THANK YOU,

Thank you so much, my lovely readers for being so patient with me. It has been an year since I started writing Stone Cold. What casually started out as just an experiment has turned into an extremely important part of my life. We're close to hitting 2M yet it feels like it was only yesterday when I was screaming around for getting 2K reads.

You guys made this happen. I owe it to you all.

I love you 💙💙💙

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“You have told him everything. Have you not, dearest daughter?”

Like a hissing snake, his unexpected question lunged at her, baring its deadly fangs in her face.

Bit by bit, like puzzle pieces assembling together to form a clearer picture, his intentions were unravelling before her, disclosing his hidden motives to her panic-stricken gaze. Gulping inaudibly, she passed a quick glance at her surroundings, quickly scanning the objects in her proximity to find a potential weapon.

‘If I jab the corner of a thin book in his carotid hard enough, will it buy me enough time to run out of here?’

In the solitude of that murky room, the only sound accompanying her was the drumming of her own frenzied heart, banging itself rapidly against the bars of her ribcage.

‘Ares hasn’t returned which means the villagers must still be surrounding him. Gabriel wouldn’t harm me here with so many people around. Would he?’

Her loosening hold on the shelf instantly tightened again as she kept her back facing him, hiding her rapidly moving eyeballs from his scrutinizing gaze.

‘I should wait for to him to say whatever’s on his mind—assess the circumstances before saying or doing anything.’

The freshly formed bruise in her side hurt with every movement her ribs made, coupling with the suffocating query still hanging in front of her, making it more and more difficult to breathe.

“Well, it is for the better—the trust, I mean.”

Surprising her with its sudden appearance, his apathetic voice resembled the touch of cold fingers, lightly scratching the back of her neck with their sharp tips, causing her frozen state to break as she impulsively took a step back away from him before slowly turning her head to glance sideways at him as she heard him continue talking to her,

“You broke our deal to gain his trust, I assume.”

Not assenting to his words, she remained peering up at him through the tendrils of hair hanging loose in front of her vision, motioning him, without words, to keep speaking,

“I requested of you to hide the truth because I fear for my daughter’s life. She is too small to survive in this cruel world alone,”

His shoes produced a light squeak, making her brows furrow as she realized he had started walking towards her,

“I’m well aware of the lord’s generosity. That much of a control, especially for a royal, is remarkable to state the least but,”

The chilling tone that his voice had taken caused her to whirl turn around swiftly and stare directly into the eyes of the man, now standing barely a feet away from her,

“No matter how strong a chain is, there always exists a strain under which it falls apart. Everything, living or dead, has a breaking point.”

Although unbelievably cold, his voice had a magnificent effect on its listeners. It demanded attention whenever it resounded through the empty room, flaunting the well mastered grip he had on the art of words. There was no doubt in him having the town charmed in such a short amount of time. He had been successful in creating an aura of authority around him—an invisible cloak like that of a king’s mantle, trailing after him wherever he went. On top of it all, his eyes played the role of the main culprit in all this. Albeit being the same as hers, they resembled steel instead of storm, gripping the person staring into them with a deadly hold.

She had often heard that eyes are a gateway to one’s soul but his eyes, they hardly gave anything away almost as if his soul was as dark as the look he was giving her.

Suddenly, for a brief moment, his steely gaze melted, dropping the impassive look in them as the man turned his head to look towards the door his own daughter had just went out of moments ago,

“We’re both fighting for our families, Credința.”

Immediately after he was done speaking, he moved his head back to look square into her eyes. The soft look which had occupied his features momentarily was gone now. No traces of it left behind as if it never existed there in the first place.

‘It’s terrifying how quickly he switches his emotions.’

Trying to be as discrete as possible, she lifted up her lashes to look at the door peeking at her from behind his shoulder.

‘He was the one who helped Ares out of the ordeal. God knows what he’d do if I ran out of here now. Besides, he already knows I’ve broken my share of the deal.’

Torn between fleeing out of there and keeping up with his eccentric talks, she stood there nervously fiddling with her fingers, trying to find a safe way out of there.

“Tell me the truth, Credința. Why did you come here?”

The abrupt question caused her gaze to shift instantly from the door back to the man standing in front of it, leading her to utter her first word, after a long pause, in an unsure manner,

“What?”

“You could not have come here for merely asking me about our kin’s history. There must be a bigger reason behind it.”

The surety he was demonstrating whilst interrogating her could fool any observer, urging them to think that she indeed had an ulterior motive for being there.

‘What is he trying to do?’

