LOGINSergio's POVI walked around the Castle slowly, and my footsteps echoed on the stone floor, and the castle was still alive with the remnants of the celebration.Servants moved through the corridors with tired eyes and heavy arms, carrying trays of empty goblets and half-eaten plates back to the kitchens.I saw a young maid yawning behind her hand as she balanced a stack of empty plates, and I saw an old servant pause in the middle of the corridor to glare at a wine stain on the stone floor."Animals," the old servant muttered, and he shook his head and knelt down with a rag to scrub at the stain. "They eat like animals and they leave like animals, and I am the one who has to clean it up."The maid beside him laughed, and she set her plates down on a nearby table."You say that every time, Henrick," the maid said."Because it is true
Sergio's POVWe danced through three songs, and by the end of the third, Leandro was laughing, and I was laughing, and the court was watching us with something that looked almost like approval.He was warm in my arms, his breath was soft against my cheek, and his hands were steady on my waist. He was still pale, and he was still weak, but he was here, and he was mine, and nothing else mattered.Then a noble approached us, an older man with grey hair and a kind face."Your Majesty," the noble said, and he bowed low. "I wanted to thank you for what you did today."Leandro looked at him, and his golden eyes were curious."What did I do?" Leandro asked."You showed mercy," the noble said. "You showed us that you are not the monster we feared. You showed us that you are a king who can rule with something more than fear."
Sergio's POVThe walk from the chambers to the court hall was slow.Leandro leaned on me more with every step, and his breath came in short, ragged gasps. His hand gripped my arm so tightly that I could feel the imprint of his fingers through my sleeve.The guards we passed bowed their heads, and the servants pressed themselves against the walls, and I heard the whispers start before we even reached the doors."The king is walking.""He should be in bed.""He is coming to the celebration."I did not care about any of them. I only cared about Leandro, and about getting him through those doors without him collapsing.We reached the entrance, and I looked at Leandro."Are you ready?" I asked.Leandro nodded, and he straightened his spine, and he let go of my arm. Then we wa
Sergio's POVI watched Leandro fight.His eyes were barely open, his hand was gripping mine, and his breath came in short, ragged gasps. He was trying so hard to stay awake, to stay with me, and to not let the darkness take him. But the fire in his veins was too hot, and the pain was too deep, and I could see him slipping."Stay with me," I said, and I squeezed his hand. "Stay with me, Leandro."He looked at me, and his golden eyes were glassy and unfocused. "I am trying," Leandro whispered. "I am trying."Then his eyes closed, his hand went limp in mine, and his breathing slowed."No," I whispered, and I shook him gently. "No, no, no, Leandro, wake up. Wake up."But he did not wake.The chief healer pushed me aside, and his hands moved to Leandro's wound, and I heard him mutter something under his breath."The poison has reached his heart," the healer said. "We need to draw it out now."Leandro still did not wake. His breathing was shallow, his face was pale, and his hand was cold in
Doña Clara's POVThe arena was still full when the guards carried the king away.I had watched them go, I had watched the human walk beside them, and I had watched the gates close behind them. Then I had turned back to the court, and I had seen the silence settle over them like a shroud.The silence was louder than any scream as everyone watched the guards carry the king away. They moved quickly and carefully, with the kind of urgency that came from knowing that every second mattered. I could see that the king was pale in their arms, his golden eyes were closed, and the herbs and bandages on his side were soaked through with black blood. The human, Sergio, walked beside him, and his hand was clasped tightly around the king's hand, and his face was a mask of fear and determination.They disappeared through the gates, and the sound of their footsteps faded into nothing, and the arena was left with a silence that pressed down on all of us like a weight.No one moved, and no one spoke. T
Leandro's POVI felt his arms around me before I understood what was happening.One moment I was standing, and the next the world tilted, and the silver in my veins came alive like a fire that had been waiting for the right moment to burn. I heard Sergio's voice, distant and desperate, calling my name. I felt his hands gripping my arms, holding me up, and I felt the eyes of the entire court on us, watching their king fall.I felt the shame of it, the shame of being seen like this, and the shame of being weak.But I also felt something else, something stronger than the shame, something that kept me tethered to the world even as the fire tried to pull me under.I felt Sergio.His presence was like a thread of light in the darkness, thin but unbreakable, pulling me back from the edge. I did not know how he did it, and I did not know why it worked, but the bond between us was the only thing keeping me from letting go.I held onto that thread, and I held onto him.I took another step, and
Sergio's POVThe morning after Leandro stayed in my room, I woke to find him gone.The space beside me was still warm, and the indent of his body was still pressed into the mattress, and I could smell him on the pillows, like snow and smoke and something wild that I was starting to recognize. I la
The room had a fire, and that was the first thing I noticed when the guard shoved me through the doorway and closed the door behind me with a click that echoed in my ears like the sound of a cage locking shut.It was a real fire, with logs burning and flames dancing and heat pouring off it in waves
I had expected a monster, the kind of monster that lived in the stories my mother used to tell me before bed, with sharp teeth and claws and eyes that glowed in the dark, but when the doors of the throne room opened and Lycan king Leandro walked in, I realized that I had been wrong about everything
The snow burned my knees through the holes in my trousers, and I had been kneeling for what felt like hours, though time moved differently when you were waiting to die, and I had been waiting to die for as long as I could remember.The chains bit into my wrists, the metal so cold that it felt like







