enough to forget you."
A heartbeat of silence.
And then he kissed her.
Not a tentative kiss this time.
Not the kiss of a ghost or a memory
But one that claimed her, pulled her under, and shattered what little resistance remained.
His mouth was fire and desperation. Hers was hunger and defiance.
She shoved him back against the wall, her hands tangled in his coat. He kissed down her jaw, to her throat, to the mark that once bound them.
"I never stopped dreaming of you," he said into her skin. "I never touched anyone else."
She gasped as his hands slid over her waist, then up her bare back beneath the nightgown. "You were the reason I didn't let myself love again," she whispered.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed without breaking the kiss.
Their bodies met like two storms colliding—pain and longing and passion, all wrapped into one fierce reunion. He worshiped every inch of her as if trying to memorize her all over again. She let herself burn in him, with him, for him.
And when he finally whispered her name like a vow—Evelyn—it sounded like forgiveness.
---
After
The fire crackled in the hearth. They lay together, skin to skin, the silence between them fragile.
But the truth lingered like a blade in her chest.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked.
Dorian sighed. "Because if I reminded you of who you were, you might've remembered how everything turned out, And might not want to love me again."
Lora stared up at the ceiling, eyes cold now.
"And what if I still do?"
He turned to her, eyes searching hers.
"Then I'll earn it again."
But as he closed his eyes, her thoughts drifted to Gabriel.
To Seraphine.
To the voice in the letter that warned her: Don't trust the one who says he loves you.
---
The next day.
Lora awoke to the scent of roses and old parchment. Silk clung to her skin, impossibly soft and warm. Her eyes fluttered open, greeted by golden sunlight filtering through heavy crimson drapes. The ceiling above was ornately carved, a chandelier glinting with a thousand crystals.
She sat up too fast. Her head swam.
The castle was different. Too clean. Too silent.
She wandered the corridors barefoot. The Moon Garden had changed: no thorny vines, no blood roses, only tame white lilies. The Blood Mirror was gone. The air lacked the pulse of old magic.
In a portrait gallery, she froze. One canvas caught her eye: she and Dorian, smiling. She wore a white bridal gown and a crown of lilies. She was visibly pregnant.
She touched the image, heart pounding. "This isn't real."
That night, he returned and made love to her—slow, reverent, tender. A part of her believed him. Another part watched from far away.
That night, Lora lay awake, her thoughts spinning. Dorian was no longer on the bed.
Where had he gone?
A faint sound—leather against a stone. A shadow moved near the window.
Gabriel.
Why did he come to her again?
He emerged from the darkness like a ghost. Eyes sharp, voice low.
"They've locked your power away again," he whispered. "With silk, not steel. Dorian did this."
She stared. "You're lying."
He held out his wrist—freshly bitten. Blood still glistened.
"Ancient binding. He's using your instincts against you. He wants you tame. Just like A pet."
Lora's heart raced.
"Why would he do that?"
"To stop you from remembering. From seeking what you lost. Your child. Your throne."
"Then prove it," she challenged.
Gabriel moved closer, voice deadly quiet. "Behind the library, there's a room. Hidden behind a tapestry. Go there. Everything you want to know is waiting."
She stepped back, torn. Dorian had made love to her the night before. He had whispered that he loved her.
But this doubt is rooted in her soul.
"I don't know who to trust."
Gabriel's gaze softened. "Then trust yourself. And go."
Lora begins to doubt Dorian again.
The next morning, Lora asked the maid questions about her past. Where were her parents buried?
Why had they owed Dorian money?
Why had she never known?
The last thing she saw from her father was the letter asking her to marry Dorian.
No clear answers came.
The Secret Room
It took her hours to find the passage.
Behind a tapestry of the first vampire queen, a narrow door opened into darkness. She descended stone steps lit only by her trembling hands.
The chamber below was a vault of forgotten truths or lies. What should she believe?
Her bloodstained gown
The obsidian dagger
Letters in her hand
Who was writing those letters?
A mirror stood at the center.
"Show me," she whispered.
The glass shimmered—revealing the real ceremony. The Black Rose Trial. Her begging. Dorian's command. The blood was a bond forced upon her.
He erased her memory to keep her from seeking their daughter.
She collapsed, screaming.
She stormed into the throne room.
Dorian sat among his court, the picture of power.
"You lied to me. You stole my mind."
He stood slowly. "I protected you. You were breaking."
"You took My child from me."
Gasps from the courtiers.
Dorian's jaw tightened. "I took nothing. I kept you alive."
Her powers surged—blood flaring in her veins. The silk-binding cracked.
But before she could strike, her body betrayed her. She fell—paralyzed.
The moon hung low and red in the sky.
Lora stood by the balcony of her chambers, arms wrapped tightly around herself as the wind tangled her hair. She couldn't shake Malthea's voice or her own note—the warning written in her own hand: Don't trust the one who says he loves you.
She heard him before she saw him.
Dorian.
He didn't knock. He never did.
"You should sleep," he said softly.
Lora turned. "I can't. Not with lies crawling up my spine."
He stepped into the room, shadows clinging to his figure like a second cloak.
"You think I've lied to you," he said. "Maybe I have. But not about us."
She laughed once, bitter. "You think I remember what 'us' means?" "I want to know if I'm the real enemy here,"
"if I actually betrayed our love"
"
"I don't need you to remember," he murmured. "I just need you to feel it."
He came closer—close enough that she could see the flecks of silver in his eyes. She didn't step back.
"What happened to me, Dorian?" Her voice broke, finally. "What did I forget that was so terrible, I had to rip it out of my mind like a wound?"
No one is actually telling the truth except him". she whispered
But Dorian heard her
"Who are you talking about?" he went ahead and shook her.
"What is the truth, Dorian? Lora asked sadly.
He didn't answer right away. When he did, it was quiet. "You gave up everything to save her. Our child. And I let you go."
Lora searched his face. "You let me go… or you made me forget?"
He flinched.
"I had to save u first Lora," he said. "Because you couldn't live with the guilt. Because every time you looked at me, you saw the war we lost. The blood we spilled. And the baby you had to give up."
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back.
"I don't know who to trust anymore."
He stepped forward again. His voice dropped to a rasp.
"Has someone been feeding your mind "
"Then trust this."
He took her hand. He placed it flat over his beating heart.