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hearing her reply, he folded his arms in front of himself whilst lifting a brow as if he were questioning her integrity through his stance,

“Let me rephrase my question. Time travelling is one of the deadliest magic a witch can perform. It is lethal to their life. She could not have performed it without personal gain. What did you give her in return?”

‘Lethal? Ares didn’t tell me anything like this…’

Brushing away the sinking feeling developing inside her chest, she pressed her lips together, trying her best to sound as firm as possible,

“Nothing. I didn’t give her anything.”

“Did you know her personally?”

“I didn’t.”

Constantly standing at the same point had started numbing her legs, gradually rendering them inefficient for carrying her bruised trunk as more and more time passed.

“An unknown witch put her life at stake for you without any reason. Do you think you sound credible to me at the moment?”

‘Do I look like I want to sound credible to you?’

Trying her best to keep her emotions intact, she clutched her free hand in a tight fist as she harshly let out her next words through gritted teeth,

“I’m telling the truth.”

“Are you?”

The coldness in his voice remained unfazed, clearly telling her that he didn’t believe her.

‘Yet Ares did. Without even any interrogation, he believed my craziest truths.’

The fear of being trapped in an unknown time span with nothing familiar to comfort her came crawling back at her. It had been with her since she had first arrived in there, lingering in shadows, accompanying her in a hidden, dormant form attacking whenever she got alone whether it be the lone streets of the medieval town she encountered on her first day or the dark corridors of Ares’ manor from the past few days, it was there, glued to her side, and like always it was followed by a deep hollow feeling of helplessness spreading inside her veins, tinting her blood the way pitch black ink engulfs clear water droplets, one by one.

“You are hurt.”

Through her silent hysteria, she saw his eyes travel down to where one of her hand was still clutching her side before moving back. Soon a scratching sound filled the room as he took a chair before motioning with his fingers for her to sit down.

‘Now he cares about my wellbeing?’

Ignoring his heartfelt action of courtesy, she went to sit at the already drawn chair she had previously been occupying prior to his arrival.

“Ha!”

A dry chuckle left past his lips as he sat himself some distance away from her, in the same chair he had originally taken out for her, before letting the smile drop from his face,

“Hm, let us think. What can a vampire’s beloved get out of time travelling?”

Pausing momentarily, he placed his hand on the table as he started drumming his fingers on the dust laden surface trying to portray as if he were immersed in some deep thought,

“It is not history, it can be found in books. It is not money, vampires are not short of it. What is something that can never be found once lost in time?”

Suddenly his fingers stopped their drumming midair whilst his impassive eyes slowly narrowed down to the size of a slit,

“Life.”

The way he had whispered that single word almost felt like he was mentioning a grave sin on her part. All of a sudden, the distance between their chairs seemed too small for her liking.

“Whose life brought you here, Credința?”

Wrinkling her brows, she matched his gaze with the same intensity as she uttered her next words with as much confidence as she could muster in that moment,

“No one’s. I told you the witch sent me here without my knowledge.”

Steel crashed against storm, both refusing to back down, staring unblinkingly with an unwavering look burning in them.

‘Is this some ancient people trick? Having a staring competition to find the truth?’

After a moment or two, when Gabriel was done probing the truth in her eyes, he leaned back in his seat, his stiff posture loosening a bit,

“What does your mark resemble?”

His abrupt question had caught her off guard causing a small sound to escape past her lips,

“Huh?”

She watched as he sat up straight again, looking closely at her for some time before opening his mouth as he further explained his question to her,

“The mark, it links you to your ultimate destination.”

Unintentionally, her stare went towards the door for a millisecond as if she were awaiting someone’s arrival,

‘Should I tell him?’

Before she could even decide on her answer, his gruff voice once again resounded through the room,

“Your face shows it is related to our lord,”

‘The hell?!’

“He must know it, too. Admirable, that he still lets you stay so close to him.”

A small smirk was dancing along the corners of his lips, making it known that he was well aware of hitting her nerve.

“What do you mean?”

“You pose a danger to not only him but his family as well. Remember, Credința, no one can inflict pain upon your heart better than someone who is already very close to it.”

'Danger? What is he on about?'

Not being able to handle it anymore, she got up from her spot, banging her hands loudly on the table as she spoke out with sheer frustration,

“Stop talking in riddles! State it properly!”

“My lady should never lose her calm. It is one of the greatest traits of a leader.”

“Gabriel..”

Her nails were scratching against the wooden table as she clutched her hands into tight fists whilst glaring daggers at him simultaneously.

