Sera's POV
"I need to show you something."
Kael's voice breaks the silence. The dead Shadowborn still lies on the floor between us, but neither of us looks at it.
"Show me what?" I ask, my voice shaking. I'm still processing what just happened—how easily he killed, how part of me felt relieved when he did.
"Why you're here. Why the magic chose you." He holds out his hand. "Come with me."
I stare at his hand. It's human-shaped right now, but I saw the claws. I know what he is.
But I also know we're bonded. Trapped together. I might as well learn why.
I take his hand. His skin is warm, which surprises me. I expected it to be cold like Rook's.
He pulls me to my feet gently and leads me through the fortress. We pass Shadowborn in the hallways—they press against the walls, heads bowed, avoiding his eyes. They're terrified of him.
They should be.
We reach a door covered in strange symbols that glow faintly blue. Kael pushes it open, revealing a circular room filled with mirrors. Hundreds of them, covering every wall, reflecting us from every angle.
"What is this place?" I ask.
"The truth room." Kael closes the door behind us. "Where illusions die."
He steps into the center of the room, and I watch as every mirror shows something different. In one, he's fully human. In another, fully monster. In a third, something in between. Each reflection shows a different version of him.
"What do you see?" he asks quietly.
I look at the real him, standing in front of me. The shadows cling to him like a second skin, but I can see through them—dark hair, silver eyes, strong features twisted by pain and rage and something that might be loneliness.
"I see both," I whisper. "Man and monster at the same time."
"Exactly." He sounds almost relieved. "That's why the magic chose you. You're a Truthseeker, Sera. You see things as they really are, not as they appear."
"I don't have magic," I say automatically. "Magic isn't real."
Kael laughs—that rusty sound again. "You just healed me by pulling life through a magical bond. You can see my true form when everyone else only sees the beast. And those marks on your arms? They only appear on Truthseekers."
I look down at the glowing symbols. They pulse softly with my heartbeat.
"This is crazy," I mutter. "I'm going crazy."
"You're not crazy." Kael moves closer. "Watch."
The shadows around him start to pull back, slowly, like curtains opening. I see him fully now—the man he was before the curse. Young, maybe mid-twenties when it happened. Handsome in a sharp, dangerous way. His eyes are sad, so sad it makes my chest hurt.
"This is who I was," he says. "Prince Kael Draven. Hundred years ago."
Then the shadows slam back, covering him completely. His form grows, darkens, becomes monstrous. Eyes blazing red, claws extended, a nightmare made flesh.
"And this is what I became."
The beast form holds for a moment, then flickers back to the half-form he usually wears—mostly human with shadows clinging to him.
"I've been trapped like this for a century," Kael says. "Every year, I lose more of myself. More of my humanity. In another decade, maybe two, there won't be a man left at all. Just the beast."
"That's horrible," I whisper.
"It is." He looks at me with those silver eyes. "But then you came. And when I touched you, when the magic bound us—I felt human again. For the first time in years. You make me remember who I was."
I don't know what to say. Part of me wants to feel sorry for him. The other part remembers my burning village.
"Rook said Elder Mordain summoned you," I say. "That there was a deal."
Kael's jaw tightens. "Yes. Ten years ago, your elder found an ancient summoning ritual. He called me and offered a trade—protection for his village in exchange for sacrifices. People no one would miss."
"And you agreed?" Horror floods through me.
"I had no choice!" The words burst out of him. "The curse binds me. When someone performs the ritual correctly, I have to obey. I tried to refuse, but the magic forced me. Every sacrifice Mordain demanded, I had to take."
"How many?" My voice sounds dead. "How many people died?"
"Over ten years? Forty-three." He looks away. "I killed forty-three innocent people because I couldn't break the curse."
I feel sick. "And my village? Why attack everyone?"
"That wasn't supposed to happen." Kael's voice drops to barely a whisper. "Mordain only asked for you. One sacrifice—the bride on her wedding night. But when I got there, when I saw you..." He stops.
