Lana's POV

...

I stood still having no clue where all of it came from.. Where all of them came from.. All the things that these three witches said.. I couldn't process it all so quickly.

It was that sickening feeling of my brain stopping in its tracks when I heard Amelia's yelp. I turned around so quickly, I felt even more dizzy after the words I heard that night.. On the floor, in front of me, I saw Christian unconscious.. It was all happening so fast, I couldn't even register it myself.

  The very second my eyes landed on him, the memory of both of us falling unconscious earlier that night because of those witches' spell flashed in my head so quickly, instantly making me listen for his heartbeat.. Nothing.. I heard nothing..

  In that moment, other than the gasp that escaped me, the air seemed to refuse to enter my lungs. It was like I saw my whole life flash in front of my eyes in that moment, with the damned picture of him falling to the ground with his eyes closed, the sound of his heartbeat simply disappearing the moment it happened..

I couldn't.. I just simply couldn't accept that picture.. That moment when this sudden fear gripped me whole, suddenly pumping a doze of adrenaline through my blood that rushed underneath my veins in that heat and boiling from the dread I felt.. Dread for him.

No thoughts crossed my mind, no time lost as I rushed towards him with a loud 'No!', falling on my knees to the floor beside him.. I could not focus on anything else in that moment.. Nothing else other than the very image of Christian laying unconscious on the ground.

  The things that those witches said seemed to disappear from my head immediately.. I couldn't get myself to think about anything else than what just happened before my eyes.. I was never familiar with witch craft and spells, but the fact that I didn't hear even a single beat of his heart after they preformed whatever wicked magic, it told me it was not a good sign..

I was frightened beyond belief.. Frightened for him. He was laying unconscious on the ground.. I couldn't- I couldn't get myself together. My hands shook as I pressed them against his chest, trying to see if I could feel any beats, roaming back towards his wrist to check again, as for in that moment, I didn't trust my own senses and I prayed that it was just me that wasn't hearing the sound of his heartbeat..

My mind was blank, blocked with fear for this guy that I cared for so deeply no matter the fact that I knew him for such a small amount of time.. I couldn't bare with the thought that he was hurt.. No, just not that..

I remember that I somewhat noticed that the three witches that did this mess were gone once Dimitri rushed towards them, but how could I focus in that when I had Christian hurt and lying on the floor?

  There was no possible way to explain or show the worry and fear that went through me in that moment, and I couldn't even hide it anymore.. My hands shook, my mind rushing with speed I could not follow, going through thoughts that I refused to let sink in..

  No, no, he couldn't be dead. It wasn't an option. He couldn't- He couldn't leave like that.. No. I was not accepting it.. Not now..

  His name kept escaping me as I tried shaking him slightly to wake up, to at least move a muscle, but there was no use. His eyes were peacefully closed, his face pale, and there wasn't even a single trace of heartbeat coning from his chest..

  Amelia was kneeling on the other side of him, Calliope standing in shock on the side near Dimitri and Luke.. The fear and denial that actually went through me while he was laying on the floor unconscious.. It was turning into anger with each second that passed.

  "What are you standing there for?" I practically yelled at them, still trying to find some kind of pulse as I held Christian's hand. "Help him!"

  And instead of moving, all Calliope did was shed a tear as she stared at me.. Dimitri seemed to stand frozen to his spot in shock, Amelia beside me just as freaked out as me.. But none of them were doing something! Why weren't they- why was everyone accepting this?!

  Perhaps I should've too, but it was just a simple moment of denial.. Perhaps it was time for me to actually see the real situation.. I just refused to accept it.. Accept the fact that he could be dead.

~

A few hours earlier

  Christian's POV

  We did it. We finally managed to organize the ball. It's insane how we actually succeeded in three days worth of time, but it was all finally ready. Everyone was invited. Everything was going as planned.

  The preperations were done.. Everything seemed perfectly done.. Well, it wouldn't have been if I didn't have Lana on my side. I learned that she was kind of a perfectionist, and perhaps it would've all happened quicker if she wasn't focusing on every flower in the room, on every candle being turned the right way.. Then again, it would've never came out the way it did if it wasn't for her.

