Celeste's POV
We made it three blocks before Adrian grabbed my arm and pulled me into an alley.
"Stop." His voice was hard. "We're not rushing into the Council headquarters like idiots."
"Marcus is being tortured!" I tried to pull away, but his grip was iron. "Every second we waste—"
"Is a second we use to plan." Damien stepped in front of me, blocking my path. "The Council wants you emotional. Reckless. That's how they control you."
"I don't care what they want!"
"You should." Theo's quiet voice cut through my panic. "Because if you die trying to save Marcus, who saves him then?"
I froze. He was right. They were all right.
I hated it.
"Fine." I jerked free from Adrian's grip. "We plan. But make it fast."
We huddled in the alley like criminals. Which, I guess, we kind of were now. Planning to break into the Arcane Council to rescue a kidnapped mentor while racing against a prophecy that would kill us all.
Just another Tuesday.
"Before we do anything," Damien said carefully, "we need to talk about the curse. Really talk about it."
"Now? Seriously?"
"Yes, now." His purple eyes were intense. "Because the Council is using it as leverage. And if we don't understand exactly what we're dealing with, we can't fight back."
I looked at the three of them. Adrian leaning against the wall like a shadow. Damien standing straight and focused. Theo watching me with those warm, worried eyes.
They deserved the truth. All of it.
"Okay." I took a breath. "The Thorne curse started three hundred years ago with my ancestor, Elara Thorne. She was the most powerful witch of her time, and people were terrified of her. So they created a spell—a punishment, really—that would make sure no Thorne woman could ever keep her power."
"How does it work?" Theo asked.
"Every woman in my bloodline inherits massive magical power. But the magic is... alive. It grows stronger every year, feeding on our life force. By the time we turn thirty-two or thirty-three, it's burning through us so fast that we die." I pulled out my blood-stained handkerchief. "This is what happens when I use magic now. It's literally consuming me from the inside."
Theo's face went white. "That's not sustainable. You have—what? Weeks? Months?"
"Twenty-nine days now, thanks to the Council." I laughed bitterly. "But originally, I had about six months before the magic killed me completely."
"And the only way to survive is to transfer the magic to your soulmate," Damien said.
"Yes. But here's the part no one talks about." I looked at each of them. "The transfer gives you all my power. Everything I can do—controlling elements, commanding supernatural beings, seeing souls, all of it—becomes yours. You'd be the most powerful magical being in North America. Maybe the world."
Silence.
I watched their faces carefully. This was the moment that mattered. This was where I'd see who wanted me and who wanted what I could give them.
Adrian's expression didn't change at all. Like I'd just told him the weather forecast.
Damien's eyes flickered with something—calculation, maybe interest—before going neutral again.
Theo just looked sad. "And you die when you transfer it?"
"No. Well, not if I choose right." I twisted the handkerchief in my hands. "If I transfer to my true soulmate, I survive. I lose all my magic, but I live. If I choose wrong..." I swallowed hard. "The magic corrupts. It destroys me, destroys the person I chose, and probably takes out half the city in the explosion."
"That's insane," Theo breathed.
"That's the curse." I met his eyes. "And now you know why I've spent sixteen years alone. Why I never let myself fall in love. Because picking wrong doesn't just break my heart—it kills everyone I care about."
Adrian pushed off the wall. "How do you know who the right choice is?"
"The Trials of Truth. Four tests designed to reveal true love from manipulation." I pulled up the Council's summons on my phone. "Sacrifice. Honesty. Compatibility. Devotion. The trials force everyone to show their real intentions."
"And Vivienne's binding spell means if you choose one of us, the other two die," Damien added grimly.
"Wait, what?" Theo's voice cracked. "Nobody mentioned that part!"
"Because we just found out!" I wanted to scream, to cry, to run away from all of this. "Vivienne cast a blood ritual three years ago linking all three of you to my fate. So not only do I have to figure out which one of you is my actual soulmate, but I have to do it knowing that my choice murders the other two."
The alley went silent except for distant traffic.
"Unless we kill Vivienne first," Adrian said calmly.
"And risk the binding activating immediately? No." Damien shook his head. "We need another solution."
"Like what?"
"I don't know yet!"
"Stop!" I held up my hands. "Just stop. We can figure out Vivienne's spell later. Right now, we need to focus on Marcus."
"Celeste—" Theo started.
"I mean it. The Council took him because of me. Because I'm valuable to them, and he's leverage." I looked at the summons again. "They want me at the trials in forty-eight hours. That means we have forty-eight hours to get Marcus back."
"How?" Adrian asked. "The Council headquarters is the most protected building in the supernatural world."
"I know someone on the inside." I pulled out my phone and scrolled through contacts. "My cousin works there. Not Vivienne—the other one. Isabella. She owes me a favor."
"Can you trust her?"
I thought about Isabella. Sweet, nervous Isabella who'd asked me to heal her daughter last year when the Council's own healers had given up.
