The chamber breathed with silence.
Only the whisper of Mars' winds moved through the cracked stone, sighing like ghosts that had once known love and ruin.
Selene sat awake, her back pressed to the cold wall, the faint glow of her flames painting the shadows in trembling gold. Sleep refused her. Every time her eyes closed, his voice came—the serpent's whisper winding through her mind.
> "You don't belong to chains, Sinborn. You were born to reign unbound."
Velkar's words coiled like smoke inside her, sweet and venomous.
She opened her eyes with a start. Her pulse thundered. The fire at her fingertips flared before she clenched her fist and smothered it. The Beast lay a few paces away, his vast form half-shrouded in shadow, golden eyes dim beneath the faint light of the broken moons.
She thought he slept.
But she could feel it—his awareness pressed against hers like gravity, watching even when his eyes were closed.
Selene's throat tightened.
Velkar's voice still lingered, smooth as silk, sharp as bone. And the cruelest part—she hadn't rejected it immediately. His promises shimmered with temptation: power, freedom, release from the curse that bound her fate to the Beast's. Each thought was a thorn in her mind, and every time she touched it, it drew blood.
She hated that she didn't hate it enough.
The Beast's voice cut through the silence. "You didn't sleep."
It wasn't a question.
Selene exhaled slowly, staring at the firelight that licked her palm. "Neither did you."
He rose from his rest, the motion fluid and quiet, his shadow unfurling behind him like wings of smoke. He stood before her, towering yet strangely human, his gaze steady and knowing.
"What did he whisper?"
She met his eyes, but the truth stuck in her throat. She wasn't ready to say it—that Velkar's temptations felt like silk around her throat, dangerous but enthralling. Instead, she smirked, deflecting with mockery. "Why assume it was him? Perhaps I was dreaming of something else."
His jaw flexed, shadows rippling around his shoulders. "Your lies smell like smoke."
Before she could retort, he extended his hand. "Come. You need focus. Not dreams."
Selene arched a brow. "Training again? At this hour?"
"At every hour," he said, voice low and rough. "Discipline is the only thing that keeps temptation from devouring you."
Her pride pricked. Still, she took his hand. The heat that passed between their palms was a spark waiting to become wildfire.
---
They trained beneath the fractured sky, where the moons bled light across the barren plains. The air was heavy with dust and the copper tang of storm. The Beast conjured his shadow-blades—black arcs slicing through the air with inhuman precision.
Selene's flames roared in answer. Gold met midnight, fire clashing with shadow in dazzling bursts that lit the red night.
"Again," he commanded.
She struck harder, their powers colliding in a shockwave that sent dust spiraling into the sky. Sparks scattered across the ground like fallen stars.
"Do you always bark orders," she hissed between swings, "or is that your only form of conversation?"
He blocked her blow with a sharp twist, their faces inches apart. "Better a command than silence when the world seeks to devour you."
Their blades met again—flame and darkness entwining, neither overpowering the other. The rhythm changed, their movements less a duel and more a dance—violent, intimate, inevitable. His shadows coiled around her fire, not to snuff it, but to shape it. Her flame licked back against him, fierce and defiant.
"You're holding back," he growled.
"And you're holding me too close," she shot back, lips curling even as her heart stuttered.
For a heartbeat, neither moved. His breath mingled with hers; the air between them pulsed with heat. Then Selene pivoted, her blade of flame slipping past his defense and grazing his shoulder.
He grunted but only laughed—a low, dark sound that rolled through her bones. "Finally."
She blinked. "You're bleeding."
"I've bled worse." He stepped closer, the smirk fading into something quieter, heavier. "But if you think a single strike means victory, you've learned nothing."
Their gazes locked—fire and shadow, challenge and desire.
The air thickened. The silence between them hummed with something dangerous.
Then—Velkar's voice.
Soft. Mocking. Inside her mind.
> "He binds you, Selene. I would set you free. Imagine it—your fire unchained, your throne eternal… and I beside you."
Selene gasped, stumbling back a step. Her flames wavered. The Beast's eyes sharpened instantly. "He's here again, isn't he?"
She didn't answer. Couldn't. The whisper still clung to her, honeyed and cruel.
The Beast's jaw tightened, fury flashing in his gaze. "He reaches for you through the mark."
Selene pressed her palm to her shoulder where the rune still burned beneath her skin—the mark Velkar had carved into her. It pulsed faintly, as if in response to her thoughts.
"Don't let him in," the Beast said, stepping closer. "If you listen too long, he will make you his."
