Her eyes locked with mine—dark, defiant, untamed. A storm barely contained. There was fire in her gaze, a blaze that should've been extinguished long ago. And yet… here she stood.
And here I was.
Drawn to her like a moth to the very flame meant to destroy me.
I stepped forward, casting my shadow across her. She didn't flinch. She never did. That defiance—it was maddening. Beautiful. Terrifying. She wasn't just resisting fate; she was resisting me. And I couldn't look away.
"You think you can change the course of fate?"
"That you can defy the gods… defy me?"
The words left my mouth like ash, rough and bitter. More for myself than her.
She met my stare, unblinking.
"I don't care about gods or fate," she said, her voice calm, clear, utterly unwavering.
"I just want to live."
The truth of it hit like a blade. Sharp. Deep.
She should've broken by now. Any other mortal would have. But she stood unbowed, fire still burning in her veins. And I—gods forgive me—I didn't want to break her anymore.
I wanted to understand her.
What made her fight so fiercely? What fueled this rebellion in her soul?
And why did it shake something loose inside me?
For the first time in a thousand lifetimes, I hesitated.
Her heartbeat pounded in the air between us—rapid, wild—matching the strange rhythm in my own chest. I felt it. Deep. A tether pulling tighter with every breath. A force neither divine nor mortal, but something… in between.
"You really think you can escape this?" I asked, quieter now. The edge in my voice softened, replaced by something raw. Almost… pleading.
"The gods' will is unyielding. I am merely the instrument."
She shivered, but it wasn't from fear. Her breath came fast, shallow, white fog curling into the cold night.
"I'll never stop running," she said. "Not from them. Not from the curse that's stalked my bloodline. I've buried everyone I ever loved because of it. I won't be next."
And just like that, I understood.
Her defiance wasn't reckless—it was sacred. A vow. A legacy.
She wasn't challenging the gods.
She was challenging me.
And I no longer wanted to win.
I took one step closer. The space between us evaporated. We were nearly touching, the heat of her defiance bleeding into my skin. The air sparked—static, electric, charged with something ancient and inevitable.
She wasn't just a complication.
She was a reckoning.
And for the first time in all my endless existence, I wondered if this was a test—not of her will, but of my own. The gods had forged me into a weapon, a tool of obedience. But standing here, face-to-face with this beautiful, stubborn mortal, I felt the weight of choice pressing in.
She was more than a target.
She was a chance.
A chance to break the chains the gods wrapped around my soul.
And for the first time in centuries, I didn't know what came next.
Would I claim her?
Or would she claim me?