“Calm down, first. No daughter of mine ought to express such impatience.”

He made her feel like a spoiled kid getting scolded by a parent for their bratty behavior.

‘If it hadn’t been for him hinting at Ares being in danger, I’d have long left him rotting alone in this old library.’

Letting out a deep, exhausted sigh, she slumped back in her chair, folding her arms before her chest as she stared expectantly at the man in front of her.

“Try to read in between lines, Credința. Hidden intentions always end up slipping in these spaces. If you had been patient enough, you would have understood that by now,”

She watched him intently as he stopped midway for a mere second, his eyes turning glassy as if he were remembering something from the past before gaining their sharp look back once again,

“What I meant to say before is that someone helped me assassinate the queen, an insider.”

“What?”

“The king’s own brother, to be more precise.”

She was sure if she hadn’t been sitting, she would’ve ended up falling down due to shock.

“W-What do y-you mean?”

“Even as a hunter, I did not slaughter those creatures in a blind rage, moreover a single hunter could not kill the vampire queen on his own, no matter how capable. He manipulated me into thinking that all his killings and brutalities were the doings of the vampire king. He helped me assassinate the vampire queen. I was to kill the child she had given birth to as well, but destiny had other plans for the little vampire prince—Ares”

“Ares…”

Unbeknownst to her, she ended up repeating after Gabriel, the name leaving her lips like a breathless sigh as she lifted her fingers up to her mouth, lightly touching it in horror.

She resembled a person who was slowly but surely slipping into a trance.

“The king had speculations regarding his brother therefore he directed the witch to change the eye colour of the queen’s assassin, but as that man hadn’t dirtied his hands directly, his eye colour didn’t change. Despite this, the king’s heart could not find ease and he tried his best to shield his son away from all this. He knew with his beloved’s killer roaming free, his son’s life was at stake,”

The man paused momentarily, inhaling a large amount of air before he leaned back, closing his eyes whilst his lips parted once again to continue narrating the horrifying tale,

“The king could not blame his brother directly as his position had already gotten weak due to his beloved’s death. The only way for him to save his son was maintaining his title of the king. On the other hand, his brother’s position was getting stronger day by day and he was not sparing any chance of making his nephew suffer. He was trying to draw Ares into a corner and his biggest success in it was getting the courtiers to hang Deborah, the witch who had become his headache since the vampire queen’s death, the motherly figure who was keeping Ares sane amongst all the chaos. He killed two birds with a stone.”

She was gawking at his slouched frame with dread painted all across her face whilst Ares’ crimson tears leaking out of his glistening eyes kept popping in front of her vision, making it all the more difficult for her to digest the situation,

‘Does Ares even know all of this?’

“You must be wondering whether Ares knows about this or not,”

Gabriel still had his eyes closed as he continued talking to her,

“Nobody knows. That man has everyone thinking that the incompetent vampire king and his weakling son is the root of all problems.”

‘What kind of mess is this?’

Lifting up her trembling fingers, she passed them slowly through her tied hair, ruining the carefully made braid as several dark tendrils broke free from her grasp, scattering around to frame her face in a messy cage of raven bars.

“Do you not wonder why I told you this?”

Gabriel’s ominous voice once again resonated through the large room, causing her grip on hair to tighten as she kept her lips tightly sealed.

‘What else? What else does this pandora’s box has to say?’

“I considered time travel a myth based on a nonexistent stone named miasma, black death. Without it, no matter how powerful of a witch, she cannot cast the spell. The stone, originally considered a legend, is a source of immense power. The witch acts a medium and channels it towards the object used to cast the spell and the person whose blood is used, linking them together. As far as I know, there is only one powerful witch who fits perfectly well with all of this and can go as far as harming anyone for this purpose, even her own self, someone who is bound to that man for life, a witch forced to marry a royal, robbed of her origins and her family, burning day in and day out with the desire for revenge against the vampire king and his weakling son, Deborah’s blood sister, Felix’s birth mother—Ruth.”

Her breathing hitched as soon as she heard him let out that name, causing her mouth to open and close with alternate patterns whilst a small transparent droplet hurriedly escaped out of the rim of her right eye, swiftly running down her horror stricken face.

Your expressions tell me I am right regarding my assumptions.”

A large lump had formed inside her throat, rendering her unable to let any comprehensible sentence out of her windpipe, barely allowing a single letter to break through her breath,

“Who..”

