Chapter 14 The Crimson Heir

• The words on the page pulsed like a heartbeat, alive — whispering secrets that burned in my veins. Every line seemed to crawl beneath my skin, setting fire to nerves I didn’t know I had.
• The Blood Moon does not choose. It remembers.
• My vision blurred as a wave of heat surged through me, radiating from the mark on my wrist and crawling up my arm like molten liquid. My knees buckled, and I stumbled backward, gasping for air, the room spinning around me in a haze of silver light. Lucien caught me before I hit the floor, his arms firm, grounding me, but his eyes were wide, filled with a mixture of fear and awe.