I fell to my knees, trembling. Trapped by blood.
Torn by love.
And bound by a fate I never asked for.
Seori
Oath of flame
The skies of the Demon Realm bled as I stood atop the obsidian platform, the cursed crown heavy on my head. My hands trembled, not from fear, but from knowing — this was the end of something. Of me. Of us.
Below, chaos reigned. Blades clashed. Screams tore through the crimson fog. My friends… my mate.
“Finish it,” the Demon King hissed from behind me. “Or I will cut them down one by one.”
“You swore!” I shouted, the words cracking like glass in my throat. “You swore no one would get hurt!”
His smile was all fangs.
“I promisedyouwouldn’t hurt them. But ifyouhesitate, that is your choice, not mine.”
I looked down. Minji, her side bloodied but still fighting. Yuna, her wings shimmering under the miasma as she shielded Taeyang. Jisoo snarling as if the world had betrayed him. And Rheon—
Rheon.
He stood in the middle of it all, his shadows rising, his eyes fixed onme. And when he saw the ritual symbols glowing at my feet, when he saw the golden celestial fire pulsing from my hands, his face fell. No, it shattered.
I wanted to run. To leap from this platform and into his arms. But I couldn’t.
Because the moment I stopped… they’d die.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pressing my palms to the sigil, continuing the chant. The ancient words carved themselves into the sky, into my skin.
I felt the magic bite deep. The bond sing.
And then—
“I will tell you what you must do,” the Demon King said, stepping beside me now. “In order to break the curse that binds your mate… he must draw your blood. By his hands alone. That is how you save him.”
My heart collapsed inside my chest.
Rheon… must kill me. I already knew that, but to know there is no other option I felt my heart break even more.
I wavered. The fire faltered in my hands.
“No,” I whispered. “No, there must be another way—”
“There isn’t.” The Queen’s voice now. She’d appeared, silent as ash. Her expression was twisted in grief. “That is the price of his freedom. The curse only lifts when the fated mate is sacrificed by the one who loves them most.”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
Tears blurred my vision, but I finished the last line of the spell. The ritual sealed. The crown flared with celestial flame, binding my soul to the promise.
Below, Rheon screamed my name.
I turned to face him, broken and burning, and whispered—
“I love you. Now break me.”
