Selene's POV
"Friday the 13th," I whisper to myself as I stare at the ceiling that night. "Of course it's Friday the 13th."
I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see tomorrow. The wedding. The ritual. Everything that could go wrong.
When I finally drift off, the nightmare hits immediately.
I'm standing in a stone temple. Moonlight pours through holes in the ceiling. I'm wearing white robes that feel familiar somehow. Like I've worn them a thousand times before.
A man kneels in front of me. He's wearing ancient armor. Dark hair. Silver eyes.
Kael.
But not Kael. This version is younger. More desperate. There's fresh blood on his armor.
"Aria," he says. His voice breaks on my name. "I can't let them kill you."
I hear myself speak but the words aren't mine. "The ritual is forbidden, Kael. If we do this, there will be consequences."
"I don't care." He grabs my hands. "They sentenced you to death for loving me. For choosing me over my brother. I won't let you die for that. I won't."
"The High Priest warned us. Blood vows always have a price—"
"Then I'll pay it!" He stands. "Every coin. Every drop. Every piece of my soul. I don't care what it costs. You're not dying tonight."
Behind us, I hear shouting. Footsteps running toward the temple.
"They're coming," I say. "Your father's guards. If they find us—"
"Let them come." Kael pulls out a knife. Cuts his palm. Blood drips onto the stone floor. "Give me your hand."
"Kael, no—"
"Aria, please. Trust me."
I do. I give him my hand. He cuts my palm too. Our blood mixes on the ancient stone.
He starts chanting in a language I don't know but somehow understand. The air grows hot. The candles flare higher.
"I offer my mortality for her immortality," Kael says. "My life for her life. My soul bound to hers across all time."
The temple starts shaking. The moon above us turns red.
"Something's wrong," I gasp. "Kael, the magic—it's not working right—"
A figure appears in the doorway. The High Priest. But his face is twisted with rage.
"You chose him," the High Priest hisses at me. "You were meant to be mine. Mine!"
He throws something into the circle. A black stone covered in symbols.
The ritual explodes. Flames erupt everywhere. I'm burning. Kael is screaming my name.
"You'll never have her," the High Priest shouts. "She'll die forever. And you'll watch. Forever!"
Everything goes white—
I wake up screaming.
My bedroom door crashes open. Kael bursts in, eyes wild.
"Selene!" He's at my side in a heartbeat. "What happened?"
I'm shaking so hard my teeth chatter. "The dream. The temple. The High Priest—" I grab his arm. "Kael, I remember. I remember dying the first time."
His face goes pale. "You shouldn't be remembering yet. The memories kill you faster."
"But I saw it. I saw everything." Tears stream down my face. "He loved me. The High Priest. He was obsessed with me. And when I chose you instead, he sabotaged the ritual. He's the one who cursed us."
"The Architect," Kael whispers. "Yes."
"But there's more." I close my eyes, trying to hold onto the fading images. "Right before I died, I said something. A prophecy. I can almost hear it—"
The words come flooding back. I speak them without meaning to:
"When the eighteenth life faces the thirteenth hour, the betrayers' bond shall break the power. Only through their vows can the curse be reversed, but beware the heart that loves too fierce."
Silence.
Kael stares at me. "That's... that's the prophecy Elara has been searching for. The one that was lost when you died the first time."
"What does it mean?"
"The eighteenth life—that's you. This life. The thirteenth hour—"
"Friday the 13th," I breathe. "Tomorrow."
"The betrayers' bond—that's Ryan and Vivienne's wedding vows. When they bond, that's when we can transfer the curse." Kael's silver eyes are intense. "But the last line..."
"Beware the heart that loves too fierce," I repeat. "What heart? Whose heart?"
Kael won't look at me. "I don't know."
But he's lying. I can tell.
"Kael. What aren't you telling me?"
He stands abruptly. "You should rest. Tomorrow is—"
"Tell me." I get out of bed, wobbling but standing. "What does the prophecy mean?"
He finally meets my eyes. The pain there is ancient and raw.
"It means if I love you too much during the ritual, my feelings could overpower the magic. Instead of transferring the curse to them, it could multiply. Split into three parts." His voice drops to a whisper. "You, Ryan, and Vivienne would all be cursed. All dying and reincarnating forever."
My blood runs cold. "So tomorrow, you have to perform a ritual to save me while... what? Not loving me?"
"I have to love you enough to break the curse. But not so much that I destroy everything." He laughs bitterly. "How do you measure love like that? How do you love someone with limits?"
"I don't know," I admit.
We stand there in the dark. Both knowing tomorrow could end in disaster.
"There's something else," Kael says quietly. "Something I haven't told you."
"What?"
