The air was heavy—thick with the scent of dust, metal, and storm. Mars lay silent beneath its crimson sky, yet there was nothing peaceful in that silence. It pressed against Selene's skin like a bruise, humming with a restlessness that had no name. Every gust of wind carried whispers, voices half-remembered, and secrets she wasn't ready to face.
The ruined chamber around her still trembled from what had passed hours ago. The walls glowed faintly with dying runes, and beneath them, shadows stirred like something alive. Selene stood amidst the wreckage, her breath uneven, her fire dimmed to embers. And across from her—the Beast waited.
He was a silhouette carved from darkness. His shoulders broad as mountains, his claws curled at his sides, and his eyes—those molten suns—burned with something deeper than rage. His gaze held her like a chain, unbroken, unyielding.
She forced a smirk, though her voice trembled slightly when she spoke.
"Why do you look at me that way?" she asked. "Like I'm the answer to a question you've been asking for centuries."
The Beast didn't move. The wind rumbled through the shattered arches above them, scattering ash and light between them like a veil.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low, raw, and full of weight.
"Because you are."
Selene blinked, caught between disbelief and the heat rising beneath her ribs. "Speak plainly," she demanded, her tone sharp, defensive—because the alternative was to admit how his words shook her.
He exhaled, the sound like gravel grinding under thunder. Then he stepped closer. The ground seemed to thrum beneath his boots, the runes reacting to his presence, glowing faintly with each word he spoke.
"My curse," he said, "is not mine alone. It is tied… to you."
Her flames flared, instinctive. "To me? That's impossible. I wasn't even born when—"
"Curses do not follow time," he cut in. His gaze burned, and she saw, for the first time, something like pain behind the monster's eyes. "They follow blood. They follow destiny. And yours is written in mine."
Selene's pulse hammered. "Explain."
He moved closer—close enough that she could see the fine cracks of old battle scars beneath his skin, the faint shimmer of power coiling in the air around him. When he spoke again, his words came rough, like confession.
"If you fall, so do I. If you betray me…" His jaw flexed. "Then I become the blade that ends you."
The air seemed to still.
Selene's voice dropped to a whisper. "You're saying… you would kill me?"
"Not by choice," he said, almost a growl. "By bond. By curse. If your blood spills, it stains mine. If you turn against me, I become your executioner."
A cold shiver crawled down her spine. The truth struck too deep. "So we're both trapped," she said quietly. "Bound to each other's ruin."
He nodded once. "Our fates are entwined, Selene. There is no escape."
The firelight from her palms flickered between them, dancing across his face—sharp, scarred, and too human in its pain. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes… they told the story of a man who'd carried this burden alone for far too long.
Her throat tightened. "Why didn't you tell me before?"
"Because I wanted you to choose me freely," he said, stepping forward until the space between them burned with tension. His voice softened, breaking at the edges. "Not because destiny forced your hand."
Selene's breath hitched. His words carved through her armor. For all his ferocity, for all his power, there was something heartbreakingly human in his restraint. The way he stood—close enough for her to feel the heat radiating off him, yet holding himself back—was agony made flesh.
Her voice came out low, trembling despite herself.
"You expect me to accept this? That my life, my choices, belong to a curse I never asked for?"
"No." His tone gentled, almost reverent. "I expect you to fight it. That's why I—"
He hesitated, then reached out. His clawed hand brushed her arm, careful, almost trembling. "That's why I trust you."
Her pulse roared in her ears. His touch was a brand, searing through her skin and straight into her soul. She should have pulled away. Instead, her flames surged toward him, wild and hungry. Fire curled up his wrist, but he didn't flinch. He just stared—into her, through her.
The moment fractured something inside her.
Her breath came uneven. "Trust," she echoed. "You speak of trust when your curse makes you my executioner."
He smiled faintly—a ghost of something old and wounded. "Because trust isn't given to the safe. It's given to the one who can destroy you… and doesn't."
The words hit her harder than any spell. Her hands trembled, not from fear, but from the raw, unbearable pull between them. She felt it—the tether of fate, of blood, of something older than either of them. It was as if the universe itself held its breath, waiting for what they would do next.
But destiny never waited long.
A sudden chill swept the chamber. The runes flickered and died, snuffed out by a shadow that bled through the walls. Selene's fire faltered, guttering low. Her instincts screamed.
