The throne room reeked of iron, incense, and centuries-old control—a thick, cloying presence that stuck to the back of the throat like soot and never quite let you forget who ruled here. This was not a place built for reverence—it was engineered for submission, designed not as a sanctuary but as a stage for one man’s domination. The walls, carved with ancient runes and painted with blood-red frescoes of past conquests, loomed like silent judges over everyone who dared to enter. It was cold, not just in temperature, but in spirit—freezing in a way that crept under the skin, into the bone, and whispered that no one left this place unchanged. Every torch along the walls flickered with a strange, bluish flame, casting distorted shadows that slithered across the obsidian floor like ghosts summoned to bear witness. It wasn’t merely a room—it was a declaration, a monument to Sebastian’s rule, his madness, and his desire to strip the soul from those who defied him until all that remained
The pain didn’t creep in—it struck like lightning, sudden and unforgiving, ripping through my spine before I could brace myself. One moment I was reaching—desperately clawing inward, praying to feel even the faintest flicker of my wolf beneath my skin—and the next, my body betrayed me. The cursed wolfband coiled tighter around my wrist, glowing with that sickly blue light, and then the agony erupted, searing through my veins like molten metal. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even whimper. The pain didn’t ask permission—it devoured.My knees hit the cold stone floor with a brutal thud, and my vision blurred as the silent scream burned my throat. I bit down hard, jaw trembling, until I tasted the bitter rush of blood. My fingers clawed blindly for the wall, nails scraping down the rough surface as I fought to stay upright, to stay present, to not collapse entirely. But the pain… It was a punishment. A reminder. And it was winning.It never faded—not really. It just retreated like a
He didn’t throw me in the dungeons. He gave me a room—with windows. That’s how I knew something was wrong.It wasn’t the light streaming in through sheer curtains or the distant scent of honeysuckle that disturbed me most. It was the absence of rot. No iron chains digging into my wrists, no damp stone floors leeching warmth from my skin. Just silence. Dangerous silence. I sat up slowly, every muscle alert. My body didn’t ache like it should after the last confrontation. The wolfband was still locked tight around my wrist, its silver grooves faintly humming, suppressing what little pulse of power stirred inside me. But the bruises were gone. The bleeding had stopped. That terrified me more than the pain ever did.I scanned the chamber. Too clean. Too staged. A fire crackled in the hearth. A table had been set, not lavishly, but with deliberate care—a bowl of steaming broth, fresh bread, a carafe of water. Candles burned in sconces along the walls. A bed with a velvet throw stood
Killian's POV The scent hit me first—long before the piercing scream shattered the silence and reverberated through the cold, damp stone corridors of my prison. It was a scent that clawed at the very core of my being, sharp and metallic, heavy with the bitter tang of fresh blood that lingered in the air like a dark promise of violence and desperation. But beneath that familiar scent lay something deeper—something ancient and raw, almost primal, stirring memories buried deep in my soul, the scent of her essence entwined with the cruel reality of pain.It invaded my nostrils and clawed at the edges of my senses, pulling me out of the thick fog of exhaustion and the relentless drugged stupor that had dulled my mind and shackled my spirit for far too long. Her blood—Selene’s blood—mixed with the cold stone and stale air, became an unrelenting force, dragging me from the numbing haze that had dulled my world into a sharp, terrifying awareness that sent a surge of adrenaline flooding thr
The stillness around me was suffocating, a silence so complete it pressed against my ribs like the cold weight of a stone tomb. My body lay motionless, caught between life and death, barely clinging to the fragile thread of breath that kept me tethered to the world. But inside, beyond the fragile shell of flesh and bone, a storm raged—an endless fall through the chasms of my own shattered mind. It was not a fall of gravity or descent into darkness, but a spiraling collapse into the deepest abysses of memory and fear. Faces appeared—each one etched into my soul like scars. Faces I had loved, faces I had lost, faces twisted in agony, their final moments replayed endlessly on an unforgiving loop. The screams and gasps echoed in the void, relentless and merciless, each death a blade twisting inside me. I was drowning in the grief of a thousand lost souls, their blood staining the canvas of my thoughts. The air in this void was thick with despair, and every breath I took was a struggl
The first thing that betrayed me was the sky. Not because it darkened or cried, but because it did nothing. It stood still, cloudless, pitiless—painted in a blood-orange hue that mocked the end of things. Sebastian’s grip around my chains was unyielding, metallic and cold like his heart. Each drag across the uneven, craggy landscape scraped layers of skin from my knees and elbows, leaving behind a trail of blood that the earth drank greedily. The wind changed as we neared the Pit—it grew heavier, unnatural, like it was laced with breath stolen from the mouths of the damned. My breath caught as the sacred landmark rose into view: the Pit of Despair, carved deep into the ancient spine of the mountain, its edges jagged and whispering, as if alive. Stories had reached me in broken whispers growing up—traitors thrown in alive, their screams echoing for generations—but nothing, nothing, prepared me for its reality. The air here didn’t move. It pressed. It clung. Each inhalation tasted l
There is no moon tonight.Not a single sliver of light dares grace the sky. It’s as if the heavens have turned their face, ashamed to witness the desecration about to unfold. The air is too still—unnaturally quiet, like the world is holding its breath in dread.I can barely make out the sacred ruins around me, carved in jagged stone, soaked in the memory of blood and prayers long forgotten. This place was once blessed, once whispered to be a haven for the divine. Now it reeks of betrayal. Sebastian stands at the center like a high priest of ruin, his arms stretched wide, his black robes whispering against the cracked earth as if alive with secrets. Runes pulse across his chest, glowing red, ancient symbols I can’t bear to look at for more than a heartbeat without my vision burning.Around us, the rogues stand shoulder to shoulder, surrounding the circle like a wall of shadows. Their faces are half-lit by the eerie glow of the ritual fire, some contorted with hunger, others blank with
The air in the ritual arena is nothing like the suffocating void I came from—but somehow, it's worse. Here, the world is too sharp, too loud, too bright. The sudden flood of sensation after so much absence makes my body flinch from everything. The cold stone beneath my knees feels like knives. The torchlight overhead flickers with a pulse that beats in time with my terror. It’s like waking from death only to be dragged straight into another nightmare. My eyes sting from the light, but I don’t dare close them—not with Sebastian standing over me. His presence poisons the space like smoke you can’t escape. There’s something ceremonial about the way he holds himself now, dressed in black robes marked with sigils that shimmer like blood under moonlight. The entire arena reeks of power twisted out of nature.There’s a circle of silver blades embedded in the floor, glinting like fangs. At its center, me—on my knees, shaking, trying not to scream. And then he speaks, his voice too calm for
—The Whisper in the CrackThe voice echoed from within the glowing fracture in the floor—soft, ethereal, unearthly. It wasn’t Sebastian. It wasn’t Killian. And it certainly wasn’t a part of the illusion.“Selene… wake up. It’s not just your mind they’re after—it’s your soul.”The light seeping from the crack spilled in tendrils across the stone, crawling toward me like veins of the moon itself. For a second, the chill in the air shifted, becoming something… warm. Familiar. It kissed my bare fingers like a memory half-remembered. A part of me—buried beneath the layers of poison and illusion—remembered that voice.I crawled toward the crack on bloodied knees, fingertips shaking as they hovered over the light. I knew it might be another trick, another hallucination in Sebastian’s endless game. But something inside me pulsed—Elira—and this time, she didn’t plead to die. She pushed.“Touch it,” she whispered through the bond. “Or we lose everything.”So I did.The moment my hand brushed th