**EPISODE 26 — *"The Night He Couldn't Let Her Go"***
*(Long episode with romance, tension, jealousy, danger, and Lucian–Isha intensity.)*
The night settled over Eldermere with an unnatural stillness — the kind that arrives before a storm or a heartbreak. The Moonstone Cavern lay echoes behind them; the forbidden prophecy still throbbed in Isha's mind. She walked beside Lucian in silence, her thoughts swirling like a hurricane.
Lucian stayed close, always half a step behind her, as if afraid she might vanish if he blinked.
He finally spoke, voice low, rough, almost uncertain.
"Are you angry with me?"
Isha didn't turn.
"I'm not angry," she said quietly. "I just… need to think."
Lucian frowned. "You've been distant since the cavern."
"Because everything is changing," she whispered. "Too fast."
He reached for her wrist but stopped himself, fingers curling back.
"Isha… talk to me."
She kept walking.
But then another voice cut through the air.
"Lucian?"
A soft, melodic tone — almost too soft.
Isha froze.
From behind a ruined stone arch stepped **Aurelia**, the same vampire girl who had flirted with Lucian at the council days ago. Her silver hair shimmered under the moonlight, and her violet eyes sparkled as if she were genuinely delighted to see him.
Isha felt something hot and unpleasant tighten in her chest.
Aurelia walked toward Lucian with zero hesitation, completely ignoring Isha.
"Lucian, it's been days! I was worried."
Her hand moved instantly, brushing Lucian's arm as though she had every right.
Isha stiffened.
Lucian stepped backward lightly, avoiding her touch — but Isha still felt the sting.
Aurelia tilted her head.
"You didn't reply to my messages. I waited at the training grounds."
Lucian's voice sharpened.
"I'm busy."
Aurelia's gaze flickered to Isha for the first time — and not kindly.
"Oh. You're still with the human."
Still.
With.
The.
Human.
Isha's jaw tightened.
Lucian's tone turned icy.
"Watch your words."
Aurelia smiled, a sweet, poisonous thing.
"I'm only saying it's unusual. A vampire heir staying this close to something so… fragile."
The jealousy hit Isha full force. Not because Aurelia flirted, but because she said out loud exactly what Isha feared — that she didn't belong in Lucian's world.
Before Lucian could speak, another voice exploded from the shadows.
"Enough."
Both Isha and Aurelia turned.
**Lucian's eyes were burning crimson. Full vampire. Full fury.**
He stepped to Isha's side — no, not just beside her.
**He stood in front of her. Shielding her. Claiming her.**
"Aurelia," his voice dropped to a deadly whisper,
"If you disrespect Isha again, you answer to me."
Aurelia blinked, stunned.
"She is not fragile," Lucian continued, lips curling in anger. "She is braver than half the warriors you train with. And she is mine to protect. Always."
Isha's breath caught.
Her.
Mine.
Always.
Aurelia glared at Isha with burning resentment.
"This isn't over."
Then she vanished into shadow.
Silence fell.
Isha turned away, swallowing hard.
Lucian exhaled sharply. "You're jealous."
"I am NOT," she snapped too quickly.
His voice softened, teasing in that dangerously low way he reserved only for her.
"You get angry whenever someone looks at me."
"I don't—"
"You glare when someone touches me."
"I do NOT glare—"
"You walk closer to me without realizing."
She flushed. "Lucian—"
"And," he added gently, "you avoid my eyes when you're hurt."
Her mouth opened, then closed.
He stepped closer.
Closer.
Until his hand gently lifted her chin.
"Isha," he murmured, "why won't you tell me what's wrong?"
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Because I'm nothing like them. I'll never be part of your world. And sooner or later… someone like Aurelia will make more sense than someone like me."
Lucian froze.
Then he cupped her face with both hands, pulling her closer in one swift movement.
"Look at me."
She looked.
And what she saw made her heart stop.
Pain.
Fear.
Longing.
"Isha," he breathed, "No one — not Aurelia, not anyone from my world — has ever mattered the way you do."
Her breath trembled.
"Isha, if you knew how I feel… you would never doubt again."
She swallowed. "Then show me."
And just like that — Lucian snapped.
He pulled her against him, one hand on her waist, the other sliding to the back of her neck. Isha gasped, gripping his shirt instinctively.
He whispered against her lips,
"Tell me to stop."
She couldn't.
She didn't want to.
Instead she whispered,
"Don't."
Lucian kissed her.
Slow at first — searching, desperate to know if she truly wanted him.
She did.
Her fingers slid into his hair, and he deepened the kiss, breathing her in like she was the air he needed to live. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her impossibly close, as if the world might take her away if he loosened his grip.
The forest around them blurred into nothing.
Only him.
Only her.
Only this moment.
When they finally separated, breathless, Lucian rested his forehead against hers.
"Isha," he whispered, voice shaking with emotion he could no longer hide,
"Whatever happens next… you are mine to stand with. Not behind. Not beneath. With."
Her heart soared.
For the first time since she entered his world, she wasn't afraid.
She whispered back,
"And you're mine."
Lucian smiled — a rare, beautiful, dangerous smile only she ever saw.
"Always."
But the moment shattered when a distant roar shook the ground.
Lucian's expression darkened instantly.
"Something is coming," he said, stepping in front of her again.
The trees trembled.
The earth cracked.
And from the darkness, glowing eyes appeared.
Not one pair.
Dozens.
The attack had begun.
"Isha," Lucian whispered, gripping her hand, "stay close. Don't leave me."
She squeezed his fingers tightly.
"I won't."
And together, they faced the shadows.
**EPISODE 26 COMPLETE**