Eva’s lips trembled as the name slipped from her mouth.

  “Duke… Malric Vane…”

  “So you remember,” he said softly, tilting his head. “Ah… hearing my name from your lips again.”

  He laughed under his breath. “Call me properly.”

  He stepped closer.

  “Call me ,” he whispered.

  “My little angel.”

  Eva shook violently, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Please… please let me go.”

  Malric’s smile stretched too wide, his eyes glassy, feverish.“Let you ?” he echoed, almost offended. “After you came back to me like this?”

  He leaned closer, his face inches from hers.

  “Don’t say such cruel things,” he murmured. “It hurts me.”

  Eva raised her hands, begging, trembling, desperation written across her face. “Please… don’t touch me.”

  Malric laughed. Not softly this time.“How can I not?” he said. “Look at you.”

  His gaze crawled over her like insects. “You’ve grown so beautifully, Eva. When I saw you at the Emperor’s celebration…”

  He inhaled deeply. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

  He lifted his hand toward her face.

  Eva turned away sharply.

  “Please,” she cried. “I beg you—don’t touch me!”

  His expression twisted.

  “You speak as if I’ve never touched you .”

  He leaned down, his lips near her ear, his voice a poisonous whisper.

  “Did you forget we shared together?”

  Eva’s breath caught violently in her throat. She shoved him with all her strength and turned to run.

  Malric reacted instantly.

  She barely made it down the stairs before pain exploded through her scalp. He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back. Eva screamed as he shoved her forward.

  Her stomach slammed hard against the table. A vase toppled and shattered, glass exploding across the floor.

  Eva collapsed, gasping.

  Shards pierced her skin. Blood welled from her palms and legs, staining the floor red beneath her.

  Before she could move, Malric was on her—his weight crushing her to the ground. Eva thrashed wildly, clawing, struggling.

  “Stop—!” she cried. “Stop, please!”

  Malric pressed her down harder.

  “I heard you got married,” he said calmly.

  Eva froze.

  His smile widened.

  “Does your husband know about sweet night we shared?”

  Her eyes widened in horror.

  “Oh… you didn’t tell him,” Malric laughed. “Should I tell him?”

  He leaned closer. “Every detail. Every scream.”

  Eva shook her head violently, sobbing. “Don’t tell him… please don’t tell him.”

  “I won’t,” Malric said softly. “Not if you behave.” His grip tightened. “Be a good girl. Don’t resist.”

  He tilted his head.

  “Will you do that?”

  Tears streamed down Eva’s face. Her voice was barely a whisper.

  “…Yes.”

  Malric smiled in satisfaction.

  “That’s my little angel.”

  He leaned closer. Eva squeezed her eyes shut. Her fingers brushed against something sharp.

  .

  In one desperate motion, she wrapped her hand around a broken shard and drove it upward.

  Straight into his .

  Malric staggered back with a roar, clutching his throat as blood poured between his fingers.

  “You—filthy—!”

  His hand struck her face with brutal force. The slap sent Eva crashing to the floor. Pain exploded across her face as she screamed.

  Malric lunged again, grabbing her by the throat. “You’ve got nerve,” he snarled. “But you’re weak. Did you really think that would kill me?”

  Eva clawed at his hand, choking.

  “Help—!”

  “Scream,” Malric hissed. “No one is coming.”

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  His eyes burned into hers. “Not Even your husband. Who’s going to save you, Eva?”

  Her vision blurred with tears.

  Her body shook as despair wrapped around her like chains.

  Then—

  A voice echoed in her mind. Leo's voice

  Her eyes snapped open.

  Hope ignited like fire. With a sharp cry, Eva bit down hard on Malric’s ear.

  He screamed.

  She drove her knee up with every ounce of strength she had.

  Malric collapsed backward, clutching himself, howling in pain.

  Eva stumbled to her feet, blood dripping from her hands, her dress torn, her body shaking.

  Eva burst through the door and ran.

  Bare feet struck the cold stone road, pain ripping through her skin with every step, but she didn’t slow. Blood smeared the ground behind her like a trail meant for death itself to follow.

  Her chest burned. Her lungs screamed. With every ragged breath, she prayed.

  “Please…” she sobbed, tears blinding her vision. “Don’t go… please don’t leave…”

  Her voice cracked with desperation, fear, and something far more fragile—.

  Malric staggered into the kitchen, breath ragged, eyes wild.

  The sound of Eva’s footsteps fleeing down the street snapped something inside him.

  “You think you can escape me…?” he muttered, a broken laugh spilling from his lips.

  His gaze landed on the knife resting on the counter. Without hesitation, he seized it.

  The metal felt cold—steady—in his shaking hand, grounding his madness.

  “I’ll kill you,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’ll make sure you never run again.”

  He burst out of the house and into the night. He chased her.

  Eva didn’t look back. She ran until the world blurred, until pain no longer mattered.

  Then she saw

  The carriage.

