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Trying to settle the ache coiling in my gut, I inhaled slowly. The spiced air soaked into my lungs, urging my body back into some kind of rhythm, but it didn’t work. The only thing grounding me was the unnatural breeze stirring through the room, cooling the sweat beading down my neck.

“Alexander? Are you alright?” he asked, his chair scraping against the wood as he moved.

Even though my eyes were forced shut, I felt him before I saw him. The current from his cloak brushed along my side, and a second later his hand settled on my shoulder, warm, steady. Soothing. Like I was fragile.

I forced my eyes open, and pain exploded through them. There was no room. No shape. No color. Only blinding white light, sharp and merciless, like staring into the sun. It burned through me without restraint, flooding my veins like ice laced with razors.

And then, just as suddenly, fire.

Every inch of me ignited, heat replacing the cold in a violent surge. A tremor seized my spine. My body gave out, sliding from the chair as I dropped hard to my knees. Before my head could crack against the desk, my palms slammed against the surface, catching myself just in time.

I winced, eyes squeezing shut again, desperate for darkness. “I—I don’t know what’s happening,” I stammered, panic clawing its way up my throat. My senses were fracturing. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel it. The stillness. The way he hadn’t moved. He was already thinking. Calculating. Steady.

He said nothing.

And the silence stretched, each second dragging sharp across my nerves. I knew I wasn’t alone. But the lack of reassurance made it feel like I was. That was the worst part. He sounded so certain before, so sure of his plan. But now… nothing. No explanation. No warning. Just this.

Another violent jolt tore through my chest, sharp and unforgiving, and a raw, guttural scream ripped out of me. “Do you know what’s happening to me?” I gasped, my chest rising and falling in short, frantic bursts.

Something was wrong.

I shouted, but I heard nothing. “Lord Draco!” I cried again. Still nothing. My voice didn’t reach my own ears. I could barely even feel it in my chest as my panic climbed higher.

Wiping the sweat from my eyes, I forced myself to look, pushing through the blinding white.

He was there. Still at my side, cutting through the emptiness. I strained against my vision, trying to make him clearer. His face was composed, but tension pulled tight beneath it. His mouth moved quickly, forming words I couldn’t hear. Nothing came through. Not even a whisper.

It was like I had been cut off from sound entirely. I didn’t know whether to stay calm… or fall apart. Valentina’s voice echoed in the back of my mind, steady, expectant. She wanted me composed in front of him. She believed in my strength. In the man I could become. But in this moment, I chose to panic.

A single tear slipped down my cheek; one I hadn’t even realized was there. I had no room to be what anyone expected of me when my body was betraying me in every sense of the word. It couldn’t have been more than a second before it hit.

Flora and spice burst through the room, flooding the air around me. I gasped, dragging in a breath as a burning bloom tore down my throat. My own scent filled my lungs, thick, overwhelming. It poured into my stomach like molten stone. Wave after wave of agony crashed into me, sharp and relentless, forcing my body into violent convulsions. Then a sickening split. It felt like a new set of fangs tore through the soft flesh of my gums, slicing into my lower lip with something almost ceremonial in its cruelty.

My back arched violently, knocking the chair behind me onto its back. I couldn’t hold it. I collapsed, curling into myself on the cold floor like a child. There was nowhere left to go but inward. I couldn’t breathe.

Lord Draco caught my head before it struck the ground. He dropped beside me, his hand steady as he cradled me, rubbing slow circles into my arm like a father would.

But none of it reached me. Not really. Every nerve in my body screamed as the fire spread, poisonous and relentless, through every vein. Draco’s lips moved again. A phrase. Maybe just a word. But I heard nothing.

If I had… I would have known what he said. “I hope you survive this, my King.”

TAINTED| CHAPTER 11

Northern Mountain

Valentina’s POV

When the door shut behind me, the smell of cinnamon and the sweetest brown sugar seeped through the cracks of the oak. It took everything in me not to circle and take my place beside him, but I didn’t. It wouldn’t be of any use. Burdening him with my overprotectiveness might have emasculated him in the moment, and I wouldn’t be the cause of that.

The heel of my boots parted way from the door, falling into a practiced motion down the hall. As his scent lingered in the corridors, I kept myself calm with the thought that I would fix it. There would be no casual slip of his aroma that would lead anyone back to here. There couldn’t be. I wouldn’t allow it to be. Alexander’s safety had always been one of my top priorities since I was a girl. Now that he was here, it was dire.

Taking the stairwell to the servant quarters, I found my feet leading me towards the kitchen before my mind could rationalize the action. I knew I had assigned the task of dinner to Elaine so she would be up. And if she were as trustworthy as my father and I knew her to be, she’d be up for any task.

Pushing through the double doors of the scullery, my eyes found the pale woman filling silver bowls with blood and flour. Head Maiden Elaine looked serene in her task, as she gracefully picked up a wooden spatula to fold in the ingredients together. Her soft brown hair was neatly pinned to her scalp in buttery waves, with her ivory veil draping her golden eyes. Even the outfit that framed her body was perfectly competent. I felt bad for pulling her from her focus when my twined doors parted ways.

“Lady Corpus,” She greeted, her attention only breaking from the bowl for a moment.

A grin decorated my lips at the affection in her tone; some might have missed it under the sharpness of it, but I heard it. “Head Maiden,” I greeted, rounding the island to approach her side. “I’m sorry to bother you from your task.”