  During the time we were organizing this fancy fake-ish ball, one of the good things was that there were no attacks whatsoever, no signs that the werewolves had tracked us, so it meant that we still somewhat had things under control. It was all good as long as I had Lana near me.. That was the only way I knew to keep her safe, because who else did I trust more than myself?

  But then again, around her, it was always instincts reacting rather than my mind.. I couldn't get enough of her. And it was starting to scare me. It was starting to seriously make me wonder why I couldn't spent an hour without seeing her face, touching her skin, kissing those lips.

  It seemed to become harder and harder for me to hide what I had with her with each second that passed, with having Luke in the house, then Amelia and Dimitri as well, we had to be careful.. Even though she said she found it fun to hide, but Lana's nature was rareness to this world. She was positive and wild and unstoppable when she felt like it. That's one of the things I loved about her.

  But once the day came.. The day of the big ball that we both planned and organized till the very end, it was time to once again repeat the plan just to make sure everything was going to go the way we wanted it to go.. The way we were planning..

The guests were supposed to start arriving in half an hour latest, alongside our most important guest, Lycia. She knew the truth about everything that happened during the war, and I was sure in it because she used to be the one to inform me things.. While I was back in Europe during the war, I needed an insider.. I had to stay informed and involved in everything that was happening if I wanted to get revenge on my father. That was my way of doing it.. Through Lycia.

So yes, I was in fact more than sure that she had information that none other had. And she was our only chance on getting an explanation about the visions that Lana and Amelia saw..

I was ready for more than an hour by the time I decided to go check up on Lana.. Thirty minutes till the guests start arriving, so I had to make sure everyone was ready..

I walked down the hallway and towards her room, since we couldn't share my room once the other were back in the house, apparently because t would be 'too obvious' that here was something going on between Lana and I.. Her words, not mine. But on the other hand, we really did have to be careful. The relationship we had guaranteed war if the information got to the wrong person. So neither of us were planning on risking it.

I walked to her room, knocking on the slightly opened door before pushing it open completely. And I can't say that there was ever a time when she didn't fascinate me.. Once again, leaving me senseless the moment I saw her.

The sight was something I wanted to get used to.. Lana standing in front of the mirror, looking breathtakingly gorgeous in her dress, leaving me completely speechless the very moment I took a step in..

She turned towards me, still putting her earrings on and honestly seeming more panicked than I expected her to be.

"I'm done. I'm sorry it took longer.. I just had to change the dress because the other one didn't fit well, and then Calliope had to come and help me with it," I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my lips as she spoke, simply fascinating me with the passion she had for whatever the subject was. "It was just a mess, you don't even want to know about it,"

But I looked at her.. I looked and I looked and I looked.. And I couldn't find a single thing that wasn't perfect on her.. The lightest sky colored dress she was wearing was somewhat skintight, lining every dip and curve on that drool-worthy body of hers, and leaving me completely speechless by the time I walked closer to her..

Her hair as always was perfectly shining, perfectly wild, yet still graciously curled in intense waves, falling over her back as the dark brown color created a perfect contrast with that light dress.. Oh and the deep V neck of the dress, the side split that came all the way up almost till her hip..

"Wow." Was all that escaped me. I couldn't- I couldn't exactly process it all so quickly. I just know that my hands itched to touch her as I reached towards her, and she easily let me pull her closer..

I once again looked down at her, scanning the way she looked from up close, and the only thing that went through my mind at that point was, I can't wait to rip it off of her after the ball.

The dress was perfect, but it was her that made it that way. Filling and exposing every part of it in the most breathtaking way possible, and knowing that I was the only one that had that for myself made me even more selfish than I already was with her.

She smiled at me and once again made my head spin from how damn beautiful she was.

"Wow?"

"How long is the ball supposed to last?" She frowned in confusion from my question.

"Three hours.. Four max." I watched how she scanned my face and in that moment, all I could think about was, I can stay like this forever. "Why?"

"Because, I'm trying to figure out for how long I'm going to have to resist you.." I leaned towards her neck, just to take in that intoxicating perfume, just to feel her closer to myself.. "And four hours will be a damn torture."

I heard how she inhaled slowly, once again just the sound of her breathing playing with my head like nothing else could.. Her hands pressed against my chest gave me some kind of warmness I could never explain.. I was used to that gesture of hers.. Then how she ran them up my shoulders and around my neck. It was a little game that I was starting to live for.

