Chapter Twenty-seven: Valen

Valen sat alone in his grand office, his gaze drifting from the endless pile of documents before him to the faintly glowing horizon visible through the arched windows. Outside, Devil’s City shimmered with a haunting beauty, cloaked in perpetual twilight—a beauty that only deepened the ache in his cold heart, reminding him of what he once had and lost.

Tonight, he felt the weight of the past pressing against him with unrelenting force, clawing at the walls he had so carefully built. Lydia. Her name echoed like a heartbeat, filling the empty spaces of his mind, and slowly, inevitably, Valen let himself fall into the memories.

He was young then, far less burdened by power and revenge. He remembered the night he met her as if it had just happened, her image so vivid that he could almost reach out and touch her. Lydia had entered his world as a quiet figure among a gathering of vampire clans, her presence calm yet commanding, with a subtle allure that had drawn him across a crowded room wi