The room was silent.
Ayaan stood quietly, his head lowered.
Arvian's grip on his shoulder tightened… not in anger, but control.
Meera was still shaken.
Her heart hadn't slowed down yet.
💔 Thump… thump… thump…
"Go," Arvian said coldly to Ayaan.
The child hesitated… then disappeared into the shadows without a word.
Now, only Meera and Arvian remained.
Alone.
Meera tried to steady her breath.
"You didn't have to shout at him… he's just a child."
Arvian's eyes darkened.
"Just a child?" he repeated.
In a flash, he was right in front of her.
"You have no idea what he is."
Meera looked into his red eyes.
Fear was there… yes.
But she didn't step back this time.
"And what are you?" she asked softly.
Silence.
For a moment, the entire castle felt still.
Then Arvian leaned closer…
Too close.
"You should stop asking questions, Meera," he whispered.
His voice was low… dangerous.
Yet—
he didn't hurt her.
Instead…
His gaze slowly drifted to her neck.
Her pulse.
Her warmth.
Her blood.
💔 Thump… thump…
His fangs slowly appeared.
His control… slipping.
Centuries of hunger… rising all at once.
Meera felt it.
The danger.
The tension.
But strangely…
she didn't run.
"Are you… going to kill me?" she whispered.
That question—
It broke something inside him.
Arvian froze.
His eyes flickered.
Then suddenly—
He stepped back.
Hard.
As if pulling himself away from something forbidden.
"No," he said sharply.
Almost like he was angry… at himself.
Meera blinked in surprise.
"You… didn't bite me."
Arvian turned away.
"You are under my protection," he said coldly.
"No one in this castle will harm you."
Meera's voice softened.
"Even you?"
He didn't answer.
But his silence said everything.
For the first time in centuries…
The Vampire King had felt hunger…
And chosen not to give in.
Meera watched him quietly.
There was something behind his coldness…
Pain.
Loneliness.
A battle he was fighting alone.
"Goodnight… Arvian," she said gently.
Not "King."
Not "Sir."
Just his name.
Arvian froze.
No one had said his name like that before.
So softly… so normally.
Without turning back, he replied—
"…Goodnight, Meera."
TWIST🔥
That night—
Arvian didn't drink blood.
Not because he couldn't…
But because of her.