She glared at him. "And what would you have me do? Pretend I don't hear him? Pretend I don't feel what he promises?"
His voice turned sharp. "You want what he offers?"
"No!" Her flame burst, lighting the night. "But I understand it!"
For a moment, they stood on opposite edges of the same truth—both furious, both afraid of what it meant.
The wind howled through the ruins, scattering red dust around them.
Then, quietly, the Beast said, "You are stronger than him."
"Am I?" she whispered. "Or am I just his next throne?"
He stepped closer until his hand hovered at her cheek but did not touch. "You are not his. You are fire. Fire burns even the gods."
Her breath trembled. "Then why does he haunt me?"
"Because even gods fear what they can't own," he murmured.
---
That night, sleep found her only in pieces. Shadows folded around her until she was standing in a place not of Mars—a world of endless night. A black throne of bone and flame rose before her, and upon it sat Velkar.
He smiled like a knife. "Ah, finally. You stopped resisting."
Selene's fire sparked at her fingertips. "This is a dream."
"Dreams are where truth hides," Velkar purred, descending the steps of his throne. His presence filled the void, oppressive yet magnetic. "Do you feel it, Sinborn? The weight of prophecy choking you? He tells you discipline will save you. But really, he fears you. He fears what you might become without him."
"You twist truths," she said, but her voice trembled.
"And yet your pulse races when I speak." He circled her, each word a touch. "Because deep down, you crave not his restraint… but my freedom."
Her body betrayed her. Heat curled in her chest, spreading like wildfire. His scent—dark smoke, iron, something ancient—wrapped around her.
Velkar leaned closer, his lips near her ear. "Choose me, Selene. Together we'll burn the heavens. Together, no god will dare name your fate again."
"Stop." The word broke on her lips. But when his hand brushed her cheek, she didn't pull away.
Instead, she felt herself leaning in, her heart thundering, her fire flaring wild. His mouth found hers—cool, commanding, ruinously soft.
The kiss seared through her, wrong and exhilarating.
For a moment, she felt infinite. Unchained. Powerful.
And then the vision shattered.
---
Selene jerked awake with a gasp, clutching her chest. Her heart pounded violently, as if trying to escape her ribs. Sweat slicked her skin, and the faint trace of his taste still lingered on her lips—ashes and honey.
Across the chamber, the Beast stood already awake. His golden eyes burned in the darkness, fixed on her.
"You saw him again," he said. His voice was low, rough, and edged with something dangerous.
Selene couldn't answer. Her silence said enough.
The Beast's expression hardened—pain, fury, and fear all colliding behind his eyes. The shadows around him thickened, writhing like storm clouds ready to consume.
"He's marked you," he said quietly, almost to himself. "Now he's inside your dreams."
Selene turned away, unable to meet his gaze. "It was only a vision."
His hand slammed against the wall beside her, stone cracking beneath his claws. "Do not lie to me, Selene!"
Her flames flared, meeting his rage. "And what would you have me say? That I wanted it? That part of me believed him?"
Silence.
A deadly, trembling silence.
His breathing slowed, rough and uneven. "Did you?"
Her throat tightened. The truth clawed at her chest. "I don't know."
The Beast closed his eyes, as if the words physically struck him. The darkness around him shuddered, turning wild and unsteady. "He will use that weakness."
Selene's fire dimmed. "And what if he already has?"
He opened his eyes, and they glowed with fury and heartbreak. "Then I'll tear him from your soul myself."
"Even if it kills me?" she whispered.
He stepped closer, his voice breaking. "Especially if it saves you."
Their gazes locked—fire and shadow, love and doom entangled. The mark on her shoulder throbbed like a heartbeat not her own, Velkar's whisper curling faintly through the air:
> "He cannot save you, Selene. He can only destroy what's already mine."
The Beast flinched, sensing the intrusion. His hand reached for her, trembling. "Fight him."
"I'm trying," she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. "But the more I fight, the deeper he gets."
The air between them burned—fire against shadow, desire against damnation. His hand hovered at her face, then dropped. "Then I will fight for you."
Before she could speak, the mark flared—bright crimson and gold. A surge of energy ripped through the chamber, splitting the ground between them. Selene screamed, falling to her knees as the rune blazed. Velkar's laughter echoed faintly in the distance, wrapping around her like smoke.
The Beast lunged forward—but too late.
The mark flared once more, and Selene's eyes ignited with molten fire.
Velkar's voice whispered through her lips.
> "My queen has awakened."
Then everything went dark.