I hesitated. Surely there was a way to bargain myself out of this later. The undyne tried to claim me years ago, and it didn’t work. What if I agree now and find a way to trick her later?
Trick her…how? The tiny voice of reason asked in my head.
That’s a problem for the future, Daphne.
“Say it,” the undyne roared.
“Fine. I’ll be yours.” The lie tasted like sand in my mouth. How would I find a way around this promise? But my mind focused on one thing. Break the wards. Get out. “Do it.”
A purr echoed between the wet walls, and she smiled—a terrifying grin saying, “See? Told you I’d get what I want.”
Dark water surged.
The runes on the stone circle glowed white-hot. With a snap and hiss of magic, the silver etchings on the floor unraveled. A deep pulse echoed through the chamber, and far above, something groaned—the manor itself.
Crack.
One of the ward stones split. Then another.
And everything went wrong.
The water turned black.
A sigil flared to life on the floor—a serpent devouring a skull, inked in searing crimson. I screamed. Agony lanced through my body. My chest burned like fire as the Renegade’s mark appeared on my skin; the red vertebrae of the snake around the skull branded into my flesh, blood trickling from the skull. It glowed in response to the wards falling apart.
I was heaving. Breathing was like swallowing broken glass. The Renegade’s sigil was consuming me. Lava ran through my veins, and I could swear that my bones melted. I dug my fingers into my chest, desperate to claw the cursed mark out, to peel my skin to do anything to make it stop.
“No!” I collapsed. “What—what is this?!” How was this possible? I thought his mark was nothing more but some illusion to scare me into obedience. Terror, chilling and all-consuming, reared its head. He said he’d kill me. This monster would kill me.
The undyne recoiled. “He is in you,” she hissed, her form flickering. “He left his rot behind. Now you bear his stain.”
The last ward broke. A wide crack slithered across the stone floor like a serpent. The hum of magic in the air muted.
The wards were no more.
But I didn’t care. Black tendrils spread across my collarbone all the way to my heart. The air left my lungs with a painful hiss, and the room started spinning. I lay motionless in the rising water, its coolness doing nothing to soothe the fire consuming me.
“You tricked me!” The undyne thundered like a tidal wave. I was not afraid of her wrath. The pain tearing through me was too great.
Light flashed around me. A different kind of magic.
“Daphne!”
He came for me.
Emrys ran into the flooded room, shadows coiling around him. His eyes widened when he saw me sprawled on the floor. He noticed the Renegade’s mark spreading its taint through my body.
“You foolish, foolish girl!”
I parted my lips to explain, but a scream was all I could muster.
Emrys kneeled next to me, ignoring the churning water, the shattered wards, the undyne still looming over me. He took my face in his hands, his touch so soothingly cool.
“The Renegade marked you.” His voice shook with fury. “He snuck inside you like a parasite. If I don’t force him out now, he’ll consume you.”
“Then do it,” I choked. “Please—do it!”
Emrys covered the mark with a trembling hand. “Hold still. This will hurt.”