And then came the voice.
"My, my," it purred, smooth as silk and venom. "How sweet. Bound together by blood and fate. How fragile you both are."
Selene stiffened. That voice.
Velkar.
The shadows thickened, curling into shapes that slithered across the walls.
"Show yourself!" the Beast roared, shadows forming into blades around him.
Velkar's laughter echoed, cold and endless. "Why would I, when I already stand within her?"
Selene gasped as darkness snaked around her wrists, her throat, her ankles. The shadows weren't strangling her—they were caressing, claiming. Her flames lashed out instinctively, but they met resistance, bending like reeds under a greater will.
"Get out of my head!" she snarled, clawing at the air.
Velkar's voice coiled tighter, intimate as breath against her ear.
"You belong to me, Selene. Did you really think this beast could tame the fire that burns in your blood? No. You were born for ruin. Born for me."
"Lies," she spat, struggling. "I am no one's."
"Oh, but you are," he whispered, the sound sinking into her bones. "And I will prove it."
The shadows constricted. Pain seared across her shoulder as black fire licked her skin. She screamed, falling to her knees as the darkness branded her flesh—burning not with heat, but with something colder, crueler. When she looked down, a mark had appeared there: a rune, carved in fire and shadow, pulsing with life.
The Beast lunged toward her—but an unseen force slammed him backward, cracking stone as he hit the wall. He roared, fury and fear blazing in his eyes, but the mark was already complete.
Selene's vision swam. Her veins burned with Velkar's laughter. His whisper filled her skull.
"When the time comes," he said softly, "you will stand beside me. You will be mine."
The shadows snapped back, retreating into the void. Silence fell. The echo of her scream lingered in the ruins like the aftershock of an earthquake.
Selene clutched her shoulder, her breathing ragged. Beneath her palm, the mark glowed faintly—red and black, shifting like something alive. The Beast stumbled toward her, his expression a storm of rage and desperation.
"Selene…" His voice cracked. "He marked you."
She looked up at him, eyes bright with fury and tears she would never shed. "Then let him try to claim me."
Her voice was steel, but her body trembled. The rune throbbed, as though mocking her defiance, and Velkar's laugh echoed faintly in her blood.
The Beast dropped to one knee beside her, his claws trembling as he touched her arm. His power surged through the air—shadow against fire, curse against curse. He could feel the mark on her; it called to the darkness in him like a siren.
"His essence is inside you," he said hoarsely. "His claim feeds on your fire. If he grows stronger—"
"Then I'll burn him out," she cut in. "I don't care if it kills me."
He caught her face in his hand, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Don't you dare," he hissed. "You think I would survive your fall? You think the curse would let me?" His voice broke into something raw, feral. "If you burn, I burn."
The confession shattered her composure. Her heart twisted violently. "Then tell me what to do."
He stared at her, and for once, words failed him. Instead, he leaned closer, his breath ghosting across her cheek.
"Don't let him in again," he whispered. "Not through the shadows, not through your dreams. He will come when you are weakest. Promise me you'll fight."
"I've been fighting my whole life," she said. "I don't know how to stop."
Their faces were inches apart. The tension that had simmered between them since the first clash finally cracked open, molten and uncontrollable. Her flames rose. His shadows surged.
And when they collided—
it wasn't war.
It was surrender.
Fire met darkness, devouring and binding. The air screamed around them, their power intertwining until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. For a heartbeat, the curse itself pulsed, alive, aware.
Then—quiet.
They broke apart, panting, both trembling from the sheer force of what had passed between them.
The mark on her shoulder dimmed slightly, as if Velkar himself recoiled.
Selene's lips parted, her voice barely a whisper. "What… was that?"
The Beast's chest rose and fell like a thunderstorm barely contained. "Balance," he said. "For now."
She looked at him—at the fury, the tenderness, the ache written in every line of his face—and realized that nothing about their bond would ever be simple again. The curse that tied them had become something else entirely. Something alive. Something dangerous.
Outside, the storm broke over Mars—red lightning tearing through the sky.
Inside, fire and shadow waited in uneasy peace.
Selene touched the fading mark and whispered to herself,
"Let him come."
Because deep down, in the dark places of her heart, she knew—Velkar's mark might have claimed her flesh.
But her soul still burned for war.
And for the Beast who refused to let her go.