Sera's POV
"Don't go down there."
Kael's voice stops me at the top of the stairs. He's already shifted to full beast form, shadows swirling around him like a storm.
"He has Maya!" I spin to face him. "I can't just leave her."
"It's a trap." His red eyes burn into mine. "Damon wants you. He'll kill your friend whether you surrender or not."
"You don't know that!"
"Yes, I do." Kael moves between me and the stairs. "I've lived a hundred years, Sera. I know how men like him operate. He's a predator. He wants you to feel helpless so you'll break."
"Then what do I do?" My voice cracks. "Just let her die?"
"No." Kael's jaw tightens. "You let me handle it."
"By killing everyone? That's your solution to everything!"
"Yes." He doesn't apologize. "That's what monsters do. We kill the things that threaten what's ours."
Before I can argue, Maven appears at the bottom of the stairs, breathing hard. "They've surrounded the fortress. At least three hundred soldiers with holy weapons. Kael, you can't fight them all."
"Watch me," Kael growls.
"Wait." I grab his arm—or try to. My hand passes through shadows. "Just wait. Let me talk to him. Maybe I can negotiate."
"Negotiate?" Kael's laugh is bitter. "With the man who murdered three wives? Who bought you like property? Who's holding your friend hostage?"
"I have to try!" Tears stream down my face. "Maya didn't ask for any of this. She doesn't deserve to die because of me."
Kael stares at me for a long moment. Then he shifts back to his half-form so I can actually touch him. He cups my face in his hands, and they're surprisingly gentle.
"If you go down there," he says quietly, "I'm coming with you. And if he tries to take you, I will burn his entire army to ash. Understood?"
I nod.
We walk down together, Maven following close behind. The fortress gates are open, and Damon's army fills the courtyard. Holy weapons glow with light that makes the Shadowborn hiss and retreat to the shadows.
Damon stands in the center, looking exactly like I remember—cold eyes, cruel smile, expensive clothes. Maya kneels beside him in chains that burn her skin where they touch.
"Maya!" I start forward, but Kael's arm blocks me.
"There's my runaway bride." Damon's smile widens. "You've caused quite a bit of trouble, Sera. Running off with monsters on our wedding night. Very dramatic."
"You mean the night my village was massacred?" I shoot back. "The night I was supposed to be sacrificed?"
Damon's smile doesn't waver. "I have no idea what you're talking about. All I know is that you were kidnapped by the Beast King. I'm here to rescue you."
"Liar," Kael snarls.
"Ah, the beast speaks." Damon looks at Kael with barely concealed disgust. "Tell me, monster, what's the price for my bride? Gold? Land? I'm willing to negotiate."
"She's not for sale," Kael says flatly.
"Everything's for sale." Damon gestures to Maya. "Even friendship, apparently. Your little friend here told us exactly where to find you. For the right price, of course."
I look at Maya. She's crying, shaking her head frantically. "No! Sera, I didn't—I swear I didn't—"
"She didn't," Maven says suddenly. "She was captured. They tortured the information out of her."
Damon shrugs. "Details. The point is, we're here. And you have a choice, Sera. Come with me peacefully, or I start cutting pieces off your friend until you do."
The bond flares with Kael's rage. "Touch her and die."
"Brave words for a cursed beast." Damon pulls out a knife that glows with holy light. He presses it to Maya's throat. She whimpers. "But let's test that, shall we?"
"Stop!" I shout. "I'll come. Just let her go."
"Sera, no—" Kael grabs my arm.
I look up at him. "I have to. You know I have to."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"You can't." Maven steps forward, her eyes sad. "The holy weapons will kill you the moment you step outside the fortress wards. Kael, you're trapped here."
Horror floods through me. "What?"
"The fortress is cursed ground," Maven explains. "It's the only place Kael is truly protected. Outside these walls, those weapons can destroy him."
Damon laughs. "Isn't that convenient? The monster can't follow. So, Sera, what will it be? Your friend's life, or your freedom?"
I'm shaking. This is impossible. If I go, I leave Kael. If I stay, Maya dies.
"There's one more thing you should know," Maven says quietly. "Before you decide."
