Cassia's POV
I don't think. I just move.
My hand shoots out and golden light explodes from my palm—not the blinding explosion from before, but a focused beam aimed directly at Seraphine.
The light hits her square in the chest. She flies backward through the doorway, crashing into her own soldiers. They scatter like bowling pins.
I stare at my hand, shocked. I did that. I actually controlled it this time.
"Well," Theron says, sounding almost impressed. "That's new."
Seraphine scrambles to her feet, her face twisted with rage. The purple blade in her hand pulses with dark energy. "You little—"
Theron moves. One second he's beside me, the next he's in front of Seraphine, his sword pressed against her throat.
"You have five seconds to explain why I shouldn't kill you right now," he says calmly.
Seraphine smiles. Blood drips from her mouth, but she's smiling. "Because killing me triggers the trap."
"What trap?"
"The one I set up before I came here." Her eyes flick to me. "I have three dozen soldiers positioned throughout your fortress. If I die, they have orders to kill everyone they can find until someone kills your precious mate." She leans closer to Theron's blade, not caring that it cuts her skin. "So go ahead. Kill me. But know that the moment I die, she becomes the target of every assassin in this building."
Theron's jaw tightens. "You're bluffing."
"Am I?" Seraphine laughs. "Want to test that theory?"
For a long moment, they stare at each other. The tension is so thick I can barely breathe.
Then Theron lowers his sword.
"Smart boy," Seraphine purrs. She turns to me, ignoring Theron completely now. "You and I need to talk, cousin. Alone."
"Absolutely not," Theron says flatly.
"Then a lot of people are going to die tonight." Seraphine examines her glowing blade casually. "Your choice, Your Majesty. Give me five minutes alone with her, or watch your fortress burn from the inside."
I step forward before Theron can respond. "Fine. I'll talk to you."
"Cassia, no—" Theron grabs my arm.
The moment he touches me, that electric spark jumps between us again. But this time it's stronger. I feel his emotions flooding into me like water breaking through a dam—fear, anger, protectiveness, and something else I can't identify.
His eyes widen. He feels it too. The connection between us, alive and buzzing.
"I have to," I whisper. "If people die because of me—"
"They die because of her," Theron interrupts harshly. "Don't let her manipulate you."
"Five minutes," I insist. "What's the worst she can do in five minutes?"
Theron's expression says clearly that he can think of many terrible things Seraphine could do in five minutes. But he releases my arm.
"I'll be right outside," he says, his voice cold but his eyes burning with intensity. "If she hurts you, prophecy or not, I'm ending this."
He walks out, his soldiers following. The doors close, leaving me alone with Seraphine.
My cousin—no, my enemy—circles me like a predator. The purple blade casts weird shadows on the walls.
"You've caused me so much trouble, Cass," she says conversationally. "I had everything planned perfectly. The coup, the crown, the alliance with the Dark King. Then you had to go and be special."
"I didn't ask for any of this," I snap.
"No, you never ask for anything. Things just fall into your lap." Seraphine's voice turns bitter. "The perfect daughter. The beautiful girl. The beloved noble. And now? The Fated One. Blessed by gods. Bound to the most powerful king in the world." She stops in front of me. "Do you have any idea what I would give to be you?"
"You could have had everything without murdering our family!" My voice cracks. "I would have shared everything with you! We were sisters!"
"I don't want your charity!" Seraphine screams. "I want what should have been mine by right! I'm smarter than you, stronger than you, more ambitious than you! But you get the destiny, the power, the king!" She laughs, high and unstable. "The gods must love their jokes."
I stare at her, seeing her clearly for the first time. She's not just evil. She's broken. Twisted by jealousy until there's nothing left of the girl I loved.
"Sera," I say softly. "It's not too late. We can still—"
"Stop." Her voice goes cold. "I didn't come here for reconciliation. I came to warn you."
"Warn me?"
Seraphine steps closer, lowering her voice. "You think the Dark King is protecting you? He's using you. That prophecy? It's not about love ending the world. It's about love giving him ultimate power."
My heart skips. "What are you talking about?"