"What?" I demand. "When you saw me, what?"
"I couldn't do it." He looks at me with raw pain in his eyes. "You were so scared, so brave, so alive. And I could see through the illusion Mordain had woven around you—the lie that you were willing, that you deserved this. I saw the truth. You were innocent. Betrayed by everyone you trusted."
Tears burn my eyes. "So why didn't you just leave?"
"Because Mordain had a backup plan. If I didn't kill you, the curse would kill the entire village instead. He designed it that way—one death or hundreds. He thought I'd choose you."
"But you didn't."
"No. I bonded you instead. Claimed you so completely that the curse recognized you as mine, not his to sacrifice. It broke his control." Kael's hands clench into fists. "But breaking the deal had consequences. The curse lashed out. It killed everyone in the village except those the bond protected—you and a few others the magic touched through you."
"Maya," I breathe. "My friend. She's alive because of the bond?"
"Yes. Anyone you cared about deeply enough got a mark of protection. Your father too, though he ran."
My head spins. "So you killed everyone to save me?"
"I didn't kill them. The curse did. I just... chose wrong." His voice breaks. "I should have let you die. One life for hundreds. But I couldn't. I looked at you and I couldn't."
We stand in silence, surrounded by mirrors showing different versions of the truth.
"Why?" I finally ask. "Why save me specifically?"
Kael steps closer, and I see something in his face that terrifies me more than his claws ever did.
"Because you saw me," he says simply. "Really saw me. Not the monster. Not the prince. Just... me. And I haven't been seen in a hundred years."
My heart pounds. The bond between us pulses, warm and insistent.
"That's not a good reason to doom a village," I say, but my voice shakes.
"I know." He doesn't look away. "I'm a monster, Sera. I've done monstrous things. I'll do more monstrous things to keep you safe. That's who I am now."
"I should hate you."
"You should." He agrees. "But you don't. I can feel it through the bond. You're angry, yes. Scared, yes. But you don't hate me."
He's right, and I hate that he's right.
"The bond is making me feel things," I say desperately. "It's not real."
"The bond doesn't create feelings. It only reveals them." Kael's eyes burn into mine. "You saved me earlier. You could have let me die, freed yourself. But you didn't."
"That's different. If you died, I died."
"You didn't know that would happen. Maven didn't tell you the bond works that way. You saved me because some part of you wanted to."
"Stop," I whisper.
"Why? Because it's true?" He moves even closer. "You feel it too. This pull between us. The bond recognized something that was already there."
"That's impossible. I just met you."
"Did you?" Kael's voice goes soft. "Or did you see me in your dreams? Feel me watching from the shadows? The bond started forming the moment Mordain named you as sacrifice. The magic was reaching for you for weeks."
My blood runs cold. "The nightmares. The feeling of being watched. That was you?"
"The curse, searching for its victim. But when I found you..." He stops. "When I finally saw you, I knew. You were supposed to be mine. Not as sacrifice. As something more."
"You're insane."
"Probably." He smiles, and it's sad and terrifying at once. "But I'm your monster now. And you're my Truthseeker. We're bound, Sera. Forever. You might as well accept it."
The door explodes inward.
A woman stands there—human, middle-aged, with wild gray hair and eyes that crackle with power. She looks at Kael, then at me, and her face goes pale.
"Oh no," she whispers. "He actually bonded her. Kael, you fool, do you know what you've done?"
Kael moves between me and the woman instantly. "Maven. What are you doing here?"
"Trying to stop a catastrophe." The woman—Maven—stares at me with something like horror. "That girl isn't just a Truthseeker, Kael. She's a Breaker."
"A what?" I ask.
Maven's eyes meet mine. "You don't just see through curses, child. You break them. And bonding yourself to the Beast King?" She laughs, but it sounds hysterical. "You just gave yourself the power to destroy him completely."