The eastern horizon had begun to lighten to a threatening pale blue as Duke Maximilian's hunting party hurried back to the estate. The ceremonial conclusion had dragged on longer than anticipated, with nobles offering eborate compliments on their "merciful hunting prowess" following Elias's captivating tale. Now, with dawn approaching, Maximilian felt the familiar anxiety that came with cutting timing too close to daylight.

  "The cars are waiting, Your Grace," Lord Harrington said, gesturing toward the sleek bck vehicles idling at the forest edge. "We've arranged the fastest route back to the estate."

  Maximilian nodded, casting a concerned gnce at the lightening sky. "We should make haste."

  The ride back was tense with a race against dawn, the Duke's driver pushing the vehicle to uncomfortable speeds along the winding forest roads. Beside him, Elias seemed surprisingly calm, watching the passing scenery with curious eyes.

  "Is sunrise always this... dramatic for vampires?" he asked, breaking the silence.

  "Only when poor pnning is involved," Maximilian replied dryly, adjusting his gsses out of habit. "I should have scheduled the hunt for earlier in the night."

  "I rather enjoyed the adventure," Elias said with a small smile. "Getting lost in the forest, hiding from wolves... it's more excitement than I've had in decades."

  Maximilian found himself returning the smile despite his concern. "Your standards for excitement are worryingly low."

  The estate came into view just as the sky turned a dangerous shade of pink. The driver pulled up directly to the side entrance, minimizing the distance to safety. Servants were waiting with protective coverings, which they quickly draped over both vampires as they hurried inside.

  Once safely within the estate's protective walls, Maximilian felt the tension ease from his shoulders. "That was unnecessarily close," he murmured as the door closed behind them, sealing out the approaching dawn.

  The entrance hall was already prepared for their return, with dimmed lights and a small reception of essential staff. Among them stood Morris, Maximilian's aging human butler, who approached with a silver tray bearing two crystal goblets.

  "Your Grace, the traditional post-hunt restoration is prepared," Morris announced with formal precision. "The ritual chamber has been readied according to protocol."

  Maximilian froze momentarily. In the excitement of the hunt and their narrow escape from dawn, he had completely forgotten about the traditional post-hunt ritual—a small blood exchange between the noble and consort to symbolize their shared experience. It was ceremonial, barely more than a drop, but suddenly felt uncomfortably intimate given the night's events.

  "Is that really necessary, Morris?" he asked, keeping his voice low. "Lord Elias and I have had quite enough tradition for one evening."

  "Archduke Lucius's representative inquired specifically if the ritual would be observed," Morris replied with perfect decorum, though his eyes conveyed the political implications. "A messenger is expected before noon to report back."

  Of course. Archduke Lucius rarely involved himself directly in such minor matters, but his attention to this particur marriage was notable. Though Lucius himself had arranged the political union, the alliance it represented between progressive and traditional factions remained delicate. Any deviation from protocol could be interpreted as disrespect, particurly by Orlov's traditionalists who already viewed their political marriage with skepticism.

  Elias, sensing the tension, smoothly intervened. "We would be delighted to observe the traditional rites, Morris. After all, this is my first consort hunt—I would hate to miss any part of the experience."

  Morris bowed and gestured toward a corridor leading deeper into the estate. "The ritual chamber awaits, my lords."

  The "ritual chamber" was, in reality, a small, elegant room adjacent to the estate's main library—one of Maximilian's infrequent concessions to vampire tradition. Unlike the ostentatious blood halls in other noble houses, this room was understated with simple elegance: dark wood paneling, a single small table with two chairs, and shelves filled with historical texts on vampire ceremonies. Two silver goblets waited on the table alongside a ceremonial dagger.

  "I must apologize," Maximilian said as the door closed behind them, leaving them in privacy. "This tradition is typically more symbolic than significant—just another tedious ritual nobles use to remind themselves of their importance."

  Elias looked around the room with genuine interest, though a slight frown of confusion crossed his features. "It's so... pin. Where are the ceremonial blood banners? The sacred candle arrangements? The proper bone-silver instruments?" He ran a finger along the simple wooden table. "At Archduke Orlov's court, even the smallest ritual chamber has proper stone altars and ancient symbolic carvings. How do the spirits of noble ancestors witness without the traditional chamber adornments?"

  Maximilian blinked, momentarily thrown by the genuine perplexity in Elias's tone. It was easy to forget sometimes that the consort had been raised entirely within Orlov's aggressively traditional court, where baroque extravagance wasn't theatrical—it was simply normal.

  "I prefer a more... functional approach to tradition," Maximilian said carefully. "The ritual's meaning comes from the participants, not the decorations."

  "How peculiarly modern," Elias replied, though his tone held curiosity rather than judgment. "Archduke Orlov always says that proper ceremony requires proper surroundings. Though I must admit," he added with a hint of his usual humor, "setting up those surroundings always seemed to require an excessive number of servants and several hours of preparation."

  The tension in the room had eased, but the ritual requirements remained. Maximilian gestured to the chairs. "We should proceed before our absence becomes noteworthy."

