เข้าสู่ระบบRory’s POV
The first thing I noticed was the heat.
It wasn’t the everyday warmth of a firelight. It was alivepressing, breathing, wrapping around me until sweat soaked my skin. My pulse raced as flames licked the edges of the courtyard torches, flaring brighter every time I breathed.
“I told you to stay away from me,” a rough, low voice broke through the night air.
I spun around, startled. Darius stood in the shadows, his golden eyes burning like hot embers. His shirt clung to his chest, damp with sweat, and his hands burned slightly, as if he couldn’t fully keep the fire inside.
I tried to steady my voice. “If you wanted me gone, you wouldn’t have followed me here.”
He stepped into the torchlight, every line of his body carved in stress. “You don&r
“Am I?” she murmured. “You’ve carried death since the day you were born. It sticks to you, sweet girl. And now, it’s reaching for everyone you love.”I shook my head furiously. “No. I won’t let that happen.”Selene’s grin widened. “You already have.”She waved her hand and I saw it.An image of Kael falling to his knees, his chest bleeding from a wound that glowed with dark light.Lucien chained to a burning cross.Elias’s ring bre
“You asked the Revenant to take your light,” he said quietly, “so Rory could live.”Silence fell like a drop into endless darkness.“I would never give up my humanity.”“You didn’t lose your humanity.” Lucien’s tone was steady, cruel in its honesty. “You surrendered your goodness.”The cold shook my spine. “Stop.”“You carved yourself open. You let evil in. You made the monster.”“No.”
Kael rose to his feet, his hands shaking.“Then I’ll find her,” he said, voice breaking. “Even if she no longer remembers me.”Lucien’s eyes darkened. “You don’t understand. When you find her again… she won’t just be Rory.”The ground beneath them trembled soft, steady, regular.A beating.But not human.“My reflection smiled when I didn’t.”My mirror smiled when I didn’t.
Hours passed in restless movement. We searched the forest, following any sign of her energy, but it was useless.Until the whisper came.Soft at first. Like a breath against my ear.Kael.I froze. My heart stopped.That voice.It wasn’t hers.It was his.“Elias,” I muttered.Lucien looked up sharply. “What?”
Her breathing quickened. “Then what do we do?”I looked at her, truly looked. The girl who once hated me. The one who now carried pieces of a dead man inside her heart.“We break the bond,” I said.She laughed weakly. “You can’t just break death, Lucien.”“I can,” I said grimly. “But it’ll cost something.”Her eyes met mine. “You mean me.”I didn’t answer.The quiet stretche
The night darkened. My body felt colder now, weaker. The bite had stopped the blood, but not the truth.Lucien knelt beside me again, his eyes still too bright. “You’re shaking.”“I’m fine.”“You’re not.”“I said I’m fine.”He reached for my hand. “If Elias’s soul is inside you, that means Selene can reach you through him. She’ll use his voice. His feelings. She’ll twist them until you can’t tell the difference.”&n