"In the thirteenth life, we almost broke the curse. We got so close. The ritual was working." He closes his eyes. "But at the last second, I couldn't control my feelings. I loved you too much. The magic exploded. You died instantly. And I had to wait another hundred years to find you again."
"So you've failed this before."
"Yes."
"And tomorrow you might fail again."
"Yes."
I should be terrified. I should run. But instead, I move closer to him.
"Then we don't fail," I say firmly. "We practice. Right now. You need to learn to control your emotions during the ritual."
"Selene, it's not that simple—"
"Nothing about this is simple!" I grab his hands. "But we have twelve hours until that wedding. So we're going to spend every second preparing. Elara knows the ritual, right?"
"Yes."
"Then wake her up. Get the materials. We practice until you can do this in your sleep."
Kael looks at me like I've grown a second head. "You want to rehearse a thousand-year-old blood ritual in my living room?"
"You have a better idea?"
He actually smiles. It's small but it's real. "You know what? I don't."
Three hours later, we're in Kael's living room. Elara has drawn symbols on the floor in white powder. Thorne is reading from the ancient book, practicing the words.
"We don't use real blood," Elara explains. "Just water mixed with salt. But the emotional component needs to be perfect. Kael, you need to channel love but stay controlled. Like a river, not a flood."
"River not flood," Kael mutters. "Got it."
We practice. Over and over. I stand in the circle. Kael stands across from me. He holds my hands and speaks the words.
Each time, I feel his emotions crash into me. Love. Desperation. Fear. It's overwhelming.
"Too much!" Elara calls out. "Kael, you're flooding. Pull back."
He tries again. This time, barely anything. The circle doesn't even glow.
"Too little," Elara sighs. "You're holding back too much."
We try fifteen times. Twenty. Thirty.
By the time the sun starts rising, Kael is shaking with exhaustion. We still haven't gotten it right.
"This is impossible," he says hoarsely.
"One more time," I insist. "Just once more."
He looks at me. Really looks at me. And something shifts in his eyes.
"Okay," he says softly. "Once more."
This time, when he takes my hands, it's different. Gentler. He speaks the words slowly, clearly. I feel his love but it's... controlled. Steady. Strong but not overwhelming.
The circle glows soft silver.
"That's it!" Elara breathes. "That's perfect! Kael, that's exactly right!"
But Kael isn't smiling. He's staring at me with horror.
"What?" I ask. "What's wrong? We did it!"
"I know how to control my emotions during the ritual," he says quietly.
"That's good news, right?"
"No." He drops my hands like they're burning him. "Because the only way I could do it was by convincing myself you're not real. That this is just a dream. That you're already dead."
The words hit like a slap.
"You had to... pretend I'm dead?"
"It's the only way to distance myself enough emotionally." His voice breaks. "To save you tomorrow, I have to perform the ritual while believing I've already lost you."
We stare at each other.
"Can you do that?" I whisper.
"I have to."
"Kael—"
My phone buzzes. A text from unknown number.
I open it with shaking hands.
It's a video.
Ryan and Vivienne stand in front of the hotel. Behind them, my mother still has those empty, possessed eyes.
"Hi Selene!" Vivienne says cheerfully. "Just wanted to remind you—wedding starts at 7 PM tonight. Don't be late! We have a special surprise planned just for you."
The camera zooms in on my mother's face.
The Architect speaks through her: "Come alone, priestess. If the Immortal Prince shows his face, I'll kill every person in that building. One by one. Starting with your dear mother."
The video ends.
I look at Kael. "He knows we're planning something."
"Of course he does. He's been watching us for a thousand years."
"So what do we do?"
Elara closes her book. "You go to the wedding alone. We'll sneak in separately. Position ourselves around the room. When you give the signal, we perform the ritual from a distance."
"What signal?" I ask.
"When they say 'I do,'" Kael says. "That's when their bond is strongest. That's when we strike."
"And if The Architect attacks before then?"
Nobody answers.
Because we all know what happens if he attacks.
I die.
Just like I have seventeen times before.
"Okay," I say, trying to sound brave. "Tonight at 7 PM. We crash a wedding, break a curse, and save the world."
"Or die trying," Thorne adds helpfully.
"Or die trying," I agree.
Kael's phone buzzes. He reads the message and his face goes white.
"What now?" I ask.
He shows me the screen.
It's from The Architect:
"PS - I moved up the timeline. Selene dies at midnight tonight either way. Ritual or no ritual. The eighteenth life ends when Friday the 13th ends. Tick tock, Prince. Seven hours until the girl you love dies screaming. Again."
Below it: a countdown timer.
6:47:23... 6:47:22... 6:47:21...
Seven hours.
Not eighteen days.
Seven hours until I die.