  They sat facing each other across the small table. The ritual was simple: each would pce a single drop of blood in their goblet, then exchange and consume, symbolizing shared experience and mutual respect. It was typically performed with clinical detachment, a mere formality with no more significance than a handshake.

  Maximilian took the ceremonial dagger—a small silver instrument with protective handling areas for vampire use—and carefully pricked his finger. A single drop of dark blood welled up, which he allowed to fall into his goblet.

  "Your turn," he said, passing the dagger handle-first to Elias.

  Elias took the dagger with surprising deftness, studying it briefly before following suit. His blood appeared slightly different—darker, with an unusual iridescence that caught the light as it dropped into his goblet.

  "Now we exchange," Maximilian expined, though Elias likely knew the procedure. "It's purely symbolic—just a drop, not enough for any significant effect."

  They exchanged goblets, the ritual nearly complete. Such a minimal blood exchange was considered respectful rather than intimate in vampire society—certainly nothing like the profound blood sharing that bonded mates or created deeper connections.

  "To a successful hunt," Elias said, raising his goblet with formal grace.

  "However unconventional," Maximilian added with a hint of humor.

  They drank simultaneously, the minimal amount barely registering as more than a hint of copper on the tongue. Maximilian expected nothing more than the completion of yet another pointless tradition.

  He was entirely unprepared for what happened next.

  The moment Elias's blood touched his tongue, a cascade of impressions washed over him—not thoughts exactly, but emotions and sensations too vivid to ignore. Surprise, curiosity, lingering excitement from their forest adventure. Beneath these surface feelings y deeper currents: a lifetime of carefully crafted appearances masking genuine loneliness, years of being valued only for beauty rather than intelligence, and most surprisingly... a growing fondness focused specifically on him.

  Maximilian nearly dropped the goblet, catching himself at the st moment. Across the table, Elias had gone completely still, his violet eyes wide with simir shock.

  The connection sted only seconds before fading, but it was unlike anything Maximilian had experienced in his decades as a vampire. Blood sharing could convey impressions, certainly, but typically required substantial quantities and intimate intent. A ceremonial drop should never have created such vivid awareness.

  "That was..." Elias began, then faltered, clearly struggling to find appropriate words.

  "Unexpected," Maximilian finished, carefully setting down the goblet. "I apologize—I should have warned you that sometimes even minor blood exchanges can create temporary... impressions."

  It was an inadequate expnation, and both knew it. What they had experienced went far beyond typical blood-sharing effects, but acknowledging that would open conversations neither was prepared to have.

  "Is that common?" Elias asked, his usual composure returning gradually.

  "No," Maximilian admitted, seeing no point in dishonesty. "It typically requires much more substantial exchange. Your blood is... unusual."

  "A fw of my birth, according to Archduke Orlov," Elias said with carefully measured lightness. "One of many reasons I was considered expendable enough for a political marriage."

  The comment was meant to sound casual, but having just experienced a fragment of Elias's emotions, Maximilian recognized the genuine pain beneath the words. For someone raised in Orlov's court, being deemed "expendable" would have meant years of subtle humiliation and diminishment.

  "Orlov's assessment skills are remarkably deficient," Maximilian said with unexpected firmness. "His loss is my gain."

  The words emerged before he could consider their implications, hanging in the air between them. Elias looked genuinely startled, then pleased, a smile forming that seemed more authentic than his usual court-perfected expressions.

  Maximilian quickly stood, uncomfortable with the sudden emotional territory they had entered. "The ritual is complete. We should rest before the day's messengers arrive."

  Elias nodded, rising with graceful poise. "Of course. Dawn has likely already broken."

  Neither mentioned the impressions they had received, maintaining the polite fiction that the exchange had been merely ceremonial. As they walked from the ritual chamber toward their separate quarters, however, something had undeniably shifted between them.

  Maximilian paused at the junction where their paths would diverge. "I trust you'll find your quarters comfortable for day-rest," he said formally, retreating to the safety of proper etiquette.

  "Perfectly adequate, thank you," Elias replied with equal formality, though his eyes conveyed something more complex. "I found our hunt most... educational."

  "As did I," Maximilian acknowledged. "Perhaps we might discuss the experience further... after rest."

  "I would like that," Elias said simply.

  They parted ways, each to their separate quarters as dawn fully cimed the world outside. Maximilian closed his day-chamber door behind him, leaning against it with uncharacteristic weariness. The events of the night—the hunt, the wolves, the near-miss with dawn, and most significantly, that unexpected blood connection—had left him mentally exhausted.

  As he prepared for day-rest, Maximilian found himself repying the moment of connection, analyzing the impressions he had received from Elias. Most he could rationalize—the excitement of the hunt, the natural curiosity of experiencing new things. But that undercurrent of growing fondness...

  Maximilian removed his gsses, setting them carefully on the bedside table. He would pretend he hadn't noticed that particur impression. It was safer, more practical, to maintain their arranged retionship without emotional complications.

  Still, as day-sleep cimed him, his final waking thought was of Elias's face in the moonlight beneath the fallen tree, looking at him with an expression that now, having glimpsed the emotions behind it, he understood far better than he had before.