Claimed by the Prince of Darkness

Chapter 50: A Path Crossed Twice

Ruelle’s bruised bare feet hung midair, her pulse pounding in her ears. Lucian’s words were a contrast to the heat of his grip—firm and steady.

"My shoes tore when I was being chased," she said, her voice hoarse, a faint tremour betraying the fear still clinging to her. Remembering the corrupted vampire, she blurted in a rush, "That corrupted vampire is—"

"Is dead," Lucian interrupted flatly.

Her breath caught. Dead? Surely, the creature hadn’t died on its own. And considering they were now alone, it wasn’t difficult to guess who had ended it.

"Can you...let me down now?" she asked finally, her cheeks flushing as embarrassment crept up her neck. For the first time, she noticed the steady rise and fall of Lucian’s chest against her back, the faint brush of his breath near her ear, and the way he carried her effortlessly, as though she weighed no more than air.

"You are injured," Lucian replied abruptly, as though this were unquestionable fact. Without waiting for her argument, he stepped back a pace, lowering her towards the ground with deliberate care, while instructing her, "Point your feet down."

Ruelle wondered if it was to avoid the dirt and mud from sticking to the cuts she had received on her soles. She complied, expecting the harsh bite of the forest floor. Instead, her feet brushed something solid and warm.

Shoes.

Her bare toes curled awkwardly inside the large leather boots. She blinked, glancing down in surprise. Lucian’s shoes.

He was barefoot. He remained utterly unbothered, shifting only to steady her before his red gaze swept the darkened forest, sharp and predatory. Ruelle quickly realised what he’d done.

"I’ll manage without them," she said quietly, already shifting to pull her feet away, embarrassed at the gesture.

Lucian’s gaze snapped back to her, narrowing with an edge of irritation. "Do you plan to bleed through the forest and draw every creature lurking in the shadows?" His tone was blunt with the faint flicker of exasperation in his eyes. "My patience has worn thin, Belmont. Don’t test it. Put your feet back in. Now."

Ruelle froze under his glare, her fingers tightening reflexively around the folds of her gown. Lucian wasn’t shouting—he didn’t need to. His voice alone was enough to drive the point. Begrudgingly, she settled her feet back into his shoes, their size swallowing her own entirely.

"They’re too big for me," she murmured softly, her voice careful and hesitant. The words weren’t meant as a complaint—more like an unspoken invitation for him to take the shoes back. Wearing something so fine while he was left to walk barefoot felt... wrong.

There was a twitch at the corner of Lucian’s jaw, and he remarked, "Perhaps next time you decide to stroll into a vampire soiree uninvited, you should carry a spare shoe along with your terrible judgment. It might save me the trouble."

Ruelle bit the inside of her cheek, the faint sting grounding her as guilt twisted low in her stomach. Twice now—twice—Lucian had pulled her from disaster this evening. The words of gratitude hovered on the tip of her tongue. She glanced down, avoiding his harsh gaze as her lips parted to speak. But he beat her to it.

"What were you even doing there sneaking into a soiree you had no business attending."

"I told you I was accompanying my friends," Ruelle replied. "We, I didn’t think it would turn into this." Running into corrupted vampires was the last thing any of them had expected tonight.

For a moment, Lucian said nothing. The forest around them seemed to hold its breath, the silence broken only by the faint rustle of leaves and the distant sound of fleeing creatures. Then he exhaled sharply, a sound of irritation or resignation—perhaps both.

"You’re fortunate that your foolishness hasn’t cost you your life yet," Lucian remarked finally. "Just because my brother left you to share my room, I have no intention of rescuing you every time you decide to stumble into danger."

already raw nerves. She softly said, "I didn’t ask you to rescue

have to," Lucian

and Ruelle looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer. The truth of

down to his shoes. She then

back to the darkness. "We need to move. This area isn’t safe because we don’t know who else has gotten

blinked, "The corrupted

Lucian replied dryly, as though the answer should have been obvious. "Walk.

loomed behind her, silent but impossible to ignore—like a shadow that breathed. Every crunch

forest. And though Lucian had made Ruelle take the lead, she felt nothing less to a dangling carrot to the mouth of the corrupted vampire. She could hear him following, his movements impossibly smooth compared to

more corrupted vampires lurking in

composed, and ever watchful. His red eyes glinted faintly in the moonlight, carrying the

vampires,

this side?" Lucian asked without missing a beat, his tone cool but there was a hint of

her head. She hesitated before asking, "How did the corrupted vampires appear at the

said flatly, as though the answer should have been painfully obvious. His eyes flicked to her, and he added, "Perhaps if you paid attention in class—page thirty-four, Vampire History—you would have already known that corrupted transformations often occur among humans with weak constitution. But it

heat creeping up her neck. "I wasn’t falling behind!" she protested quickly, though her voice faltered

lack the will to hold vampire blood in them, often lose their minds and their bodies rot with their hearts. But it is also important that the vampire who is

heard was true about the vampire’s blood needing to be thicker... What she had heard was everything from her parents and she

who attempted to turn the humans, and caused disruption and loss for Sexton will be held accountable for their actions.

notion of turning humans into vampires had always unsettled her, but

That humans shouldn’t try

not worth turning. They are weak, fragile, and utterly incapable of understanding what it means to carry our blood. It’s not something they can earn or achieve. It’s something they defile the moment they touch

contempt towards her

between two worlds, neither truly human nor truly vampire. It’s

instruction. She finally asked, her voice quiet, "Then

some of my kind lack the discipline or the pride to refuse. To them, it’s a game, a way to expand their influence or sate their boredom. But the cost—" Lucian’s tone dipped lower, edged with something

humans and vampires at a time. She wanted to ask him why he hated her kind

trip again—and I

at the forest path ahead as heat

don’t worry," Lucian interrupted, his tone carrying that familiar undercurrent of sarcasm. "If something comes out of the dark, you’re still in front. I’ll have plenty of time to react after it eats

funny," Ruelle

murmured with an overly calm expression that had Ruelle’s

ease in its domain. They finally arrived by the manor, which now loomed somewhere ahead, a dark,

that illuminated the path ahead. Ruelle could hear the faint crunch of leaves under her awkward steps, mingling

corridors appeared through the dark, flickering faintly as though beckoning them closer. The sprites flitted just beyond the treeline, their soft light guiding the pair out

back on," Lucian