Catching on with her unfinished question, Gabriel parted his eyelids, lifting his gaze to where she sat dumbstruck. Keeping his stare fixated on her for some moments, he let out an exasperated huff before carefully speaking out his next words,

“Cyrus—current king’s brother and minister, Felix’s father, Ruth’s husband, a royal much more manipulative than me.”

‘Felix.. Cyrus..’

The scene in front of her started melting bit by bit, turning pitch black for a small period before getting replaced gradually with blobs of different colours, merging together to form a completely different picture in front of her eyes.

By now, she was already aware of what was awaiting her.

She was going to get lost, once again, inside the web of Ares’ scattered memories, resurfacing only after obtaining some undesired parts of his past.

Not trying to fight it anymore, she took a deep breath before succumbing herself to the mercy of their shared subconscious, welcoming every memory that came towards her with opened arms, embracing it as if it were her own in the first place.

Dusk, the first thing she witnessed was the colossal sun being devoured by the voracious dark night. Soon, an ear ripping scream pierced the tranquility of her mind causing the scene before her to rapidly switch and morph into another scenario.

A child was clutching onto his dead mother’s corpse whilst another dead person, possibly of the child’s father, lay motionless in a pool of his own blood.

“Mother! Wake up, mother!”

Everything was happening too fast, much faster than it had ever happened before.

“Just the usual, did not pay their taxes on time. They needed to be taught a lesson.”

Someone had the child gripped by its neck.

“I said, LEAVE HIM!”

She—Ares was fighting against a tall pale blur when out of nowhere a burning pain spread through her left shoulder blade, causing her to bite her own tongue to suppress her screams as a bitter metallic taste of blood spread through her mouth.

“Ares, did you murder your cousin Felix?”

“Understandable, but all of this happened because of that doomed child. Hand him over to Cyrus so he can avenge his dead son.”

“Prince Ares King bids farewell to his father.”

“Live well, my son.”

“Ah!”

As if she had just surfaced out of the depths of the sea, her body immediately started gulping large amounts of air to keep her lungs satiated.

“Why did Ruth send you here, Credința? Are you sure you’re not making the same mistake as me, because this time Ares’ life is at stake.”

Unaware of her deteriorating condition, Gabriel was still probing for more answers,

“Why, despite never having harmed his people, Ares was accused of murder as soon as you arrived in his life?”

His insensitive prying wasn’t helping her gasping state. Gripping the back of her neck with the pad of her shaky fingers, she lightly pressed the skin there as she started shaking her head side to side while the man kept bombarding her with questions after questions,

“How did Henricus, the human related to Felix’s death, got severely injured by a handful of humans only when there was no vampire blood to cure his fatal wounds?”

The trepidation was soon turned into horror making her raise her bloodshot eyes to meet his impassive ones. Filled to the brim with a hot transparent liquid swimming in them, her eyes appeared to be her biggest defendant as Gabriel fired his next question her way,

“Are these incidences the result of a mere coincidence or are you hiding some-”

“That is enough for now.”

Gabriel’s gruff voice was cut off midsentence by a deep velvety one, causing her heaving mess of a frame to stop breathing for a second or two as she instantly whipped her head in its direction only to find a fall stricken grassy gaze, rapidly alternating between crimson and emerald, standing at the doorway, staring back at her from a distance with an unknown emotion swirling in them,

“Lord Ares…”

All of a sudden a strong gust of wind hit her out of nowhere, causing her to briefly shut her eyes close due to the whipping pressure hitting against her eyelids. Trying to shield her eyes away from the impact, she instinctively lifted her right hand, which she had been using previously to hold her aching side, inciting a low hiss out of her gritted teeth as her bruised waist ended up hitting the wooden armrest of the chair.

“Are you hurt, love?”

The unforeseen gentle words were accompanied by cold fingers gently brushing past the several locks of hair hanging loose in front of her face, filling her with a warmth that straight away soothed all her nerves down to her core,

“My King…”

Unbeknownst to her, the words left her shivering lips in the form of a small mumble as her hazy mind allowed her to slowly part her eyelids.

‘He used his speed in front of Gabriel.’

That was the first thought that hit her as she found herself staring at the pale neck of the dark lord as he continued hovering over her perched figure whilst his hand remained unmoving at her cheek.

Not daring to meet his eyes, she shifted her gaze away from the man frozen in front of her, directing it towards the priest leaning back in his chair leisurely. Gabriel had closed his eyes once again, completely ignoring both of them.

‘He knew Ares had been listening to him. He meant for Ares to hear everything.’