"The door is opened." She reminded almost breathlessly as I pressed my lips on the side of her neck.

"I don't care."

She slightly pulled away to look at me, making it even harder for me to now resist those lips. "The guests will start arriving soon.." I nodded my head.

"I know." And once again, all she did was smile at my statement as she pulled away from my arms slowly.

"Then stop distracting me. You know I'm just as bad with control as you." True. We had a lot of things in common in fact.. Perhaps that's why we allured one another.

I watched the way she fixed her hair.. And with every little thing she did, it made me realize more and more how much I was fascinated by her.. How I followed every word she said, every gesture she did.. And each one was for some reason only making more aware of how damn beautiful she was.

It was truly going to be a torture having to keep my hands to myself the whole night. I was definitely not planning on doing that. However, we had other things to worry about that night. Starting with Lycia.

"Do you know what you're supposed to do?" I asked, wanting to make sure she could follow up with the plan the way she was supposed to.

She inhaled slowly, looking at me in the mirror before she turned around and clasped her hands together.

"Yes. Distract her,"

"Then?"

"Then," She put away the split of her dress, taking out the injection out of the leg band she was wearing. Impressive. "I inject this in her."

The wicked smile that stretched her lips made me laugh. "Not in her, baby, in her drink." I slightly pushed down on her hand, watching how she looked at me with hope, for the hundredth time trying to change my mind on this part of the plan.

"But it can go directly in her back."

"We're not trying to be violent here, Lana." And that was what Dimitri told me just a day ago when I suggested the same thing Lana did.. That's when I knew she was the perfect girl for me.. She was as crazy as me, and well, it was pretty damn hard to find someone with that same level of craziness.

She puffed, rolling her eyes. "Okay, fine." Putting the injection back in her leg band, she fixed her split before looking back at me. "Then, I inject this in her drink."

"Yes. Next part of the plan is, I swoop in to put her away-"

"And then Calliope does the truth spell on her."

"The honesty compulsion." I corrected. It was really a truth spell, I just used the 'professional' term.

"Yea, whatever." She took a step closer, searching my face for a second, before she went along and scanned the way I looked, focusing on my chest. I watched how her hands came up towards my tie, fixing it while she continued. "I know the plan, Christian, we went through it a gazillion times."

"I know. I just think that maybe we should let Luke distract her." Once again, I was barely able to find words from how big of a distraction she was when she slowly slid her hands over my chest again once she was done fixing my tie.

"No. I'll be fine." And with a slight, breathtaking lean closer, she added with a quiet voice the spun my head. "I distract you pretty well when I want to."

"Lycia's a woman."

"There are all kinds of distraction, Christian." With the way she ran her hand down my arm, I instantly took it, following right behind when she started walking towards the door. "Now lets go. The party's about to start."

~

The guests started arriving just in time. I was busy greeting and taking care of them all, answering questions on why the ball was here and not in Venedocia, why was my mother not invited, and why was Lana Morpher one of the organizers, and practically my date.. Well, to be honest, no, I didn't answer them all.. Actually, I didn't even bother answering half of them.

A few smiles and toasts were enough to shit them up for at least a bit, since I had other things more important than this.. For example, searching the crowd and looking for Lycia all the freaking time.. Then trying to keep Lana near me.. Trying to keep everyone near.. No, the night was not with an easy start.

I watched Dimitri approach me, and I didn't even know why he thought this was the best time to talk, when I put him on guard-duty with Amelia and Luke just a few minutes ago.. However, he reminded me that not everything might go as planned.

"Did you talk to her? Lycia?" Both of us kept our eyes on the crowd despite his question.

"No. I sent out the invitation."

"I hope you're aware.. There are three more witches in the house."

"Where?"

"Somewhere in the crowd. Amelia said she felt their magic.."

I took a sip from my drink. "Well, there are all kinds of supernaturals in this house tonight. I just want our own safe."

"Lana? You're keeping her safe by letting her follow her instincts? She can get hurt, you know.." I looked at him. How did he connect Lana to any of this? I never even mentioned her when I was around him.

"I trust her." My plain answer seemed to sound unbelievable to him.

"You sure there's isn't anything more than trust?"

The music and the conversations in the crowd seemed to mute his voice.. But I heard him perfectly well.. He didn't have an intention on dropping this subject. And after agreeing with Lana that we were going to keep what we had a secret, I didn't exactly enjoy where this conversation was going..

