Prologue

Lucian

The fireplace provides sufficient light within the chambers; the shadows cast by the flames dance along the walls in a gory mockery of the grief that is thick in the air. I notice none of that, my hands clasping the withered fingers of the woman lying in the bed before me.

I can hear the rattle in her chest with each breath that she draws, and it is like a knife across my heart. She is living on borrowed time, and when her voice, weak and frail, reaches my ears, I want to collapse in her arms and weep.

"Has Lillith a—arrived?"

"Not yet, my heart," I bring her hand to my lips and kiss it fervently.

A lifetime we have spent with each other, an entire century, and our love has never wavered or weakened. And tonight, she will leave me behind.

She sighs. "I—I worry about you. Lillith—Lillith will take care of you."

Tears burn my eyes as my stomach tightens in raw, agonizing emotion. "Don't worry about me, my heart."

I see the smile under the wrinkles, the familiar green gaze that was once filled with fire and passion, now gentle, filled with wisdom and her own grief about abandoning me.

"We have lived a good life, a meaningful life, haven't we, Lucian?"

"My life began the moment you walked into it." I can't stop my voice from cracking. "And it will end with yours."

"D—Don't say that." Her voice is distressed, and I know she can understand my pain.

It's hard to control myself, the wretched loneliness that has been building inside me from the moment I realized the time for us to part was near. I lower my head to her bedside; my shoulders, once firm and broad, now weak and tired, shake as a sob leaves my lips.

"Lucian." Her nails dig into my palm, her breathing harsh. "My love, my heart."

Footsteps sound in the hallway outside, and then the doors of the bedchamber are thrown open as a woman bursts through them, breathless. "Mother!"

"L—Lillith," the woman in the bed says softly, and I can hear the rattle worsening. "My love, my firstborn."

Our daughter throws herself beside the bed, tears spilling from her eyes. "Mother, I'm here. I'm here."

My eyes close when I hear the final gasp. Death lowers the curtain, taking away the woman who has been in my every breath for as long as I remember. I hear my daughter's sobs, but tears no longer come to me. The hand I'm still holding is growing cold, limp now. I tear my gaze away from the still figure in the bed and look at the portrait hanging on the wall, just behind the bed.

It's of a woman with bright red hair and green eyes that are fierce and mesmerizing.

"We've lived an adventure of a life, my love," I whisper, my lips curving.

I can feel my wolf dying within me as my body gives way. I don't feel any regret, my eyes drinking in the sight of the red-haired beauty in the portrait.

I can feel my heartbeat slow. My wolf doesn't mourn, simply closing its eyes, embracing the darkness of death.

My vision blurs, and I sigh, happily now.

An adventure of a life, indeed.