POV: Lord Ravens
I was sweeping the morning dust from the throne room when the chatter started.
"She's pregnant, I heard," one of the younger maids whispered to another. "That's why she's here. The Eternal Ritual can only work on women carrying half-immortal children."
"No, stupid," the other helper shot back. "The Eternal Ritual needs a full moon and blood magic. She'll probably just die like the others did."
I didn't look up from my work. I'd been Lord Commander of the Twilight King's forces for forty-five years, and before that, I'd been a simple soldier. I'd earned my place through loyalty and service. I'd seen things that would drive regular people mad. And I'd learned to listen without looking to listen.
The staff thought I was just an old man now. They didn't know that my hearing was still sharp, my mind still quick, my understanding of palace politics still deadly accurate.
"She's different though," a third servant said carefully. "She's not like the others. She actually talks to the king like he's a person, not a god."
The other servants giggled nervously. It was true. The girl—Seraphina—had somehow managed to do something I'd thought impossible. She'd made the Twilight King seem almost human.
I'd seen him bring a thousand women to this house. I'd seen him use them, abandon them, move on to the next one. It was the curse's fault, in a way. The death-magic that lived in his hands made true relationship impossible. Every woman eventually grew old, withered, died from closeness to his power. None of them lasted more than a few weeks.
But Seraphina was different in a way that scared me.
I kept sweeping, but my mind was working through the problem. Siren blood. That's what made her different. If the gossip was true—and palace gossip typically contained kernels of truth—she was siren-blooded. That meant she was immune to his curse. That meant, theoretically, she could survive longer than the others.
That meant she could become ageless through the Eternal Ritual.
And if she became immortal, she would stay. Forever.
I'd served King Theron for nearly fifty years. I was one of the few people who'd known him before the curse took his mind. I remembered when he was simply a powerful immortal, cruel but fair. I remembered when he had hope. I remembered before the endless parade of mortal women, before the obsession with finding relief from the curse's agony.
Watching him with Seraphina was like watching him come back to life. It was hopeful and frightening at the same time.
"Lord Ravens!" one of the maids called out to me. "Have you seen the girl? Is it true she sings for the king every night?"
I finally looked up. The helper was young, maybe twenty years old, with nervous eyes. These children had no understanding of what it meant to serve an eternity. They thought palace life was glittering and easy. They didn't understand the rules. The danger. The way one wrong word could get you killed.
"The king has brought many people to this palace," I said carefully. "It's not our place to gossip about them."
"But the king has never acted like this before!" another servant argued. "He's actually... nice to her. He smiles. I've never seen the king smile."
That made my chest tighten. I'd been worried about exactly this. I'd seen how Theron looked at her the first time she performed. I'd watched him become gentler, less cruel, more focused on one person than he'd been in ages. It was beautiful and scary.
Because if she left him, if she was taken from him, if anything happened to her, he would break.
And a broken eternal king was something the entire realm should fear.
I set down my broom and walked toward the kitchens. I needed to gather information. I needed to understand what was happening before it spiraled out of hand.
Lady Vivienne was organizing goods when I found her.
"Is it true?" I asked without preamble. "Is the girl siren-blooded?"
Vivienne looked up, shocked. "How did you—"
"Is it true?"
She nodded slowly. "The king confirmed it this morning. He asked me to prepare special rooms for her. Chambers built for immortal transformation." She lowered her voice. "Lord Ravens, I think he's going to perform the Eternal Ritual on her."
My worst fear, proven.
"When?" I asked.
"Soon. He said the Council is threatening meddling. He said if they try to separate them, he'll declare war on the entire immortal realm."
The throne room suddenly felt too small. I'd sworn loyalty to King Theron when I was just a soldier with nothing. I'd fought his fights. I'd killed his enemies. I'd given him my entire life. But this? This was different. This was him making a choice that could destroy everything.
"Where is he now?" I asked.
"The upper chambers," Vivienne said. "He and Seraphina are—"
An explosion rocked the entire house.
We both fell to the ground, and I heard the sound of magical battle. Spells being cast. Barriers being broken. Screams from servants throughout the house.
"What's happening?" Vivienne gasped.
I was already moving toward the exits, my warrior reflexes taking over. I'd seen enough palace coups and magical attacks to know the signs.
"Invasion," I said sadly. "Someone is attacking the palace."
We ran through the passageways toward the upper chambers. Servants were frantic, running in all directions. Some were being caught by shadow magic and dissolving into darkness.
When we reached the king's level, I saw him standing at a window, watching an army surround the castle below. His curse-power was growing around him like a storm. I'd only seen him reach this level of power once before, and that time, an entire region had been destroyed.
"Your Majesty," I said carefully, approaching him slowly so I wouldn't scare him into releasing his power. "What is happening?"
He turned to me, and his eyes were burning silver so bright they hurt to look at.
"The Council is here," he said, his voice cold and scary. "They want the girl. They're telling me to surrender her or face judgment."
"And what will you do?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
"I will defend what's mine," he said simply. "I will burn the entire immortal realm if they try to take her."
Behind him, in the doorway to his private room, I could see Seraphina's face. She looked frightened and confused. She didn't understand what was happening.
What none of us understood was that everything was about to change.
The king wasn't just defending a girl anymore. He was making a choice that would reshape the balance of power between gods and humans. He was declaring war on the immortal Council. He was putting his entire kingdom at risk.
And the one person who could calm his curse, who could convince him to stand down, was the very reason he'd gone to war in the first place.
"Your Majesty," I said slowly, "there must be another way."
"There is," he said. "I perform the Eternal Ritual now. I make her forever. I bind her to me completely. Then the Council can't touch her because she'll be an immortal queen, and even they won't dare mess with a binding."
"And if something goes wrong?" I asked. "The Eternal Ritual is dangerous. She could—"
"She won't," he said with absolute confidence. "Because I won't allow it."
I looked at Seraphina, and I saw the moment she realized what he was planning. Her eyes went wide. Her hand went to her chest.
"The ritual is painful," she whispered. "Isn't it?"
The king didn't answer her. He was already walking toward the ritual chamber, already starting to gather power.
And I knew, in that moment, that I was about to watch the most important immortal binding in ages.
Or a disaster that would destroy us all.