However, I kept quiet due to many many reasons.. Pushing back this unbearable need in that moment to admit the full truth on what I had with Lana for some reason.. How much more it was than just trust.

I cleared my throat. "What makes you think that?"

"Oh please.. You have to be blind not to see that there's something going on between you two." Oh. Well said, brother.. The little thing he was missing out noticing was, I didn't really give a crap if someone found out or not. I was doing it for Lana. But either way, I trusted Dimitri. Even if he knew, I trusted him enough to keep it a secret. "Playing bed games with Morpher's daughter is going to end with nothing but war, brother. Trust me on this."

Advise from the king.. Shocker. I just couldn't understand how not even for a split second throughout our whole conversation he didn't remember what kind of 'war' he could cause, and even slightly did, when he fought for Amelia.

Difference between the two of us though was, I did things using my brain. He only used his instincts. So, I had it figured out. And especially in that moment, I didn't need any kinds of advises from my dear brother..

I didn't even bother looking at him. He was talking nonsense. "Like you're one to talk.."

"You're right. But I never just screwed around with Amelia. I love her." I looked at him, still feeling how my frustration was building with every second that he wasted not even knowing what being with Lana meant to me. "She was worth a war, brother."

"What makes you think this is any different than that?"

I wasn't even sure how I said those words as certainly.. But that was the thing. When it came to Lana, there was nothing but truthfulness in my feelings towards this girl., Honesty in my words when talking about her..

I handed him the glass I was holding as I passed by him, already familiar with the speechlessness, the slightly surprised look on his face.. I was expecting it really. Perhaps he never thought I would admit it.

But yes, what he was saying.. It was all true. He managed to get what he wanted.. Amelia. Even with giving up a few times, he still got his girl. I didn't exactly give up on anything, especially not on Lana.. So that was the difference again.. I wasn't just ready for a war, I was already in it.. I was winning. And Lana wasn't a prize. She was in it with me.

And just like the cure I needed, the soothing I was seeking for in that moment, I saw her. My Lana. Instantly, this pressure inside me seemed to drop. It was madness how easily she could effect me.. With just a simple approach.

I walked towards her, observing how she searched the crowd with her eyes, nothing but certainty, wildness and this reflection of her fearless self in those blues. The crowd was thick, so it wasn't noticeable when my hand went around her waist as I slightly pulled her closer.. And her simple scent sent me to holy grail.

"Where have you been?" I asked as soon as I had her closer, watching how she took a sip from her glass, somewhat looking just as frustrated as me.

"Calliope said that there's no sign of Lycia yet." I looked over through the crowd, trying to see if there was anything that was abnormal than planned. But, no Lycia wasn't there yet.

Calliope on the other hand arrived that morning, with the spell book she needed for killing Adam, but newsflash, she had no clue which spell was for that, so she had a lot more figuring out to do.. While I.. I had to figure out a way to get this Lycia witch to tell us the truth. Truth spell had to do the thing.

However, in that moment, Dimitri's words kept repeating in my head. Did I trust Lana enough? No, trusting her was never a problem.. Trusting others around her was. Just how in that moment I started reconsidering ever letting her 'distract' Lycia. I couldn't have her hurt.. I just couldn't risk it..

"Maybe you should't really be the one looking for her.. And distracting her." She instantly looked at me, her eyes wide with slight shock. I could tell how damn ready she was for starting to talk me into still doing it.

"No, Christian, we have a plan. We're sticking to it.. No matter what your brother told you." The blood in my veins froze the second I heard her saying those words. She heard? She heard everything I said?

I watched how she looked towards the crowd again, acting like she didn't even mention that conversation I had with Dimitri. Perhaps she found it tensed to talk about.. We had a lot of problems.. Our relationship drama was the last thing we needed to deal with in that moment.

And then, just like every word we exchanged had simply puffed in think air, her eyes focused on something, on someone, as she frowned and got on her tiptoes.

"Is that her? Is that the girl we need?" I looked towards the direction she was staring at. Lycia. Finally, the witch had arrived. She was basically the theme to this party.

"Yes." And in that moment, I saw how a smile stretched Lana's lips as she looked at me.

"Show time."

***