Narrowing her eyes, she lowered her lashes, letting her gaze slip down to her lap where her intertwined fingers were busy fumbling nervously with each other.

‘How am I supposed to look into his eyes? Not only the descendant of his mother’s assassin, I’m also someone who time travelled here by the help of a witch who’s the beloved of his mother’s original killer. His ordeal, Henry’s transition, there are too many things pointing at me with no evidence whatsoever in my favour. At this point, even I won’t blame him for becoming wary of me.’

“We ought to leave, Father Gabriel. My wife does not feel well.”

His deep voice ceased her train of thoughts, making her whirl her head to look at the leather clad hands brushing the exposed skin of her bare neck before reaching down to lightly grab her quivering shoulders.

“Can you stand?”

Just as the last time when she saw a fragment of a memory from his past, it had taken a physical toll on her body yet she felt too ashamed to say it out loud.

‘He might not even want to be in the same room as me.’

Not having the courage to voice her thoughts out, she simply nodded her head while looking down as she prepared to get up from her spot,

“Ah!”

A small squeal escaped out of her mouth the moment she put her weight on her feet, causing her legs to give way beneath her. Her hands shot out to grab the nearest thing, which in the current situation happened to be the front of his coat. Wrinkling it in the process, her fingers fumbled to get a better grasp of it as she tightly fisted the soft material in her hands provoking his fight and flight stance in the process as he wasted no time in letting his hand slid down her shoulder to reach down her waist and support her.

Not having an idea regarding her injuries, the dark lord ended up accidentally hitting the bruised area, inciting another low hiss out of her clenched teeth.

“Did I hurt you, love?”

His hold on her waist had instantly loosened upon hearing her pained moan.

“No, my lord.”

Too embarrassed to meet his gaze, she kept her eyes down, staring blankly at the flares of her dress pooling on the ground around her feet.

“Hold tight.”

Before she could even travel out of her thoughts to comprehend anything, two large arms carefully wrapped around her small frame, swiftly sweeping her off of her feet.

“Let us go home, love.”

Not sparing another glance behind to the priest still lounged in the chair, the vampire lord started walking out of the room wordlessly.

While picking her up, he had been conscious of keeping the sore part facing the other way so that he wouldn’t end up hurting her by an unexpected collision with his own torso. He had curled his fingers to eschew digging them subconsciously inside her skin, putting almost all the weight of her trunk on the junction of his palm and wrist indirectly.

Without even analyzing much of his gestures, she could clearly feel how extremely cautious he was being to avoid touching her injured muscles by the way he was holding her as if she were a glazed porcelain doll, meant to break any moment if not handled with utmost care.

“Don’t you doubt me, my lord?”

In her daze, she had voiced the question out loud without her own knowledge.

The large strides he was taking to step out of the suffocating building abruptly came to a halt as the vampire carrying her, upon hearing her meek voice, turned rigid under her touch. She could barely see anything in the dark hallway, lit up with the help of a lone torch that hardly allowed eyes to see the other side of the corridor.

‘Please, believe me.’

Keeping her squinting eyes trained at the large gilded buttons gracing the notch of his collar, she was awaiting his response with a bated breath.

“There are no doubts in love,”

His statement felt like the crystal cool water of a tide, washing over all her scorching worries, freeing her of this baggage as it took them along with it to the depth of an unnamed lost sea.

“I was aware of who had sent you here. You had mentioned her name on the evening we first met.”

Her head shot out as she heard his declaration, ultimately meeting his gleaming emeralds already peering down at her. Although his gaze was devoid of any scarlet tinge, the reflection of the torch’s flickering flame was dancing in his eyes, making them appear translucent.

“I was wary of your connection with Ruth at first. When I sensed a developing slave contract with Henry, I got afraid of my speculations coming to life, but you chose to tell me the truth, strengthening my belief in you. I did not award you with my trust merely because I love you. You earned it. You had been telling the truth since the very first day,”

Slowly, bit by bit, he was leaning his head down towards her,

"More so, these are not the eyes of a liar.”

Following his sentence, he closed the distance between his cold lips and her warm forehead, grazing them lightly on top of her soft skin for a brief moment before proceeding to gently kiss her semi parted eyelids one by one causing her breathing to hitch inside her throat.

“Let us go home, love.”

Repeating the sentence for the umpteenth time, he gave her a little reassuring smile, staring lovingly into her eyes for a second or more before directing his gaze back towards the front as he started walking again soundlessly.

At that time, she knew in her heart that she had undeniably fallen head over heels in love with Lord Ares Aléxandros King.

No magic involved.