Elena woke to an empty bed, the lingering scent of Jaime's skin still clinging to the sheets.
On her pillow lay a folded note, the writing quick but steady:
If you wake before I return, I've gone for a change of clothes and quick patrol. Rest easy, mi Doña. I'll be back soon.
—J
She smiled faintly, stretching with a happy purr, pleasure still humming along her skin from the night before. The ache was sweet, tender in the right ways. She could still hear the celebration going on, the sounds of music and revelry lingering in air.
With a snap of her fingers, she coaxed the fireplace to life, the crackle of wood joining the soft hush of the early morning.
That's when Guabancex's voice thundered through her veins:
Someone's here. And it is wrong.
The air thickened. Her pulse spiked. She sat up-
Niegal stood in the doorway.
His face was twisted into a snarl, eyes burning a molten, corrupted red. The edges of him rippled with the lion beneath, straining for release.
"You let him touch what's mine?" His voice was a roar that rattled the walls. "Danced with him. Fucked him?"
Her hand inched toward the blade of Boinyanel by her bedside- too late. He lunged, claws pinning her wrist above her head, the force wrenching her shoulder painfully. Before her eyes El León Negro painfully cracked through, his black mane patchy with decay, his fangs dripped in hunger.
Only the bedsheet lay between their bodies.
The lion's tongue rasped up her neck, the stench of rot choking her. Her rage burned as bright as her fear. Her eyes flashed with violet lightning.
"You're not my husband," she hissed. "Not anymore. Get. Off. Me."
Lightning cracked from her fingertips, striking his chest.
He laughed. Absorbed it.
"You're mine," he growled, voice half his, half the beast. "And the world will know- the lion doesn't share."
Her lightning flared again, Guabancex screaming within her at the betrayal:
Kill him. Kill him now. Tear the beast from his bones.
But the lion only snarled, lunging with terrible speed.
His jaws clamped down on her shoulder. As his fangs bit through the pearlescent spirals of her scars, magic shattered with a sharp, cracking sound.
A shockwave pulsed through Elena- her breath caught, a shudder wracking her body. Her glowing scars flickered wildly, struggling to hold the fracturing mana together.
Guabancex screamed in stunned fury, faltering for the first time since claiming Elena's body.
Elena could only give a shuddering gasp, eyes blazing with blinding violet lightning. Pure storm and raw agony intertwined.
"You are weak," the lion snarled between bites, tearing through the flesh on her chest and on her shoulders, snapping her clavicle. "Niegal is gone. You are mine."
The sheet was ripped from her. She hit the wall with a sickening thud, crushing her throat-
Jaime was on his way back, humming low, replaying her laughter from the night before, the way her lips had trembled under his. He couldn't wait to see her again.
Coatriskie's voice tore through his thoughts:
He has her. RUN.
There was no hesitation. Jaime's boots struck cobblestone in a dead sprint.
When he burst into the cottage, the stench hit him first- blood, coppery and sharp. Then the sound: wet, snapping, obscene.
He rounded the bedroom door-
Elena was pinned to the wall, the lion's fangs sunk deep into her shoulder, eyes and scars flickering light, torn flesh on her chest poured blood in thick rivulets to the floor. Her legs spread in an obscene hold, his hips snapping—
No. Not her. Not this. Not like this.
Coatriskie screamed through him, obsidian and rainwater coalescing into a blade in Jaime's fist.
GET. OFF. HER.
The lion roared as the blade sliced through his back. Jaime tore him back from her, muscles screaming in desperate fury.
Elena, trembling, barely standing as she slid down the wall, summoned every ounce of strength left to her. Lightning ripped from her, so bright Jaime saw Niegal's skeleton illuminated beneath his skin. He kept stabbing and slicing, the scent of decaying flesh fresh as he tore through his body.
The lion screamed, smoke pouring from his host as he was torn free: The storm whore is mine!
Niegal collapsed, gasping, reaching weakly for Elena- before crumpling to the floor.
Jaime dropped the blade and caught her, the sight of the blood between her thighs making his stomach twist.
Her hand touched his cheek, trembling but soft. "So good to me…" she whispered- then her eyes fluttered closed. Her hand dropped, limp.
Wrapping her in a blanket, Jaime carried her into the street, shouting, screaming for help as crimson soaked into his clothes.
The celebration in the square ended in an instant.
Juan and Esperanza arrived first. Esperanza froze in the doorway of their home, eyes falling to the splattered blood across the floorboards. It only got worse deeper in the cottage. She fell to her knees.
"How could he? Oh gods, Mama- "
Juan held her tight, gold glowing in his tear-filled eyes. Niegal is a dead man walking, he silently vowed.
Phineus had to be restrained- five grown men barely holding him as his violet glare burned. "I'll kill him! How dare he?! I'll rip him apart- "
In the healing hut, Jaime never left Elena's side.
Señora Behike's hands moved swiftly, staunching the bleeding, stitching torn flesh. "Her womb…" she whispered to Aurora. "It will be a miracle if she can bear children after this." She shook her head, "A broken clavicle and fractured ribs, blood loss, torn scar tissue, I've lost count on the stitching. He… wrecked her."
Aurora wept openly, lending what magic she could. She couldn't look at Niegal, now locked in a guarded cell, treated only enough to keep him alive. She'd refused to treat him.
Alejandro stood at the bars, his voice low and venomous. "Corruption or not… this was a choice. You'll rot for it."
Niegal wept in the dark, no words to explain. The truth was worse than silence… He hadn't been strong enough to fight the lion. And in that weakness, he had destroyed the only love he'd ever known.
The sanctuary changed overnight.
Doors stayed shut. Mothers kept their children close. The market was silent, joy stripped from the air.
The gods and their people had both been broken.
Nothing would ever be the same.