Sera's POV
I wake up screaming.
Power burns through my veins like liquid fire. The marks on my arms are blazing gold, so bright I can't look at them directly. My whole body feels like it's being ripped apart and rebuilt at the same time.
"Hold her down!" Maven's voice cuts through the pain. "The power is still settling. If she loses control now, she'll destroy herself!"
Strong hands pin my shoulders to the bed. Kael. I know it's him even before I open my eyes—I can feel him through the bond. Except the bond feels different now. Stronger. Wilder.
"What's happening to me?" I gasp.
"You're awakening," Maven says, pressing her hands to my forehead. Cool magic flows through me, fighting the burning. "You rewrote a curse without training. Your power is trying to compensate, but it doesn't know how."
"Make it stop!" The pain is unbearable.
"I can't. Only you can." Maven's eyes bore into mine. "You have to control it, Sera. Take the power and make it obey you."
"I don't know how!"
"Then learn fast," Maven snaps. "Because in about thirty seconds, you're going to explode and take half this fortress with you."
Terror floods through me. "What?"
"She's right." Kael's voice is tight. "I can feel it through the bond. Your power is building, looking for release. You have to direct it somewhere or it'll consume you."
I close my eyes and look inward. The power is there—a roaring storm of gold and silver light, spinning faster and faster. It wants out. It needs out.
But where do I send it?
"Into the earth," Maven says, like she's reading my mind. "Push it down through the fortress, into the ground. Let the earth absorb it."
I try. I push the power downward with all my mental strength. For a moment, nothing happens. Then suddenly it rushes out of me like a flood, pouring into the stone beneath the bed, spreading through the fortress foundations.
The building shakes. Stone cracks. Somewhere below, something shatters.
Then it's over.
I collapse back onto the bed, gasping. The burning fades to a warm tingle. The marks on my arms dim to their normal soft blue.
"Did I... did I just do that?" I whisper.
"You did." Maven sits back, looking exhausted. "And you didn't destroy anything important. Good job for your first time."
"First time?" I stare at her. "This is going to happen again?"
"Until you learn control, yes." Maven stands and moves to the window. Dawn light streams in—I've been unconscious all night. "Your power awakened prematurely because you tried to rewrite a curse. Now it needs training or it'll keep exploding out of you at random moments."
I look at Kael. He's still holding my shoulders, his face tense with worry. "You stayed with me all night?"
"Of course I did." His eyes search mine. "What you did yesterday—breaking free of the bond—I thought I'd lost you."
"I didn't break it," I say quietly. "I felt it change. We're still connected, aren't we?"
"Yes." He releases me slowly. "But differently now. You're not trapped anymore. You could leave if you wanted to."
Could I? I test the bond carefully, following it with my mind. He's right—it's not a chain anymore. It's more like... a door. I can open it or close it. Stay or go.
The choice is mine now.
"Damon and Lyra retreated," Maven says from the window. "But they'll be back. And now that they know you have power, they'll bring more soldiers. Stronger weapons."
"Let them come," I say, surprised by the anger in my voice. "Lyra deserves what's coming to her."
"There's my girl." Maven smiles, but it's not a nice smile. "That rage? Hold onto it. You'll need it for training."
"Training?" I sit up slowly. Everything hurts. "I don't want training. I want to go home."
"Where's home, Sera?" Maven asks gently. "Your village is destroyed. Your father is in hiding. Your sister wants you dead. Lord Damon owns the marriage contract—legally, you're his property. Even if you left this fortress, where would you go?"
The truth hits like a slap. She's right. I have nowhere to go.
"So what do I do?" I ask, hating how small my voice sounds.
"You become powerful enough that no one can hurt you again." Maven's eyes flash. "You learn to use your gifts. And you make everyone who betrayed you regret it."
Something dark and hungry stirs in my chest. "How?"
"I'll teach you." Maven grins. "Starting now."
The lessons are brutal.
Maven drags me to a training room and immediately starts throwing magic at me—bolts of colored light that sting when they hit.
"Block them!" she shouts.
"How?" I yelp, dodging.
