Mag-log inLumian’s POVArthur didn’t look back when he left. That should have felt like a victory.I watched him go until he was gone from sight. Only then did I turn back toward the doorway of the room she was hiding in.She was already waiting. Her posture was rigid, her expression tight with barely contained fury. The moment the door closed behind me, her control snapped.“You let him walk away,” she said. “You didn’t kill him.”The words struck harder than I expected.I opened my mouth to answer, but Arthur’s voice echoed in my head instead. You know she isn’t who she says she is.Doubt crept in. For a second, I felt it shift inside me, heavy and unsettling.Maybe Arthur had been telling the truth. Liz would never speak to anyone like this. She was kind and loving.This was everything I had ever wanted. Liz back. In front of me. Looking at me like I mattered. I wasn’t about to let doubt take that away. Arthur was just jealous that not even his title could keep her.“If I had killed him,”
Liz’s POVI stood under the warm water of the shower, letting it run over my wrinkled, broken skin as I stared down at my hands. They shook, but the longer I stared at them, the easier it was to see where the magic had healed it.Leaning back against the cold, hard wall, I closed my eyes, and images, no memories began to fade in.At first, they were gentle.Arthur in Lumian’s office. The moment he saw me. The way his whole face changed like he’d forgotten how to breathe. The way his eyes stayed on me even while everyone else argued. Like I was the only thing in the room that mattered.A smile grew on my dry, wrinkled lips as I watched it all unfold.I don’t know how I didn’t see it then.How stupid I was. The way the truth was right in front of me, and I still couldn’t see it. I could see it so clearly now. The way he looked at me. My heart began to ache as I realised just how much time I had wasted.And then it wasn’t a memory anymore.Their eyes dragged over me slowly, like they w
Arthur’s POVEvery inch of me screamed to go with Liz.To follow her down the hall. To make sure she made it to her room. To sit beside her bed and watch her breathe until sleep finally claimed her. But I stayed.The doors to the library shut, and something in my chest went with it. I stood there for a moment, staring at the door.Slowly, I turned and crossed the room. The fight drained out of me with every step, the adrenaline bleeding away until all that was left was bone-deep exhaustion. I sat down in the chair near the table and leaned forward, elbows braced on my knees, hands clasped so tightly my fingers ached.I let out a slow deep breath and droping my eyes to the floor. I had faced wars, rebellions, and monsters that could tear kingdoms apart without flinching. None of them had ever made me feel like this.Powerless.If I failed as Alpha King, lands would burn. People would suffer. History would remember my name for the wrong reasons as the alpha king who failed.But if I fa
Liz’s POVThe warmth in my hand grew stronger. It wasn’t wild or explosive. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t burn. It settled. It had finally found its place after being lost for too long. Slowly, I opened my eyes.My fingers trembled as a faint glow gathered in my palm. I sucked in a breath, afraid that even breathing too hard might scare it away.“Oh…” Alice said from beside me.The light pulsed as if it were one with my heart, and as it did, every inch of me just felt right.For the first time, I didn’t feel empty.I stared at the light, barely blinking, afraid that if I looked away, it would vanish.No one spoke.The room felt suspended in time, every breath held, every movement stilled. Even the candles seemed to burn more softly, their flames leaning toward my hand.“I… I’m doing it,” I whispered, more to myself than to them.My skin.My gaze dropped to my hand, and my breath hitched.The scars, those deep, ugly lines, dark and brittle, were fading. Not disappearing all at once, but s
Liz’s POVArthur still wasn’t back.The worry had been circling my mind for hours, not just for his safety, but also as to why he had left. He’s avoiding you.Angelica’s voice repeated that over and over again.We had been in the library for hours. Long enough for the candles to burn low and be replaced, long enough for my body to ache in places I didn’t even know could ache and for exhaustion to seep into my bones and settle there.Melissa stood near the long oak table, several books open in front of her, pages marked with sticky notes and ink-smudged hands.“We’ve gone through everything written on curse transference,” she said, more to herself than to me. “And everything on inherited bindings. And everything on soul rot,” she let out a long, slow, frustrated breath. “There’s nothing.”Alice straightened from where she’d been crouched beside a stack of books. “Nothing helpful,” she corrected gently. “That doesn’t mean anything at all.”Melissa rubbed the back of her neck. “Angelic
Arthur’s POVI should’ve torn this place apart the second I walked in.Every instinct in me wanted to—walls, doors, throats, anything standing between me and ending Angelica's life. But I forced myself to wait, because losing control wouldn’t end this.The office door creaked.Lumian entered.And her scent hit me. He was covered in it.My hands curled into fists so tight they shook.He froze when he saw my face.“Arthur… is something wrong,” he said.I stepped forward once.“Tell me where she is.”Lumian blinked slowly. “Liz?” he asked. “Is everything okay? Did something happen?”I could hear the mocking tone in his voice that he wasn't trying very hard to hide. I stepped toward him, cold fury tightening every muscle in my body. His hand slid into his pocket.“Lumian,” I warned.He kept moving.I didn’t wait.I slammed him into the wall, ripping his hand free and tearing the knife out of his grip before he even realised what happened. The blade clattered onto the ground.Kill him.