"The prophecy was mistranslated on purpose," Seraphine continues. "By the same dark sorcerer who cursed Theron in the first place. If you fall in love with him freely, it doesn't end the world—it breaks his curse and makes him a god. An actual, unstoppable god with unlimited power."
I shake my head. "That's a lie. You're trying to manipulate me—"
"Am I?" She pulls a scroll from her belt and throws it at me. "Read it yourself. That's the original prophecy. I stole it from the sorcerer who created this whole mess."
I pick up the scroll with trembling hands. It's covered in the same strange symbols I saw on Theron's paper. I can't read it.
"Even if this is real," I say slowly, "why would you tell me? What do you gain?"
Seraphine's smile is all sharp edges. "Because I want you to understand what he is. Theron Nightshade isn't some tragic cursed prince. He's a weapon designed to gain ultimate power. Everything he's doing—protecting you, keeping you close, making you feel special—it's all to make you fall in love with him." She leans in close. "And when you do, when you give him your heart freely, he'll have everything. God-like power. Eternal life. The ability to reshape reality itself."
"And what happens to me?" I whisper.
"You become his power source. Trapped in a bond with a god, feeding him divine energy for eternity. A battery. A tool." Seraphine's eyes glitter with malicious satisfaction. "So go ahead, cousin. Fall in love with him. See what it gets you."
She turns to leave, then pauses at the door.
"Oh, and one more thing. The old woman in the dungeon who told you about your bloodline? She's dead. Killed in her cell last night." Seraphine glances back at me. "Someone doesn't want you learning too much about your divine heritage. Wonder who that could be?"
She walks out, her soldiers following.
I stand frozen, the scroll clutched in my hands.
Is she lying? She has to be lying. Everything she says is designed to hurt me, to turn me against Theron.
But what if she's not lying? What if everything—the rescue, the protection, the soul bond—is just manipulation? What if I'm not his fated mate but his destined victim?
The doors open. Theron enters, his eyes immediately finding mine.
"Are you hurt?" He crosses the room quickly, reaching for me.
I step back. His hand freezes in midair.
"Don't," I say quietly. "Don't touch me."
Confusion flashes across his face. "What did she tell you?"
"Is it true?" I hold up the scroll. "Is the prophecy different from what you said? Does it really make you a god if I fall in love with you?"
Theron goes very still. Too still.
"Where did you get that?" His voice is carefully neutral.
"Answer the question!"
For a long moment, he just looks at me. Then his shoulders drop slightly.
"Yes," he admits. "The prophecy has multiple interpretations. The version I told you is what most scholars believe. But there are older texts that suggest..." He trails off.
"That suggest you're using me." My voice shakes. "That everything is a lie to make me fall in love with you so you can steal my power and become a god."
"That's not—" He takes a step toward me. "Cassia, I would never—"
"The old woman who told me about my bloodline is dead," I interrupt. "Killed last night. Did you know about that?"
Theron's face goes carefully blank. "Yes."
"And you didn't tell me."
"I was protecting you—"
"By hiding the truth?" I laugh, but it sounds broken. "Everyone keeps telling me who to trust, what to believe, what the prophecy means. But nobody tells me the whole truth." I meet his eyes. "So I'm asking you directly, King Theron. What happens if I fall in love with you? What really happens?"
Theron is silent for so long I think he won't answer. When he speaks, his voice is barely above a whisper.
"I don't know."
"You don't know, or you won't tell me?"
"I don't know!" The words explode from him with such force that frost spreads across the floor. "The prophecy is ancient and contradictory. Half the texts say love will end the world. Half say it will transform it. Some say it makes me a god. Others say it destroys me completely." He runs a hand through his silver hair, and for the first time, he looks lost. "I've spent twenty years studying it, and I still don't understand it."
"But you need me," I say slowly, understanding dawning. "You need me to either break your curse or give you ultimate power. Either way, you win."
"It's not like that—"
"ISN'T IT?" My voice rises. "Be honest with me for once! What am I to you? A cure? A power source? A tool?"
