Chapter 3 – The Blood Contract Never Ended

• Aveline turned.
• Too late.
• The hallway lights flickered out. Metal doors slammed behind her, loud and final. The sound echoed like a trap snapping shut.
• Cassian stood at the far end. Still. Silent. No smirk, no anger. Just… watching.
• She walked toward him.
• Not rushing. Not scared. Just done with the games.
• “This your idea of closure?” she asked. “Trap me in a hallway and throw the past at me?”
• He didn’t answer. Just opened his hand.
• A ribbon. Dark red. A little worn.
• She knew it instantly.
• It was from the nightgown she wore the night she vanished.
• Her eyes stayed on his hand. She didn’t blink.
• “I burned that night to the ground,” she said. “Figures you’d be the one holding the ashes.”
• She took a step closer.
• Close enough to hit him.
• “What is this, Cassian? Feeling nostalgic? Want to play husband again?”
• He slipped the ribbon back into his pocket. His voice was low. “You’re still mine.”
• ---
• Later, he sat alone in the archive below the Drayke estate.
• No windows. No noise. Just the hum of a screen and rows of locked files glowing in shades of blue.
• One blinked red.
• Marriage Contract – Drayke & Vallerion
• Status: Active
• He tapped it.
• An old clause appeared:
• > “If no annulment is filed within five years, the bond remains valid under Syndicate law. The petitioner may trigger the Blood Recall clause.”
• Cassian leaned back, eyes closed.
• This wasn’t about love. Or forgiveness.
• It was leverage.
• And he just pulled the pin.
• ---
• Three days later, a sealed envelope arrived at the Vallerion estate.
• Leo set it on the table. “Official Syndicate seal. Looks bad.”
• Aveline already knew.
• She opened it anyway. Read the top line.
• Blood Recall Petition
• Filed by: Cassian Drayke
• A quiet breath slipped out. Not a laugh, but close.
• “He’s serious,” she said. “He actually filed it.”
• Leo frowned. “What does it mean?”
• “It means,” she said, tossing the letter into the fire, “he wants to drag me into court and use a five-year-old contract to claim me.”
• Leo watched the flames rise. “You going?”
• “Of course I’m going.”
• Her voice didn’t shake.
• “I want to look him in the eye when I tear it apart.”
• ---
• That night, she walked into Cassian’s penthouse without warning.
• No guards. No hesitation.
• She stepped out onto the balcony like it belonged to her.
• Cassian was already there, drink in hand.
• “I figured you’d show,” he said.
• She crossed her arms. “You thought a legal trick would bring me crawling back?”
• He turned to face her. “The contract’s still valid.”
• “Don’t call it that. It was never a marriage. It was survival.”
• “You left the night we were supposed to run.”
• She didn’t blink. “I left because I saw what I was turning into beside you.”
• He looked at her for a long time. “I never stopped looking.”
• “No. You just stopped needing me.”
• Wind cut between them. Cold. Sharp.
• “I’ll be at the hearing,” she said. “Not to defend anything. To bury it.”
• She stepped closer. Her voice lowered.
• “I’m going to end this in front of the whole court. In front of your people. You started it. I’ll finish it.”
• She walked away.
• Didn’t look back.
• ---
• Two days later, the Court of Shadows opened its doors.
• It wasn’t a courthouse. It was a bunker. Cold and deep, run by people who didn’t want names attached to their rulings.
• Cassian sat on the left. No tie. No expression.
• The doors opened, and Aveline walked in.
• All black. Hair tied back. A silver chain at her throat.
• She didn’t look at him. Didn’t need to.
• She sat, posture steady.
• The arbiter stood. “This hearing addresses a Blood Recall petition filed by Cassian Drayke. Does the respondent acknowledge?”
• Aveline rose.
• “I do.”
• Cassian’s jaw tightened.
• She unclasped her necklace and pulled a folded parchment from the pendant.
• “I’m filing a counter-claim,” she said. “Signed by my father.”
• She handed it over.
• > “If a Blood Recall is filed without soul-consent, the petitioner’s blood shall serve as payment.”
• The room held still.
• Then came the whispers.
• The arbiter studied the page. Then her.
• “You’re invoking blood penalty?”
• Aveline didn’t flinch. “Let him pay for what he thinks he still owns.”
• Cassian’s hands curled into fists.
• “You can have my blood,” he said. “But that won’t be enough.”
• She looked at him.
• And for a moment, something flickered—tiredness, maybe. Or regret.
• Then it was gone.
• The gavel hit the desk once.
• “The court accepts both the petition and counter-claim. Verification hearing in forty-eight hours.”
• People started to leave.
• Cassian didn’t.
• Aveline headed toward the exit. But right before the doors, she paused.
• Just for a second.
• Cassian saw it.
• A shift in her weight. A breath caught.
• He almost said something.
• But then she moved again.
• A sound followed.
• A drop.
• Then another.
• Dark red on marble.
• He leaned forward.
• It wasn’t hers.
• And it wasn’t his.
• He knew that blood. The color. The scent.
• For the first time in years, something sharp punched into his chest.
• It wasn’t random.
• It was a message.
• That scent—burnt clove and metal. Old. Familiar.
• Not Syndicate. Not modern.
• Varellion.
• His fingers twitched.
• Someone had marked that courtroom.
• And they’d used her to do it.
• Not to hurt her.
• To control her.
• ---
• Elsewhere in the city, Aveline slid into the backseat of a car.
• No words. Just closed the door and exhaled.
• The driver didn’t turn. “He saw?”
• She nodded.
• “Good,” the voice said. Calm. Satisfied. “Now he’ll start asking the wrong questions.”
• Aveline turned slightly. “What if he finds the right ones?”
• The car merged into traffic.
• No answer.
• But in the mirror, her eyes met a reflection that didn’t look entirely like hers.
• And for a moment, the pendant at her throat pulsed warm.
• Too warm.
• Alive.
• ---
• Back at the Drayke estate, Cassian opened the vault behind the library.
• No one else went near it.
• Inside—one file. Yellowed paper. Black wax seal.
• Subject: Linea Project – Sub-Group A
• Codename: The Match
• He’d seen the name once. Buried deep. Half-erased.
• His thumb hovered. Then he opened it.
• Dust scattered.
• Inside:
• > “Target will believe she is acting of her own will. Bond activation likely after five years. Symbiotic
• threshold expected by Phase III. Emotional destabilization required to complete imprint.”
• Cassian didn’t breathe.
• The last line was clear.
• Subject: A. Vallerion
• ---
• And with that, the truth landed hard.
• She didn’t come back because she wanted to.
• She came back because she was made to.