Vladislaus and Katja (Crimson Embrace,The Beginning)

Previously

…The gaslight outside my window cast long, dancing shadows across the room, but they no longer seemed menacing. They were simply part of the tapestry of this world, a world I was now inextricably bound to. Vladislaus had awakened something in me, and I was ready to embrace it, to explore its depths, and to face whatever darkness it might bring. My mortality was no longer a fragile shell to be protected, but a foundation upon which something new, something extraordinary, was being built. And I, Katja, the mortal woman drawn to the shadows, was finally beginning to understand the true meaning of her own awakening. The night had indeed revealed its truths, and I was ready to live them.