"You're my mate!" The words ring through the room. "Whether I like it or not, whether you like it or not, our souls are bound together! Yes, you might be able to break my curse! Yes, there's a possibility of power! But none of that changes the fact that when I thought you were burning, when I felt you dying, something in me broke!" He's breathing hard now, emotion cracking through his cold mask. "For twenty years, I felt nothing. Then you appeared, and suddenly I feel everything. Pain and fear and—"
He stops abruptly.
"And what?" I whisper.
Theron's eyes meet mine. Storm clouds swirling with lightning.
"And hope," he finishes quietly. "For the first time in twenty years, I feel hope."
We stare at each other across the frost-covered floor. My heart pounds so hard I can hear it in my ears.
A soldier bursts through the door.
"Your Majesty! Emergency! The sorcerer Malekith has been spotted at the border with an army of dark creatures! He's demanding we hand over the girl or he'll—"
The fortress shakes. Stones fall from the ceiling. The windows crack.
Theron and I both rush to the window.
Outside, the sky is turning black. But not night-black. This is unnatural, wrong. Like someone spilled ink across the heavens.
And in that darkness, I see them. Thousands of shapes moving toward the fortress. Things with too many limbs, too many teeth, glowing with sickly purple light.
"What are those?" I breathe.
Theron's face has gone pale. "Shadow demons. Creatures from the void between worlds." He turns to me, and I see real fear in his eyes. "They can't be controlled. Can't be reasoned with. They exist only to consume and destroy."
"Why are they here?"
"Because Malekith summoned them." Theron grabs my shoulders. "Listen to me carefully. The sorcerer who cursed me wants you for himself. He believes if he can force you to bond with him instead of me, he'll gain the divine power. He'll do anything to capture you alive."
Another tremor shakes the fortress. More stones fall. Someone screams in the distance.
"The fortress can't withstand a siege of shadow demons," Theron continues urgently. "We have maybe an hour before they break through. We need to evacuate—"
"No." The word surprises me as much as it surprises him. "If we run, they'll chase us. More people will die. Entire kingdoms could fall."
"So what do you suggest?"
I look at the approaching army of nightmares. At the darkening sky. At the fortress full of people who will die if we don't stop this.
Then I look at Theron.
"Seraphine said the prophecy activates when I freely love you. That means I have a choice, right? Free will is the key."
"Yes, but—"
"So what if I choose something else?" I take a deep breath. "What if instead of falling in love or rejecting you, I choose to fight alongside you? As partners. As equals. No destiny, no manipulation. Just two people deciding to face this together."
Theron stares at me like I've sprouted a second head. "That's not how prophecies work."
"Maybe it's how this one works." I hold out my hand to him. "You said you feel hope when you're near me. Well, I feel powerful. Those shadow demons want a battle? Let's give them one."
Outside, the first wave of creatures reaches the fortress walls. The sound of clashing steel and dying screams fills the air.
Theron looks at my outstretched hand. At the golden light starting to glow beneath my skin. At my face, determined despite my fear.
"You're insane," he says.
"Probably." I keep my hand extended. "But I'd rather die fighting than die running. And if the prophecy wants to make me powerful, I'm going to use that power."
Slowly, Theron reaches out and takes my hand.
The moment our skin touches, power explodes between us. Not just the spark from before—this is lightning, fire, ice, and light all at once. The room floods with gold and silver energy swirling together like a storm.
Theron's eyes widen. "What is—"
"I don't know," I gasp. "But I think we just found a loophole."
The power surges through both of us. I feel his curse pushing against my divine blood. Feel the prophecy trying to activate, trying to force us into its predetermined path.
And I push back.
"No," I say out loud. "We choose our own fate."
The power stabilizes. Settles into something new. Something neither the prophecy nor the curse expected.
A true partnership. Power shared equally between us.
Theron looks at our joined hands, then at me, and for the first time since I met him, he smiles. Really smiles.
It transforms his entire face.
"Let's go kill some demons," he says.
We turn toward the door together, still holding hands, ready to face the army of nightmares.
But as we reach the threshold, a voice echoes through the fortress. Old and cruel and triumphant.
"BRING ME THE GIRL, AND I'LL LET THE REST OF YOU LIVE!"
Malekith.
And somehow, impossibly, his voice is coming from inside the fortress.