Chapter 52: Provocation

Chapter 52: Provocation

🌙𝐋𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭h

The mark on my wrist pulsed, burning hot.

"This is why you’re on this parapet," Vladimir said, his voice dropping lower, almost gentle in its cruelty. "Because Kaia isn’t afraid of heights. You are. And until you can stand at that edge—" He gestured to the drop behind me, and I felt my knees weaken. "Until you can stand there with her and trust her to keep you balanced, to keep you alive, you will hesitate when it matters. And hesitation kills."

He circled me again, slower this time, and I felt it—that pull, like gravity itself was shifting around him. My wolf stirred, responding to his presence, his dominance, his raw authority.

"So yes, Lilith." He stopped directly in front of me, so close I could see frost forming on his eyelashes. "We will excavate every fear you have. Every hesitation. Every moment where you and Kaia are not one being with one purpose. Because in three weeks, Veronique will tear apart any weakness she finds."

His hand moved, and I flinched—but he only pointed past me, toward the edge.

"The parapet is your first lesson. Face the fear. Let Kaia rise. Learn to be one entity instead of two."

My whole body shook. From cold. From terror. From the horrible, visceral understanding of what he was asking.

"I can’t," I whispered.

"You will." Not a comfort. A command. "Or you will die trying to."

The wind picked up again, and I swayed. Vladimir’s hand shot out, steadying me with that supernatural speed, his cold fingers wrapping around my upper arm.

Our eyes met.

And in his, I saw no warmth. No sympathy.

Just absolute, unwavering determination that I would survive this.

Even if it destroyed me in the process.

"What do I have to do?" The words came out broken, defeated.

Vladimir’s expression didn’t change. "Walk the perimeter of the parapet. Shifted."

My heart stopped. "Shifted? But I can’t—I’ve only shifted twice, I don’t have control—"

"Which is precisely why you need to learn." He reached into a pocket I hadn’t noticed in the shadows and pulled out a strip of black fabric. A blindfold.

The world tilted.

"No." The word was automatic, instinctive. "No, absolutely not. I can’t—Vladimir, I’ll fall—"

"Kaia won’t let you fall." His voice remained that same hypnotic calm. "But you have to trust her completely. No second-guessing. No human panic overriding wolf instinct. You walk this parapet blind, let her guide every step, every movement. She knows balance. She knows how to navigate dangerous terrain. You don’t."

"This is insane," I breathed. "This is—you’re going to kill me—"

"Veronique is going to kill you if you don’t learn this." He moved behind me, and I felt his presence like a physical weight. "The chase happens at night, Lilith. In darkness. Through forest where you can barely see five feet ahead. If you can’t trust Kaia to guide you when you can’t see, you’ll run straight off a cliff."

His cold fingers touched the back of my neck, positioning the blindfold, and I flinched violently.

"Don’t," I whispered, but even I could hear the defeat in my voice.

"Breathe," he murmured, his voice close to my ear now, that hypnotic quality intensifying. "Let her rise. She’s been trying to surface since you woke up on this parapet. She’s not afraid. She knows exactly where the edges are, how to distribute weight, how to move without falling."

The fabric settled over my eyes.

Everything went black.

My breathing immediately accelerated, panic clawing up my throat. I felt Vladimir’s fingers work at the back of my head, tying the blindfold securely. Too securely. I couldn’t shake it loose even if I tried.

"Please," I heard myself say. Hating how small my voice sounded. "Please don’t make me do this."

His hands came to rest on my shoulders from behind, steadying me. Then, slowly, one hand traced down my left arm—a deliberate path from shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist, until his cold fingers wrapped around the glowing mark.

The contact sent a jolt through my entire system. The mark flared so bright I could see the glow even through the blindfold, casting red shadows behind my eyelids.

Vladimir leaned in, his breath cold against my ear. "Your mother survived worse than this to keep you alive. And you’re going to dishonor her memory by giving up before you’ve even tried?"

I flinched like he’d struck me.

>"Lilith," Kaia’s voice rose, urgent and protective. "Don’t listen to him. He’s trying to provoke you—"

"She’s locked away, isn’t she?" Vladimir continued, his voice a low murmur that somehow cut through everything. "Your wolf. Your other half. She’s been your prisoner for twenty-six years. And now you’re both trapped—her in a cage of your fear, you in a cage of your weakness."

His fingers tightened slightly on my wrist, right over the burning mark.

"Prove you’re not your father’s daughter. Prove you’re not just another broken thing waiting to be saved." He released me, stepping away. "Or prove him right about what you are."

The cold air rushed into the space where his body had been, and I felt utterly, devastatingly alone.

>"That manipulative bastard," Kaia snarled in my mind, and for the first time, she didn’t sound like the gentle presence I was used to. She sounded fierce. Angry. Like an older sister watching someone hurt her family. "Lilith, listen to me. You don’t have to prove anything to him. You don’t—"

But he was already walking away. I heard his footsteps, measured and unhurried, moving back toward the stone bridge.

"High Alpha?" One of the guards spoke up, uncertainty in his voice. "You’re leaving her—"

"She knows what she needs to do." Vladimir’s voice came from a distance now. "She’ll either do it, or she’ll stand there until she’s ready. Either way, she stays until she walks that perimeter. Shifted. Blindfolded. No exceptions."

More footsteps. Fading.

And then silence.

Just me, blind and terrified on a parapet two hundred feet above the ground, with two guards who had orders not to help me and a wolf inside my head who I’d kept caged for my entire life.

>"Lilith," Kaia’s voice softened, that protective edge gentling into something almost pleading. "I know you’re scared. I know you don’t trust me yet. But please... let me help you. Let me show you that I can keep us safe."

My whole body trembled. From cold. From terror. From the horrible realization that Vladimir was right about one thing.

I couldn’t keep being two separate entities at war with myself.

Not if I wanted to survive.