CHAPTER 10

Aria POV

"She's waking up."

The voice came from far away. Like it was underwater. Or maybe I was underwater.

"Give her space. Don't crowd her."

Another voice. Deeper. More commanding. I knew that voice.

I forced my eyes open. They felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each.

White ceiling above me. Soft bed underneath me. The smell of herbs and medicine filling my nose.

And two faces looking down at me. One with green eyes bright with worry. One with storm-blue eyes dark with relief.

"Orion?" My voice came out like sandpaper. "Darius?"

"She's awake." Orion's whole body sagged. Like he'd been holding his breath the whole time. "Thank the Goddess. She's finally awake."

I tried to sit up. Pain shot through my whole body. My side. My leg. My ear. Everywhere Vivian had torn into me.

A hand pressed me gently but firmly back down onto the pillows. Darius.

"Don't move," he said. "You're still healing."

"What happened?" I looked around, trying to piece things together. "Where am I?"

"The royal medical wing," Orion said. He was sitting right next to my bed. Like he hadn't moved in hours. "You passed out after your match with Vivian. You've been asleep for six hours."

Six hours. The trial. I sat up fast even though it hurt.

"Did I win? Am I out of the competition?"

"You won." Darius's mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "Very dramatically. That blast of power you released... no one has ever seen anything like it."

The power. That white light. I remembered the feeling. Like being filled with lightning.

"I don't know what that was," I said. "I didn't mean to do it. I don't even know how I did it."

"We know." Orion took my hand in his. His grip was warm and strong. "But people are asking a lot of questions now."

I looked between them. Saw the worry in both their eyes.

"You shouldn't be here," I said. "Both of you. In my room. People will talk even more."

"People are already talking," Darius said. "We told the healers we wanted to personally check on a valued competitor. That you showed exceptional skill and we wanted to honor that. That's the official story."

"Do people believe it?"

Neither of them answered. That silence was all the answer I needed.

The door to the medical wing opened. All three of us turned to look.

Seraphina Ravencrest walked in like she owned the place. Silver hair gleaming. Ancient eyes fixed on me. She moved with quiet authority. The kind that made even kings pay attention.

"Everyone out," she said calmly. "I need to examine the girl. Alone."

Orion stood up fast. "We're not leaving her—"

"I wasn't asking, Your Majesty." Her gaze didn't blink. Didn't waver. "What I have to say is for her ears only. You can wait outside the door."

The kings looked at each other. Some kind of silent twin conversation passed between them.

"Five minutes," Darius said finally. "Then we're coming back in."

"That will be plenty of time."

They left. The door closed with a soft click.

I was alone with the most powerful witch in the kingdom.

Seraphina pulled a chair to my bedside and sat down. She studied me like I was a puzzle she was trying to solve.

"You don't know what you are, do you, child?"

"I'm a competitor in the Royal Competition. I'm a Blackwood."

"You are so much more than that." She leaned closer. Her silver eyes seemed to see right through me. "I know about the mate bond. I know you are connected to both kings. Something that hasn't happened naturally in three hundred years. And I know about your wolf. White as fresh snow. Silver-eyed. The mark of the First Luna's bloodline."

My heart stopped beating. Just stopped.

"How do you know all that?"

"I have been watching you since the moment you arrived at this castle. Watching. Waiting. Hoping I was wrong about what I sensed in you." She let out a heavy sigh. "I wasn't wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

"The curse on the royal bloodline. Do you know about it?"

"Orion told me some of it. If they claim their mate, one goes mad with fire and one loses his heart to ice. The kingdom falls."

"That is the simple version. The version everyone knows." Seraphina's old eyes went sad. "The truth is much more complicated. And much more hopeful."

"Hopeful? What do you mean hopeful?"

"The curse was cast three hundred years ago by a witch named Morgana. She was my ancestor." Seraphina's voice dropped low. "She loved the first Werewolf King with all her heart. But he rejected her. Chose a political marriage instead of love. In her grief and rage, she cursed his bloodline forever."

"So there's no hope. The kings can never claim me."

"That is what everyone has always believed." Seraphina leaned forward. Her eyes were bright now. Intense. "But there is a way out. A loophole in the curse. Kept secret for three hundred years."

"What loophole?"

"Morgana was powerful. The most powerful witch of her time. But she was also the daughter of the First Luna. And she built a failsafe into the curse. A way to break it, if the right person ever came along."

"The right person?"

"A descendant of the First Luna. Someone with white wolf blood flowing through their veins." Her ancient eyes burned into mine. "Someone exactly like you."

The room seemed to spin around me. "You're saying I can break the curse?"

"I am saying you are the only one who can." Her voice was heavy now. Sad. "But there is a price, child. There is always a price for magic this powerful."

"What price?"

"The curse can only be broken during a blood moon. In the sacred circle where it was first cast. If a descendant of the First Luna willingly bonds with both kings and then..." She stopped. Her old face twisted with pain.

"And then what? Tell me."

"And then gives her blood. Her life." Seraphina's eyes filled with tears. "The curse requires a sacrifice to break it, Aria. The life of the one who would end it."

The words hit me like a fist to the stomach. All the air left my lungs.

"I would have to die."

"Yes."

I stared at her. My mind raced so fast I couldn't catch a single thought.

All this time. I had wondered why the Moon Goddess gave me two mates. Why I was different. Why any of this was happening to me.

Now I finally knew.

I wasn't special. I wasn't blessed.

I was a sacrifice.

"When," I heard myself ask. My voice sounded far away. Like someone else was talking. "When is the next blood moon?"

Seraphina stood up slowly. Her old bones creaked. Her face was full of pain.

"Six months, child. The next blood moon is in six months."

Six months. That was all I had.

Six months to live. Six months to love. Six months to figure out if I was willing to die for two men I had barely begun to know.

Two men who were my mates. Two men who couldn't claim me without destroying themselves and everyone around them.

Unless I died to save them.

Seraphina walked to the door. Then she stopped. Turned back to look at me one last time.

"The question you need to ask yourself, Aria, is this."

She looked at me with those ancient, knowing eyes.

"Are you willing to die to save the men you love?"