Ariana's pulse slowed as her vision adjusted to the chaos around her. The broken stained glass cast fractured light across the stone walls. Damien and Xander, momentarily still, both watched her with a level of attention that was no longer predatory—it was reverent.
Damien stepped toward her. "What did you just do?"
"I don't know," Ariana said, steady but honest. "But I felt something break open. Something old."
She wasn't referring to the window.
Xander's voice cut through. "That's the beginning. The mark wasn't the final bond—it was the key. She's now unlocking her inheritance."
Damien's posture stiffened. "You said nothing of an inheritance."
"I wasn't supposed to," Xander replied. "But neither of us was meant to claim her either. She was meant to choose freely once awakened."
Ariana turned to Damien. "What is he talking about?"
Damien hesitated. Then: "There are ancient lines of power passed through blood. Rare, uncontrollable. Some say they come from the original vampire matriarchs. They were prophesied to return through a human vessel."
"And I'm that vessel?"
"Not just that," Xander answered. "You are the convergence of two ancient bloodlines. Human and vampire. A descendant of the original cursed blood and the lost royal human line that was wiped out during the Night Rebellion."
Ariana processed this. "So I'm a symbol."
"No," Damien said, jaw tense. "You're a weapon. And if you're not protected, you'll be used."
A long silence followed. Then Ariana asked the most important question:
"Why did my blood call to both of you?"
Xander's expression shifted. "Because you weren't meant to be ours. You were meant to choose. Whoever you chose would gain not just your bond—but access to your ancestral power."
Damien stepped in front of her, protective again. "But I didn't know. I didn't mark you for power."
Ariana searched his face. "Then why did you?"
"Because I couldn't stop myself," he said plainly. "Because I loved you."
The word hit harder than any spell.
Xander scoffed, but quietly. He didn't deny the power of it.
Ariana inhaled sharply. "If that's true… then what happens now?"
Damien's voice was steady. "Now we prepare. If your power has awakened, others will come. The Elders. The High Clans. They won't allow a Blood Queen to remain unbound or uncontrolled."
"And Xander?" she asked.
Xander gave a sharp smile. "I'll stay alive—for now. I still know more about what you are than either of you."
Ariana looked between them.
Everything had changed. She was no longer caught in the middle of their war—she was now the reason for it. And if she wanted to survive, she had to stop being reactive.
She had to lead.