Chapter 12

"If you don't tell us who hurt you, we'll find out ourselves. And trust me, our methods won't be gentle."

Orion paced the length of Aria's room like a caged animal. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles had gone white. Every few seconds, a growl slipped out of him, low and dangerous.

Darius stood by the door, arms crossed. He hadn't moved since they brought Aria back. Hadn't spoken much either. But his silence said plenty.

Aria sat on the edge of her bed, holding a cool cloth to her face. The healer they'd quietly called had given her salve for the bruise, but it would still take a day or two to fade completely.

"I told you," she said. "I fell."

"And I told you that's a lie." Orion stopped pacing and faced her. "You think we can't tell the difference between a fall and a hit? I've seen enough fights to know what a fist does to a face."

"It was an open palm, actually," Aria said without thinking.

The room went silent.

Orion's eyes went gold again. Darius pushed off the door and took two steps forward.

"Who?" Darius asked. Just one word. Quiet. Deadly.

Aria closed her eyes. Stupid. She should've kept her mouth shut.

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me," Orion said, and his voice cracked on the last word. Not from weakness. From how hard he was holding himself together.

Aria looked at him. Really looked. This was a man who could command armies, who could shift into a wolf the size of a horse, who had power most people couldn't even dream of. And right now, he looked like her pain was breaking him apart.

"Orion..." she started.

"Is it someone in this castle?" Darius asked.

She didn't answer. Which was an answer in itself.

Darius nodded once. "We'll narrow it down."

"Stop. Both of you, just stop." Aria stood up and the cloth fell from her face. The bruise was purple and swollen, ugly against her pale skin. "You can't go around investigating this. You're supposed to be neutral. I'm supposed to be just another competitor to you."

"You were never just another competitor," Orion said.

"Then what am I?"

The question hung between them. Heavy. Loaded. Neither king spoke for a long moment.

Then Darius said, "You're the woman we can't have. And it's killing us."

Aria felt her chest tighten. The bond hummed between them, all three of them, filling the room with heat and longing and something that felt like home.

"Stay," she said before she could stop herself. "Tonight. Both of you. Just... stay."

Orion looked at Darius. Something passed between them. Some silent conversation that only twins could have.

Orion moved first. He sat on the bed beside her and gently pulled her against his chest. His body was warm. Not just warm. Hot. Like standing too close to a fire that you never wanted to leave.

Darius sat on her other side. His hand found hers. His fingers were cool, his grip steady and certain. Where Orion was chaos, Darius was calm. Together, they were everything.

"We can't claim you," Darius said quietly. "You need to understand why."

Aria leaned back into Orion's arms and looked up at Darius. "Then tell me. Tell me everything."

Orion pressed his lips to her hair. "We've known about the curse since we were twelve. Our mother told us on our birthday. She sat us down and said, 'You will share a mate. And if you claim her, one of you will go mad and the other will lose the ability to love. And together, you will destroy this kingdom.'"

"We watched our mother cry that day," Darius added. "The only time I've ever seen her cry."

"She made us promise," Orion continued. "Promise that when we found our mate, we would let her go. For the good of the kingdom. For our own survival."

Aria's throat felt tight. "You were twelve."

"Yes."

"That's not fair. You were children."

Orion laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Fairness isn't something kings get to expect."

Darius's thumb traced circles on her palm. "We spent the next eleven years preparing. Training ourselves to rule alone. To need no one. We built walls around ourselves so strong that nothing could get through."

"And then you walked into that dining hall," Orion said. "And every wall came down."

Aria turned in his arms to face him. His green eyes were bright, almost glowing. She reached up and touched his jaw.

"I'm not going to pretend I understand everything about this curse," she said. "But I'm not going to walk away from you either."

"You should," Darius said.

"Probably. But I won't."

They didn't fully mate that night. They'd agreed on that, all three of them, without saying it. Claiming—the bite, the full bond—that was the trigger. That was what would activate the curse.

But they could have everything else.

Orion kissed her first. Slow, then not slow at all. His hands tangled in her hair, his mouth hot and desperate. He kissed like he was drowning and she was air.

When he pulled back, Darius was there. His kiss was different. Controlled. Deep. He kissed like he was memorizing her, like he was cataloguing every sound she made and storing it somewhere safe.

Between them, Aria felt something unlock inside her chest. Something she'd kept locked away her whole life.

She felt wanted. Not just useful. Not just tolerated. Wanted.

They fell asleep in a tangle of limbs. Orion at her back, radiating heat. Darius at her front, his cool forehead pressed against hers. Their arms overlapped around her, and for the first time in her life, Aria felt completely safe.

Sometime in the dark, she woke up.

Darius was still asleep, but Orion's eyes were open. He was watching her in the moonlight that came through the window. His expression was soft, unguarded—nothing like the fierce king the world saw.

"Go back to sleep," he whispered.

"Can't."

He smiled, just barely. "Me either."

They lay there in silence for a moment.

"Orion?"

"Hmm?"

"What happens if we never find a way to break the curse? What happens to us?"

His jaw tightened. "Then we live like this. Stolen hours. Hidden moments. And when the competition ends, you go home, and we choose a Luna we don't love."

"That sounds like torture."

"It would be." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "But at least we wouldn't lose you."

Darius stirred. His eyes opened, slow and alert, like he'd never really been asleep at all.

"Stop talking about losing each other," he murmured. "We'll find a way."

"You don't know that," Aria said.

"I know that I've solved every problem I've ever faced. This one will be no different."

"This one might kill me, Darius."

Silence. The kind that filled rooms and pressed against walls.

"What do you mean?" Orion asked.

Aria bit her lip. She hadn't meant to say that. Not yet. Not now.

"Nothing. Forget it."

"Aria." Darius's voice was sharp. "What did Seraphina tell you?"

"Not tonight. Please."

They let it go. But she could feel it in the air between them. Questions. Worry. The beginning of a fear that would only grow.

Darius shifted closer. His hand came up to her neck, his thumb tracing the spot just below her ear. The spot where a claiming bite would go.

His touch was feather-light. Barely there. But it burned all the same.

"I would burn this kingdom to the ground," he whispered, "if it meant I could make you mine."

Aria's breath caught.

And somewhere deep in the castle, in a room full of ancient books and older secrets, Seraphina Ravencrest lit a candle and opened a journal that hadn't been touched in three hundred years. Because the girl was stronger than expected. And the curse was running out of time.