  She laughed through her tears—half-sobbing, half-praying.

  Eva forced her trembling legs to move. “Just a little more…” she whispered, almost collapsing. “Please… just a little more…”

  The carriage slowed—only slightly.

  Eva stopped, bent forward, gasping for air, her entire body shaking.

  She gathered what little strength remained in her shattered chest and screamed— “,—”

  The sound was cut short.

  A hand clamped over her mouth from behind, brutal and sudden.

  The world snapped backward.

  Her feet left the ground as she was dragged away from the road.

  Inside the carriage, Eyan’s eyes snapped open. His heart slammed violently against his ribs.

  “Stop the carriage!” he shouted.

  The horses halted with a sharp cry.

  Eyan jumped down before the carriage fully stopped, his gaze searching wildly through the empty street.

  The road was silent. Too silent. No footsteps. Only darkness stretching endlessly in every direction.

  The coachman hesitated.

  “Your Majesty… what’s wrong?”

  Eyan clenched his fists, unease tightening his chest.

  “I heard someone,” he said slowly. “Someone my name.”

  He took a few steps forward, eyes scanning the shadows, his heart pounding with an unexplainable urgency—as if something precious had just slipped through his fingers.

  But there was nothing.

  “…Perhaps I was mistaken,” he murmured, forcing himself to breathe.

  He stepped back inside the carriage. “Les't Go.”

  The carriage rolled forward.

  Malric slammed Eva against the wall, his grip brutal, his breath hot and uneven. The knife pressed against her throat, cold and final.

  She struggled, tears pouring endlessly as she reached—instinctively, desperately—toward the street.

  Malric hissed into her ear, voice shaking with madness, “You almost slipped away.”

  Malric laughed—low, broken, mad.

  “You made me angry,” he hissed. “Now you’ll learn what happens when you disobey.”

  He shoved her to the ground hard. Her body hit the stones with a cry she couldn’t release. He pinned her down, his knee crushing her legs, one hand sealing her mouth, the other raising the knife.

  His eyes gleamed with something monstrous. “Just die, Eva,” he whispered. “I can still enjoy what’s left of you.”

  Eva’s vision blurred. She couldn’t scream. Couldn’t breathe.

  The knife lifted higher—

  Then—

  A hand seized Malric’s wrist from behind.

  Hard.

  Unmoving.

  Malric froze.

  Eyan stood behind Malric Vane.

  Rage burned in Eyan’s eyes—raw, feral, unrestrained—so intense it no longer looked human.

  Malric trembled as he staggered away from Eva, voice breaking.

  “Y–Your Majesty…”

  Eyan didn’t even look at him.

  His gaze was fixed Eva.

  Her body was broken—blood smeared across her torn dress, skin split and bruised, her breathing shallow, her consciousness flickering like a dying flame.

  Something inside Eyan snapped completely.

  In a blur, he seized Malric by the neck and slammed his face into the stone wall.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Again.

  And again.

  The alley echoed with the sickening sound of bone cracking and flesh tearing as blood sprayed across the walls.

  Eyan threw him to the ground like trash and pinned him there with terrifying force, knee pressing into his ribs as Malric choked and convulsed.

  His chest heaved, eyes burning red with .

  He grabbed the knife from the ground, then threw his head back and roared—

  “MARA. TALON. FEN.”

  The shadows exploded.

  Three massive wolves emerged from Eyan’s shadow, eyes glowing like hellfire.

  “Cover her,” Eyan commanded, voice trembling with violent fury.

  “Do not let her . Do not let her .”

  The wolves moved instantly, shadows wrapping around Eva’s body—dimming her vision, swallowing sound, shielding her from the nightmare about to unfold.

  Eyan grabbed Malric by the throat and forced him up until their eyes met.

  “How dare you,” Eyan said slowly, voice trembling with restrained madness, “How dare you touch with your filthy hands.”

  Malric froze.

  “Y–your wife…?”

  Eyan’s eyes burned, something savage flickering within them.

  “Yes,” he whispered. “

  Terror completely consumed Malric’s face. “Your Majesty—please—I didn’t know—if I had known she was yours—please, forgive me—let me go—”

  Eyan’s lips curled. “Let you ?”

  He shook his head once, almost calmly. “No. You misunderstand.”

  “You are not leaving this place.”

  His voice dropped to a deadly murmur. “You will die . Now.”

  “Your Majes—”

  Eyan plunged The knife into his Chest.

  Malric screamed.

  Eyan pulled back and struck again—driving the blade with ruthless precision, twisting his wrist as Malric’s body convulsed beneath him.

  The screams grew hoarse, desperate, breaking.

  Eyan leaned closer, breath ragged, eyes gleaming with madness.

  “Yes,” he whispered, almost reverently. “.”

  The knife rose again.

  “And scream some more.”

  Steel fell again and again, each strike fueled by fury, by love, by a rage so deep it erased mercy itself—until Malric’s voice finally began to fail.

  .

  .

  To be continued—