"Use your power! See the magic coming and push it away!"
I try to see the way she's describing, but all I see are lights flying at my face. One hits my shoulder and I cry out.
"Again!" Maven sends another barrage.
This time, I focus differently. I look at the magic itself, trying to see past the light to what it really is. And suddenly, I see it—threads of power, woven together, with a purpose and direction.
I reach out with my mind and unravel one of the threads.
The magic bolt dissolves before it reaches me.
"Yes!" Maven's face lights up. "That's it! That's Truthseeker sight! Now do it faster!"
We train for hours. Maven teaches me to see magical auras—the glow around living things that shows their power. She teaches me to sense lies by watching how someone's aura shifts when they speak. She teaches me to look into curses and see their structure.
It's exhausting and frustrating and I fail more than I succeed.
But slowly, I start to understand.
I'm not helpless anymore. I have power. Real power.
"Enough for today," Maven finally says. "You're about to pass out."
She's right. I'm swaying on my feet, my arms shaking with exhaustion.
"Why are you helping me?" I ask. "You barely know me."
Maven's expression softens. "Because a hundred years ago, I loved a prince who tried to save everyone and got cursed for it. I've been searching for a way to free him ever since. And now, finally, I found someone who can actually do it."
My breath catches. "You loved Kael?"
"I still do. Just differently now." She smiles sadly. "We were friends, maybe would have been more if the curse hadn't happened. I've watched him suffer for a century, Sera. Watched him forget how to be human. But since you arrived? He's been more himself than I've seen in decades."
"Because of the bond?"
"Because of you." Maven touches my arm gently. "You remind him why being human matters. Why fighting the curse matters. You give him hope."
"I don't want that responsibility," I whisper.
"Too bad. You have it anyway." Maven heads for the door. "Rest now. Tomorrow we start on curse-weaving. That's going to be even harder."
She leaves, and I collapse onto the training room floor, too tired to make it back to my room.
That's where Kael finds me an hour later.
"You're sleeping on the floor now?" He sits beside me. "Should I be worried?"
"Maven tried to kill me," I mumble. "Training."
He laughs softly. "She's tough but fair. You'll thank her later."
We sit in comfortable silence. The bond hums between us, warm and alive but no longer forcing us together.
"I could leave now," I say eventually. "The bond lets me choose."
"I know."
"But I'm not going to."
Kael goes very still. "Why not?"
I turn to look at him. "Because Lyra is still out there. Damon is still hunting me. Elder Mordain is still alive. And I'm tired of running." I pause. "Also because someone once told me that being powerful enough to protect yourself is better than hiding."
"That someone sounds smart," Kael says quietly.
"She is. Scary, but smart." I close my eyes. "Will you teach me too? About the curse? About what you are?"
"If you want."
"I want." I reach out and take his hand. His skin is warm, human. "I want to understand all of it."
Kael's fingers tighten around mine. "Sera—"
The fortress shakes. Not like when I released power—this is different. Explosive. From outside.
We're on our feet instantly, running to the window.
The army is back. But this time, there are thousands of them. And in the sky above, something huge and winged circles.
"What is that?" I breathe.
Maven runs into the room, her face pale. "That's a dragon. A war dragon. How did Damon get his hands on a war dragon?"
The creature swoops lower, and I see the rider on its back.
Elder Mordain.
He raises his hands, and magic crackles around him—dark, terrible magic that makes my skin crawl.
"Kael Draven!" Mordain's voice booms across the fortress. "You broke our deal! You refused the sacrifice! Now you pay the price!"
The dragon opens its mouth and breathes fire.
Not at the fortress.
At the village visible in the distance. The village where my father is hiding.
"No!" I scream.
Buildings explode into flames. People run screaming.
"Surrender the girl," Mordain shouts, "or I burn every village, every town, every innocent person until you do! The choice is yours, Beast King! One life, or thousands!"
The same choice. Always the same choice.
But this time, I'm the one who gets to answer.
I look at Kael, and I see my own rage reflected in his eyes.
"Teach me how to kill him," I say.
Kael smiles—fierce and proud and terrifying. "With pleasure."