The gods didn’t need to curse him.
He was already damned.
Her hand slid into Kael’s.
And the world shattered like stained glass under flame.
Alarik sat up in bed dripping, bed soaked beneath him.
Sweat clung to his skin. His heart pounded a vicious rhythm in his chest trying to tear itself free. A salt-wind howled past the cabin window, but the cold did nothing to numb the ache burning in his memory.
“Maris,” he whispered, voice hoarse with sleep and ruin.
She was still here.
Still below deck. Still his to fight for.
But the dream lingered like a prophecy.
Like a warning that felt too damn close to the truth.
-Maris-
She couldn’t sleep.
The ship rocked gently beneath her, its rhythm slow and hypnotic, but her thoughts moved with the ferocity of a tide pulling her under. Maris lay curled on her side in the narrow bed, sheets twisted around her legs, one arm thrown across her face as if she could block out the weight of the choices pressing against her lungs.
Kael was coming.
That should’ve clarified things. Should’ve given her the jolt of certainty she’d been craving. But all it did was crack her open wider.
Because she didn’t know what she would say.
Didn’t know what she could say.
The bond, gods, the bond was still severed. No flicker of him in her chest. No thread of warmth at the edge of her senses. Just silence. And that silence wasn’t numb anymore.
It was screamed at him.
She had reached for him in her mind a dozen times since the Hollows and found nothing but her own heartbeat echoing back. For years, she’d thought herself broken. Until Kael had made her feel seen in a way no one ever had. And now?
He would arrive in Nerium by the next day. And she had no idea what to tell him.
Because it wasn’t just about the broken bond.
It was about Alarik.
Alarik, who looked at her like she was not just queen or weapon but everything. Who had knelt before her not out of strategy, but respect. Who had touched her like a prayer. Who had waited for her, even in dreams.
She tossed, groaning softly into the pillow. Her chest burned. Her stomach churned. She felt like she was splitting in two.
Kael had her history. Her loyalty.
Alarik had her present. Her honesty. And maybe, her future.
The thought made her want to weep.
She had never wanted this choice. Never be pulled apart.
