The monster wasn't supposed to reach me.
But he did.
The chain binding him to the altar should have yanked him back like a rabid beast.
It didn't.
Instead, it coiled around his wrist like a snake in heat—glowing, alive, almost... willing.
He hovered over me, breath brushing my cheek. "The curse is thinning," he murmured. "Can you feel it?"
I could.
It pulsed under my skin like a second heartbeat.
Behind him, the king's magic surged. "Don't touch her."
The monster's lips twisted into something halfway between a smirk and a snarl. "She's not yours to protect anymore."
"I bound her soul to mine," the king said, voice laced with ancient fury. "And I'll burn you to salt before I let you undo it."
My heart slammed against my ribs. Bound my soul?
"You what?" I whispered, stepping back from them both.
Their eyes snapped to me, each glowing with power. Each demanding something I didn't yet understand.
"What does that mean?" I asked, louder now. "What did you do to me?"
The king flinched. It was the smallest movement, but I caught it.
"I had to," he said softly. "To keep you from dying again."
"You didn't ask me."
"You were dead!"
His voice cracked—and suddenly he wasn't the ruthless, divine monarch standing over empires. He was something far more dangerous: a man who had loved me once.
Maybe still did.
The monster looked between us and laughed, low and wicked. "And they say I'm the cursed one."
I turned on him. "What do you want from me?"
"Nothing," he said, stepping closer again, eyes glowing with violet hunger. "Everything."
"I don't understand—"
"You will."
He raised his hand—not in violence, but reverence. His fingers hovered at my cheek. I should've moved. I didn't.
"You were mine before the gods tore you apart," he said. "And before this self-righteous king locked your soul in golden chains."
He was right.
I could feel it.
There was a memory clawing its way through my bones—violent and tender all at once.
A kiss.
A kiss that tasted like blood and promises. A kiss stolen between wars, under a sky screaming with lightning.
His kiss.
I gasped. My knees buckled.
The monster caught me before I fell, his hand wrapping around my waist. His skin was fever-warm. His magic thrummed like a storm.
The king moved instantly. Magic exploded behind me—sunfire and fury. "Let her go."
"She remembers," the monster murmured, staring into my eyes. "You feel it, don't you, Vaeleria? The pull. The truth."
I shook my head, but it wasn't denial. It was panic.
Because I did feel it.
And when his mouth dipped close to mine, my lips parted without thinking.
I didn't know who kissed who first. Maybe we met in the middle. Maybe it had always been written.
But when his lips brushed mine—
The runes across the chamber shattered.
Power surged out of me, blinding and wild. The floor cracked. The torches blew out.
And I kissed him like I had a thousand years to make up for.
Until the king's roar split the room like a blade.
The kiss broke. The moment didn't.
Because something else had broken.
The curse.
And as the runes faded, the monster smiled against my lips.
"The seal is gone," he whispered. "And now… so is your protection."
To Be Continued…