CHAPTER FIVE — “Between Dreams and Desire”

That night, sleep didn’t come easily.

Seraphina lay still in her bed, blanket pulled over her chest, her eyes fixed on the ceiling like it might start whispering answers. The room was quiet—too quiet. No creaking pipes. No distant voices from other dorms. Even the wind outside had gone still.

But her thoughts were louder than any storm.

Lucan had stepped into her nightmare.

He had taken the curse onto himself.

Not to frighten her.

Not to manipulate.

Just… to shield her.

No one had ever done that for her before.

And she wasn’t sure what that said about her—or about him.

She turned over, closed her eyes, and tried to push the memories down.

But they didn’t sink.

They hovered.

He’d told her she didn’t have to love him again.

He only wanted to protect her.

And part of her—a part she wasn’t ready to admit out loud—wanted him to stay.

Eventually, exhaustion won.

Her muscles eased. Her breath slowed.

And this time, when sleep took her, it didn’t feel like falling.

It felt like arriving.

—

She landed on soft grass beneath a silver sky.

The world around her was gentle. Still.

Above her, stars blinked lazily across a velvet-blue sky, scattered like dust across a canvas of quiet.

Lanterns floated through the air like slow-moving fireflies, each one casting a soft glow that didn’t belong to any world she knew.

Not real—but safe.

A silver lake stretched out beside her, still as glass.

The air smelled like wildflowers after rain. And something else—something older.

Memory.

Lucan stood near the water’s edge, barefoot in dark clothes, his sleeves rolled, his hands tucked into his pockets.

His wings weren’t there. But she didn’t need them to know it was him.

He didn’t turn when he spoke.

“I built this place for you.”

Seraphina took a careful step forward.

“You knew I’d come?”

“I always hope you will.”

She joined him at the shoreline, eyes on the way the water shimmered without movement.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“My dream,” he said. “The one I keep for myself.”

His voice was softer here. Not haunted. Not weighed down.

“I come here between lives,” he added. “It’s the only place the curse doesn’t follow.”

Seraphina looked around again.

Everything felt too perfect.

And yet—she didn’t want to leave.

“Do you bring all your soulmates here?” she teased, but the words were more fragile than funny.

Lucan smiled—not a grin. Just a quiet shift.

“There’s only ever been one,” he said. “And she keeps finding her way back.”

Her heart thudded once, hard.

She looked down.

“How many times have I died?” she asked.

His smile faded.

“Seven.”

He reached out and touched the surface of the lake with one hand.

The water rippled.

Then cleared.

Like a mirror.

Seraphina stepped closer.

And saw herself.

Not her as she was now—but another version. One older. Dressed in red. Blood on her lips. Eyes fluttering closed as she lay cradled in Lucan’s arms.

He was crying in the memory.

Whispering words she couldn’t hear.

But she could read the shape of them.

I’ll find you again. I swear it.

The vision faded.

Lucan stood still, his hand wet with memory.

She looked away. “That really happened?”

“Yes.”

He turned toward her. “It was the night everything ended the first time. You called my name as you died.”

Seraphina didn’t speak.

The air felt heavier now. Less dreamlike.

She glanced at her wrist.

The rune glowed again—soft gold this time. No pain. Just… awareness.

Lucan noticed.

“May I?” he asked.

She hesitated.

Then held out her arm.

He placed his fingers over the rune.

A golden light spread from the mark—up her wrist, across her arm, straight into her chest.

She gasped.

Not in fear.

It wasn’t burning her. It was waking her.

Something deep inside her—a part that had been hiding for too long—opened its eyes.

The mark pulsed once.

Lucan’s eyes locked on hers.

Then he leaned in.

And kissed her.

The world didn’t spin.

It stilled.

Her hands curled into his shirt. His fingers brushed her jaw, light as breath.

The kiss was warm. Careful.

Not desperate.

But full of something real.

Like remembering.

Like choosing.

When they pulled apart, a golden thread stretched between them—shimmering from heart to heart, delicate and alive.

Seraphina reached out and touched it.

“What is this?” she whispered.

Lucan’s eyes flickered with something close to wonder.

“The bond,” he said. “You’ve begun to awaken fully.”

For a moment, Seraphina forgot everything else.

The school. The curse. The warnings.

For the first time in what felt like forever—she wasn’t afraid.

Until the sky cracked open.

—

Without warning, the dream began to fracture.

The stars blinked out.

The lanterns scattered, dropping into the lake like dying embers.

The silver water turned to ash.

Lucan’s wings burst from his back in a flash of black.

He stepped in front of her instinctively, shielding her.

And from the sky above—

Something descended.

It wasn’t a man.

It wasn’t a creature.

It was a presence.

Twisted. Massive. Built of bone and smoke and something far older than either of them.

Its eyes burned like molten iron.

It hovered above the lake, sucking light from the dream itself.

Seraphina stumbled back. “What is that?”

Lucan’s jaw clenched. “The Sleepless One.”

She stared. “The curse?”

Lucan nodded. “The original form of it. The thing your magic created in the first life. It’s not just a spell anymore. It’s become something else.”

The Sleepless One let out a low growl—not in language, but in feeling.

Hate.

Lucan spread his wings wider.

“Run,” he told her.

“No,” she said, her voice unsteady.

Lucan turned sharply. “You can’t fight it yet—”

“Yes I can,” she whispered.

Because something had changed.

Her rune was glowing again.

Brighter now. Not red.

Not gold.

White-hot.

Pure.

And for the first time, she felt it—her magic.

It wasn’t wild.

It wasn’t foreign.

It was hers.

Ancient. Buried. Fierce.

It thrummed inside her veins like it had been waiting all along.

She stepped beside Lucan.

Not behind him.

Next to him.

“I know who I was,” she said, eyes locked on the thing in the sky. “But I choose who I’ll be.”