Her fingers brushed his arm.
Gold swallowed the hall.
Not light—weight.
It crushed down like the sky had decided to kneel on the world. Stone screamed beneath the pressure. The sigils carved into the floor fractured, their glow stuttering as if frightened. One by one, bodies slammed to their knees.
Guards hit the ground first, armor clanging violently against stone. Nobles followed, crumpling like paper. Beastfolk choked, claws scraping uselessly as they fought against the invisible force. Wings folded tight against trembling backs.
Even the elders staggered, their faces draining of color.
Only Wish remained upright.
Barely.
Her legs shook so badly she thought they would snap. Her palms burned where they pressed against the edge of the meditation throne, skin screaming in protest as she fought gravity itself. Every breath felt like dragging air through molten glass.
Then his eyes snapped open.
They connected directly with hers.
His eyes—pure gold, molten and endless—locked onto her with a focus that made her soul recoil.
Power rolled off him in suffocating waves, thick and ancient, like standing too close to a star that had just decided to notice you.
They were sunfire itself, ancient and merciless, the kind that judged entire civilizations and found them lacking.
Her hands hovered at his knees where she had touched him to wake him. He followed her movements with predatory focus.
His brows furrowed. "Don't just touch me like that." The words came out almost angry, though his voice remained calm. Deep. Effortless.
She snatched her hands back, taking a shaky breath. Never have I ever seen a man as stunning. Now I am starting to wish I had a chance with him. Damn it. I hate this whole fucked up situation.
The Solar King's eyes scanned the scene below—the kneeling crowd, the broken altar, the guards with their weapons drawn. Then his gaze returned to her.
"What is happening here?"
His voice carried through the hall even though he didn't shout.
The eldest elder, Flake, stepped forward quickly, bowing low. "This young girl here has broken so many laws and escaped punishment. She chose to disturb your meditation to avoid her fate. She is simply insane, Your Radiance."
The Solar King's eyes sharpened as he looked at Flake. "Do I look like an idiot?" His tone remained calm, but something dangerous edged beneath it. "What would someone do to deserve being brought to the sacrificial hall?"
Flake's face paled. He dropped into a deeper bow. "No, Your Radiance. Your servant was hasty and spoke harshly. I seek your forgiveness."
The Solar deity turned back to Wish. "What are you trying to do? Why choose to wake me?"
Wish's heart stopped. Maybe it was his eyes. Maybe the fear of looking directly at a deity. She couldn't explain it. Her throat worked, swallowing hard before words came out.
"I want to live. That's why I woke you up."
The words came out bold despite her trembling.
The Solar King's gaze sharpened further.
Below them, her parents cried out.
"Wish!" Her mother sobbed, trying to crawl forward before guards yanked her back. "Please—please, Your Majesty—she's gentle, she's never hurt anyone!"
"She was chosen because she's weak," her father choked out, voice breaking. "Take me instead! I'll die gladly!"
The Solar King's eyes flicked downward.
Annoyance flashed across his perfect features.
"Silence."
The word struck like a hammer.
The hall obeyed instantly. Even her parents' sobs cut off, though tears still streamed down their faces.
He looked back at Wish. "What do you mean you want to live after committing a sin? You die as your punishment when your sin is grave. Who did you kill?"
Before she could answer, he leaned forward slightly, his presence overwhelming. "Don't lie. I'll know."
She nodded quickly, her lips pressed together before she spoke. "I haven't killed anyone."
He raised one eyebrow.
"Started a rebellion?"
She shook her head. "No."
He paused, tilting his head to the side as if genuinely confused now.
"Have you stolen someone's mate?"
"Nope." The word popped out before she could stop it. "I've never even dated before."
He raised both eyebrows in what looked like surprise. Or confusion. Maybe both.
The silence stretched.
Wish's hands curled into fists at her sides. Her nails bit into her palms. Something was building inside her—pressure, heat, a lifetime of swallowing words she wasn't allowed to say.
"So what is it then?" He asked. "What did you do that's so terrible you deserve to die?"
The Solar King opened his mouth.
"I'm weak!" The words burst out of her. "That's it! That's my crime!" Her voice rose, shaking with fury she couldn't contain anymore. "I was born with a useless beast form, and I'm not pretty enough, and my family isn't important, so they chose me!"
Tears streamed down her face but she didn't stop. "They're going to kill me because it's convenient! Because no one will miss me! Because—"
Her voice broke completely.
"Because I don't matter."
The Solar King went very still.
Wish wiped her face with the back of her hand, smearing tears across her cheek. Her whole body shook but the words kept coming, spilling out like a dam had broken.
"And you just sit here." She gestured wildly at his throne. "You sit here and meditate while they drag people up to die. You don't ask questions. You don't stop them. You just—"
Her breath hitched. "What kind of deity does that? What kind of justice is that?"
Something twisted in the Solar King's chest.
Not pain.
Not injury.
Something felt... wrong.
"They call it a ritual," Wish continued, her voice raw. "They say it's necessary. That the kingdom needs it. But it's just murder! Legal murder! And everyone just accepts it because you—" She pointed at him, her finger shaking. "—because you're here and you allow it!"
The feeling in his chest spread.
Heavy. Suffocating.
His hand moved unconsciously to his sternum, pressing there. His brow furrowed deeper.
"Where's the law in that?" Wish's voice cracked again. "Where's justice? You're supposed to be—they worship you—and this is what you let them do?"
The weight crushed down harder.
Confusion bloomed through his mind like ink in water.
Why did his chest ache?
Why did her words feel like claws dragging through his insides?
The Solar King felt it then.
A thread.
Thin. Fragile. Wrong.
Wrapped around his core.
Her soul.
Tangled with his.
A forced resonance. Unnatural. Corrupted.
Dark magic.
His hands trembled where they rested on his knees.
Gods did not tremble.
But this crushing, aching weight pressing into every corner of his being—
Is this… despair?
He looked at her. Really looked.
Saw the tears. The shaking. The way she stood there, small and terrified but still screaming at him because she had nothing left to lose.
And he felt it.
All of it.
Her fear. Her rage. Her desperate, clawing need to just live.
Not his emotions.
Hers.
Bleeding through that corrupted thread straight into his soul.
The Solar King turned slowly toward the elders. His movements were deliberate, controlled, but something dangerous flickered behind his eyes.
The platinum beasts shifted uneasily.
"What," he said quietly, "have you done?"
The eldest elder swallowed hard. "Your Radiance, the ritual was necessary. The seal of the darkness deity requires—"
"You used dark magic."
Not a question. A statement that made the temperature higher.
Flake's face went ashen. "Your Radiance, we—the kingdom's survival—"
He stood slowly, his full height making Wish stumble back a step.
The hall held its breath.
The Solar King looked down at Wish again. She was still crying, still shaking, but something in her eyes looked almost like hope.
A thought cut through his confusion, sharp and unwelcome.
If her soul was tangled with his—even through dark magic, could damage to her affect him? If she died, would it drag him down with her?
That would be dangerous.
Catastrophically so.
He needed to know.
"Your hand," he said.
Wish blinked, confusion cutting through her tears. "What?"
"Give me your hand."
She hesitated, looking down at her palm—still red and raw from the stairs. Slowly, uncertain, she lifted her hand toward him.
What does he want to do to me?
The Solar deity reached out, his fingers hovering just above hers. His golden eyes fixed on where their hands would meet, his expression unreadable but intense.