"Yes," I said. "I can trust her."
I called. It rang three times before she answered.
"Celeste?" Isabella's voice was hushed. "You can't call me right now. The Council is—"
"I know. They took Marcus." I kept my voice steady. "I need to know where they're holding him."
"I can't tell you that! If they find out I helped you—"
"Isabella. Your daughter is alive because of me. I'm not asking you to betray the Council. I'm asking you to save an innocent man's life."
Silence on the other end. Then: "Sub-level three. Cell block seven. But Celeste, they have guards everywhere. And there's something else..."
My stomach dropped. "What?"
"They're not just holding Marcus. They're using him as bait. They know you'll come for him. They're counting on it."
"Why?"
"Because—" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Because they want to test your magic. See how much power you have left. They're planning to trigger you somehow, make you use everything you've got, and then they'll measure it. For the auction."
My blood ran cold. "They're going to force me to burn through my remaining life force just so they can put a price on my magic?"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But you can't come here. It's suicide."
"I'm coming anyway. Just... help me get in. Please."
Another pause. Then: "Loading dock. East side. Midnight. I'll leave a door unlocked. But after that, you're on your own."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. Just survive." She hung up.
I looked at the three men. "We're breaking into the Council headquarters at midnight."
"That's a terrible plan," Damien said.
"You have a better one?"
He didn't.
"Then we do this my way." I checked the time. 6 PM. Six hours to prepare. "Damien, I need you to research the building layout. Find the fastest route to sub-level three."
"Done."
"Theo, get medical supplies ready. If Marcus is hurt—"
"Already on it." He was already texting someone, probably another doctor.
I turned to Adrian. "I need weapons. And I need to know how to fight like a hunter."
His gray eyes met mine. "You want me to train you? In six hours?"
"I want you to teach me enough to survive."
Something flickered across his face. Respect, maybe. "Okay."
"Good. We meet back at my apartment at eleven. Don't be late." I started walking out of the alley.
"Celeste." Damien's voice stopped me. "Before we do this suicide mission... I need to know something."
I turned back.
"Why risk all three of us for one man? If any of us die before the trials, the prophecy fails. The curse continues. You die anyway."
It was a fair question. A logical question.
I looked at him. At Adrian. At Theo.
"Because Marcus was there when my mother died. He held her hand while I screamed. He's been protecting me for sixteen years, asking for nothing in return." My voice shook. "And I am done letting people I love die while I stand by and watch."
"Even if it means dying yourself?" Adrian asked quietly.
"Especially then." I met his eyes. "Because what's the point of surviving if I lose everyone that makes life worth living?"
No one argued.
We split up to prepare.
I made it halfway back to my apartment before my phone buzzed.
Another video message.
I didn't want to open it. But I had to.
The screen showed Marcus again. But this time, he wasn't alone.
A man in a black hood stood behind him, a knife pressed to his throat.
"Hello, Celeste." The voice was mechanically distorted. "Your mentor is very brave. Very loyal. Let's see how long that lasts."
The knife moved. Marcus screamed.
I watched in horror as they carved something into his arm. Symbols. Blood magic.
"You have until midnight to surrender yourself to the Council," the voice continued. "Come alone, or we finish what we started. And Celeste?" The camera zoomed in on Marcus's bleeding arm. "This spell links his life to yours now. The more magic you use, the faster he dies. So go ahead. Rescue him. Just know that every spell you cast to save him kills him a little more."
The video ended.
I stared at the screen, my whole body shaking.
They'd linked Marcus's life to my magic. Using my power would kill him. Not using my power would get me killed trying to rescue him.
It was an impossible choice.
My phone buzzed again. A text from an unknown number:
Clever, isn't it? Either you die trying to save him without magic, or you kill him yourself trying to use it. Either way, you're one step closer to that auction block. See you at the trials, cousin. If you survive tonight. —V
I called Adrian.
He answered immediately. "What's wrong?"
"They linked Marcus to my magic. I can't use my power without killing him."
Silence. Then: "Then we do this the human way."
"There are guards. Wards. Security systems designed to stop supernatural beings. We can't—"
"You can't," he corrected. "I'm human, remember? Hunters don't need magic to be deadly."
"It's not enough. We need—"
"Trust me."
Two words. That's all he said.
And somehow, standing in the dark street with twenty-eight days left to live, with my mentor being tortured and two men bound to die no matter what I chose, those two words felt like the most important thing anyone had ever said to me.
"Okay," I whispered. "I trust you."
"Good. Because I'm about to teach you how a Blackwell hunter kills without magic. Be ready."
He hung up.
I stood there in the darkness, blood on my handkerchief, death in my future, and three men risking everything to save my life.
And I realized with terrifying clarity that I was falling in love with all of them.
Which meant no matter what I chose, my heart was going to break.
The question was: would it break before or after I died?