"What?" I demand.
Maven looks at Damon with something like pity. "Your sister is here. Lyra. She's with his army."
My world stops. "What?"
"She came to make sure you're captured." Maven's voice is gentle. "She's the one who told Damon where to find us. She's been working with him and Elder Mordain from the beginning."
"No." I shake my head. "Lyra wouldn't—"
"She would." A new voice rings out.
Lyra steps forward from the crowd of soldiers. She looks beautiful, unharmed, smiling. And in that smile, I see everything—the jealousy, the hatred, the satisfaction.
"Hello, little sister," she says. "Miss me?"
"You." The word comes out choked. "You did this. All of this."
"Of course I did." Lyra moves to stand beside Damon, taking his arm like they're a couple. "You always got everything, Sera. The beauty, the attention, even when you had nothing to offer. When Damon showed interest in you instead of me, I knew something had to be done."
"So you tried to have me killed?" I can barely breathe.
"I tried to have you sacrificed," Lyra corrects. "There's a difference. It's more... noble. Mordain promised me that your death would bring prosperity to the village. And I'd get to marry Damon and restore our family name." She shrugs. "Everyone wins. Except you, of course."
"But the village was destroyed," I whisper.
"Yes, unfortunate." Lyra doesn't sound sorry at all. "But that was your fault for not dying properly. If you'd just accepted your fate, none of those people would have suffered."
Kael roars, and the sound shakes the fortress. Shadowborn pour from every doorway, ready to fight.
"Easy, beast." Damon presses the knife harder against Maya's throat. Blood trickles down. "You attack, she dies. Then we kill every creature in this fortress with our holy weapons. Your choice."
"Sera." Kael's voice is desperate. "Don't do this. Please."
I look at him—my monster, my protector, the only one who's been honest with me from the start. Then I look at Maya, terrified and bleeding. At Lyra, smiling with triumph. At Damon, cruel and confident.
The bond pulses between us, warm and alive. I can feel Kael's fear, his rage, his desperation to save me.
"I'm sorry," I whisper to him.
I step forward, toward Damon, my hands raised in surrender.
"NO!" Kael lunges, but Maven throws up a magical barrier that stops him.
"Let her go," Maven says quietly. "This is her choice."
I walk across the courtyard, each step feeling like death. Damon smiles wider with each step I take.
"Good girl," he says when I reach him. "See? That wasn't so hard."
He releases Maya, shoving her toward the Shadowborn. She crawls away, sobbing.
Damon grabs my arm, his grip bruising. "Now then. Let's go home, wife."
"I'm not your wife," I say.
"You will be." He pulls me toward his horse. "Once I break whatever spell that beast put on you. Magic can always be undone with the right... persuasion."
Behind us, Kael is screaming my name, fighting against Maven's barrier like a wild animal.
The bond stretches between us, pulling tighter and tighter.
But then something happens.
The marks on my arms start to glow—not the soft blue they usually are, but bright, burning gold. Heat floods through my body.
Damon yelps and releases me, staring at his hand. It's burned, like he touched fire.
"What—" he starts.
The bond snaps.
Not breaks—transforms. The connection between me and Kael explodes outward in a wave of golden light that throws everyone backward.
When the light fades, I'm standing in the center of the courtyard, power crackling around me like lightning.
And I finally understand what Maven meant.
I'm not just a Truthseeker. I'm not just a Breaker.
I'm a Curse-Weaver.
And I just rewrote the bond to set myself free.
Kael stares at me from across the courtyard, shock and horror on his face. "Sera, what did you do?"
I look down at my hands. The marks are still there, but different now. Changing. Evolving.
"I broke the rules," I whisper.
Then I collapse, and everything goes black.
But before darkness takes me, I hear one more thing.
Lyra's scream.
"She's glowing! What's happening to her?"
And Damon's voice, terrified for the first time.
"Get back! Everyone GET BACK! She's—"
The last thing I see before I pass out is Kael breaking through Maven's barrier and running toward me, his eyes blazing silver.
And behind him, the fortress itself is changing—the darkness lifting, the shadows pulling back.
Like the curse is finally, after a hundred years, beginning to break.