The crimson twilight bled across the Martian horizon, stretching shadows long and sharp over the ruined temple where Selene and the Beast had taken shelter. The wind howled through the shattered spires like a choir of mourning spirits, carrying with it whispers that refused to die.
Selene sat near the fractured altar, the dying sun catching in her obsidian hair like fire trapped in glass. Her claws tapped idly against stone, a rhythm born of impatience and thought. Across the chamber, the Beast prowled in silence—massive, restless, dangerous. His shoulders rolled with coiled power, every step a growl restrained by will alone.
He hadn't spoken since the battle. Yet his silence thundered louder than any roar.
Selene's lips curved.
"Are you brooding, Beast? Or is silence your only charm?"
His head turned sharply. The molten fire in his eyes narrowed, locking onto her with a force that made even her immortal heart falter.
"Silence," he rumbled, "is what keeps you alive."
She smirked. "And yet… here I stand. Very much alive. Still defying you."
The air between them thickened—charged, volatile. She could taste it, metallic as blood. There was something in him that unsettled her—not fear, but pull. A gravity that drew her closer even when instinct screamed to stay away.
The Beast turned, claws carving cracks into the stone wall. "You tempt fate with every word, Selene."
"Or perhaps," she murmured, rising with predatory grace, "I tempt you."
Her words slithered between them like heat given form. His body stilled, every muscle taut. The faint tremor in his hands betrayed him as he gripped the wall harder than necessary. Dust fell from the cracks like sand bleeding through time.
Selene approached—slow, deliberate, dangerous. Her heels whispered against the dust-laden floor, her presence a storm wrapped in perfume and sin. She stopped just short of him, the scent of smoke and night-blooming roses coiling around his senses.
"You're cursed," she whispered, her voice a caress of blade and silk. "A beast who can never love, who can never be free. Yet your curse trembles… when I'm near."
His chest rose sharply. His breath came ragged—not from battle, but from her nearness. He despised that she could see through him, strip him bare with nothing but a look.
"You know nothing of me," he rasped, voice low and rough as gravel.
Selene's fingers brushed his chest, claws grazing, not cutting. "Oh, I know enough. Enough to see the war inside you. You ache to destroy me… yet burn to touch me."
For a heartbeat, the world held its breath.
Then his hand shot out, catching her wrist. His grip was iron, unyielding—but no claws pierced her skin. Their faces hovered a breath apart, heat colliding.
"You are playing with fire, demoness."
"And you," she breathed, lips curving dangerously close to his, "are already burning."
The air quivered between them, the moment ready to shatter—until the shadows stirred.
The walls rippled as if alive. Cold slithered through the chamber, cutting through the heat like a blade of ice.
Then came the voice. Silken. Poisonous.
"Such passion, such weakness. The mighty Queen of Ruin, tangled in desire for a monster bound in chains."
Selene froze. Her claws flexed. That voice—she knew it.
"Velkar," she hissed.
The Beast snarled, turning toward the sound. But the shadows danced out of reach, laughing softly, cruelly.
"Show yourself!" Selene snapped.
Velkar's chuckle rippled through the dark, low and intimate. "Why should I, when the shadows are sweeter than flesh? Do you not feel it, Selene? My voice against your skin? My breath in your ear?"
The darkness stretched and coiled, forming phantom hands and lips that dissolved when she moved. Her pulse quickened. Velkar wasn't here in body—only in essence. But his presence was as real as temptation itself.
"He cannot give you what you crave," Velkar whispered. "He is a beast chained to fate. But I? I can give you freedom. Power. Desire without consequence. Do you not remember Lyra—the one who came before? She tasted my promise."
Smoke gathered, shaping the ghost of a woman—beautiful, merciless.
Lyra.
Her eyes gleamed like polished obsidian. "Careful, Selene," she purred. "Velkar speaks truth. The Beast is shackled, incapable of love. But we… we are kindred. Ruin sings in our blood. Don't you long for someone who understands your darkness?"
The shadows pressed closer, voices weaving temptation around her mind.
But the Beast stepped forward, fury radiating like heat.
"Enough!"
His fire burst outward, molten and wild, pushing against the invading dark. "She is not yours to corrupt, Velkar!"
Velkar's laugh cut through the blaze—mocking, musical.
"Not mine? Then whose? Yours? The beast too broken to claim her? Or hers, when she remembers what she truly is?"
The shadows lunged, serpentine. Selene slashed through them, claws slicing smoke. But one tendril coiled around her throat, whispering against her skin.
"Choose me, Selene. Embrace ruin. You were never meant to love… only to rule."
Her vision blurred. For a heartbeat, she saw—
herself upon a throne of bones, galaxies burning at her command, Velkar's shadow draped around her shoulders like a lover's embrace.
Desire surged through her veins—raw, godlike, impossible to resist.
"Selene!"
The Beast's voice cut through the illusion. His hand seized her arm, dragging her from the dark's embrace. Fire erupted where he touched her, burning away the shadows clinging to her skin.
She gasped, stumbling back into his chest. The vision shattered like glass.
Velkar's laughter lingered as the shadows withdrew.
"You will choose, Selene. And when you do, love will not save you—it will destroy you."
Silence fell. Heavy. Trembling.
Selene's breath came sharp and ragged. The Beast's hand still gripped her arm, grounding her in a world that suddenly felt far less solid.
"You cannot let him in," he said, voice low, fierce. "Velkar will twist you until you no longer recognize yourself."
Her eyes flickered, haunted. "And yet… a part of me listened." She swallowed hard. "A part of me wanted what he offered."
His jaw tightened. His thumb brushed against her skin—unconsciously, tender despite the fire in him. "That is what makes him dangerous. He feeds on your hunger. On every shadow you refuse to face."
Selene trembled. She hated that he saw her weakness. Hated that he wasn't wrong.
But worse than all of it—she hated that Velkar had uncovered the truth she'd buried for eons: she did hunger. Not just for ruin. But for connection.
Her eyes lifted to the Beast's, the fire in them steady and defiant. "Then stay close, Beast. If I falter… burn me before he claims me."
His grip tightened just slightly. His voice was rough as thunder.
"Careful what you ask, demoness. I might."
And yet neither moved.
Outside, the red storms raged against the temple walls.
Inside, two hearts—one shadow, one flame—beat to the rhythm of a war that was only beginning.