It was choice. And for the first time since all of this began… I wasn’t afraid to make it.
--------???--------
I sat wrapped in Rheon’s cloak, still feeling the echoes of his magic humming through my bones. But the warmth in his eyes didn’t ease the ache building in my chest.
“My friends,” I said. “Where are they?”
He paused. I could see the hesitation in his jaw, the way his fingers twitched at his side.
“They’re safe,” he finally said. “They’re close. You’ll see them now.”
The door creaked open and cool temple air brushed against my skin. I followed Rheon barefoot down the candlelit corridor, heart hammering. Every breath felt like I was stepping closer to something fragile, something I didn’t believe I deserved.
We turned the corner. And there they were.
Yuna was curled up near the window, braiding her damp hair, and Minji sat reading an old leather-bound book, still wrapped in healing bandages.
Both of them looked up when they saw me. Time stopped.
“Seori—!” Yuna cried, leaping up, her arms flying around me so fast it knocked the breath out of me.
Then Minji was there too, and we were all clinging to each other, crying without shame or words. We were alive. We were together. And that should have been enough.
But behind me, something shifted. Rheon let out a strangled sound. I turned just in time to see him fall to one knee — then both.
His hand was clutching his chest, shoulders shaking.
“Rheon?” I dropped beside him. “What’s happening—? Talk to me!”
His skin was burning hot, like his body was on fire from the inside out. I tried to reach for him, but shadows flared across his arms, wild and erratic.
That’s when I saw it. Another mark.
Not the glowing bond on his chest — but a dark, branded sigil etched into his shoulder blade, pulsing with violent magic. It looked like it had been seared into his flesh by fire itself.
And it was bleeding.
“What… what is that?” I whispered, heart pounding. “That’s not ours. That’s not the bond…”
A shadow stepped behind me. Jisoo. His jaw was clenched, wings barely visible behind his back.
“It’s the curse,” Jisoo said grimly.
“The mark his father gave him when he was exiled from the Demon Realm.”
Jisoo continued, voice heavy.
“Rheon can’t die. He can’t age. He can’t even rest. Not until he fulfills the condition placed on him.”
I stared at him, frozen.
“What condition?”
Jisoo met my gaze.
“He must kill the blood of his mate.”
The room dropped into silence.
