Page 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

The sanctuary is nothing more than a hollow shell—a crumbling dome of once-flawless stone, its ceiling fractured open to the cold night sky. Vines creep through the broken ribs of its arches, curling around the ancient carvings like nature reclaiming its due.

I sit beneath one of the jagged alcoves, knees pulled close, staring into the ruined altar.

Moonlight spills across the cracked tiles, pale and thin, while the words from the scrolls loop through my mind, over and over.

One life feeds another. Balance broken cannot restore itself.

No loophole, no clean path, and no cooperation strong enough to break it. I was naive to hope otherwise.

The cold bites at my skin, but I don’t feel it. Not fully. I press a palm to my chest, as if that might quiet the storm beneath my ribs. My wolf stirs uneasily beneath the grief. It’s impatient, angry, desperate to fight something it can’t see. But there’s nothing here to strike.

Only silence, ruin, and the quiet pulse of a fate I was never supposed to escape.

I’m the fracture made flesh.

Lys’s voice curls through my mind like smoke. His certainty is seductively terrifying because part of me wants to believe he’s right. And because if the curse cannot be broken, then maybe it needs to be rewritten.

I squeeze my eyes shut.

For one dangerous moment, I feel the hunger beneath my grief—a wild, simmering desire to shatter the rules that bind me. That terrifies me more than anything else.

The soft crunch of boots on broken stone reaches me before the scent of him does. He pauses at the edge of the ruined sanctuary, giving me space. As always. But after a long silence, he crosses the threshold, slow and careful.

Harek. He doesn’t speak at first. Just stands a few paces away, his silhouette haloed by the fractured moonlight bleeding through the ruined ceiling. Finally, he speaks. “I was worried I wouldn’t find you.”

“I didn’t want to be found.”

A beat of silence.

“Even so.”

I breathe, slow and tight, the ache still raw behind my ribs. “Why did you follow me? I thought you were mad at me.”

“I’m not mad.”

“What, then?”

He sighs and moves closer to me. “I’m giving you space.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Why are you pushing me away? After everything we’ve been through together.” His words aren’t sharp, just quietly firm.

I finally look at him. The concern etched in his features makes the pressure behind my eyes burn hot again.

“They made this a choice I can’t win,” I whisper. “Either I kill my father, or I die. That’s not fate. That’s a trap.”

“That’s why it’s called a curse.” He takes a small step closer and frowns. “Still, if that’s the path we stand on, I’ll walk it with you. All the way to the end, whatever it costs.”

I close my eyes, voice breaking around the words. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

“You won’t,” he says. “Not because I’m too strong. But because we fight together. Like we always have.”

The conviction in his voice steadies something inside me, but it doesn’t erase the fear. The dread remains, heavy and sharp. But his words anchor me long enough to breathe again.

“You still believe in me?” I can’t keep the doubt from my voice.

“Always.” Harek doesn’t try to close the space between us. He waits, not pressing for more.

That’s almost harder to bear than anything else.

A soft breeze stirs through the broken arches, carrying the faintest ripple of approaching steps.

Harek stiffens before I fully comprehend it. His hand hovers near his blade but doesn’t draw.

Lys steps into view, emerging from the shadowed entrance with his usual calm. “Forgive the interruption, but solitude rarely offers comfort in places like this.”

Harek watches him closely. “You always arrive at just the right time.”

“Old habit.” His gaze meets mine, and though his tone stays light, there’s weight beneath it. “You carry it heavily tonight.”

I draw a breath. “You know why.”

“I do.” His gaze softens. “And still, you endure.”

He steps closer, stopping just outside Harek’s reach, careful but confident. “The truth you uncovered was never meant for you to survive, Eira. You weren’t supposed to exist outside their narrow vision. And yet here you are.”

“And yet here you are,” Harek mutters.

Lys ignores him. His voice lowers, tone smooth and silky. “They wrote a rule of sacrifice, but rules can break.”

“I know what you’re suggesting,” I say carefully.

“I’m suggesting nothing you haven’t already begun to consider.” He glances between me and Harek, clearly reading the current between us like a map. “You believe standing together will shield you from the price they demand. But standing side by side doesn’t erase the blade they forged.”

I clench my jaw.

“ We will decide what becomes of us,” Harek says, voice even. “Not you or anyone else.”

Lys turns slightly toward him, but his gaze remains polite. “You still hope loyalty alone can rewrite blood.”

“Loyalty changes everything,” Harek answers.

“Perhaps.” Lys looks back at me, softer now. “But hope is fragile.” His voice dips, threading into something intimate. “When you are ready to consider other paths, I will listen.”

I feel the heat of Harek’s tense stare beside me.

For one dangerous heartbeat, I wonder what I fear more. The curse that demands my blood, or the quiet certainty Lys carries like a blade I cannot see.

He inclines his head then slips back into the shadows, vanishing once more into the broken night.

Harek’s entire body tenses as he mutters something I can’t quite make out.

The quiet stretches after Lys disappears, heavy as stone between me and Harek.

I barely have time to steady my breath when another set of footsteps approaches—calmer, heavier.

My father stops a few paces away, taking in the scene with quick, sharp eyes. His gaze lingers briefly where Lys stood, but he says nothing of it. Instead, he turns his full attention to me. “You should be resting.”

“I can’t.”

He nods, seeming to have expected the answer.

“We have the truth now,” I whisper. “And it changes nothing. There’s no loophole. We still have to…” My voice cracks, and I can’t bring myself to speak what the curse demands of us.

“It changes everything,” Einar corrects softly. “Now we see how deep the rot runs. And we see the choice still waiting.”

I look up at him, my voice nearly breaking again. “A choice that demands one of us dies.”

“If fate still demands it, we face it, but not by surrender or fear.” His expression doesn’t falter, and he steps closer, kneeling so his gaze is level with mine.

“I will not run from this. If I fall, I fall fighting beside you. If I live, I live fighting beside you. But I will not turn my back on you—not for their curse, not for their history, not for anything. And if I must give my life for you, then it’s a sacrifice I’m glad to make. ”

His words settle like anchors around my heart—heavy, steadying, terrifying. Tears blur my vision, and I shake my head. “I refuse to accept that.”

“It’s our legacy. I’ve already gone through this once with my own father.”

“You shouldn’t have had to once. That was too much for fate to ask of you. But twice?”

“It’s all our family knows.”

“That doesn’t make it right!” Fire burns inside me, and I far prefer that to heartache.

“I never said it did.”

The silence between us is even heavier now than before, and the weight of both men standing beside me tightens into something sharp and fragile inside my chest.

I press my hands to my knees, drawing a shaky breath. “We fight, but not each other. There may be no loophole, but we can find a way to break the curse.”

Harek’s voice follows, firm. “I’ll fight right alongside you.”

Einar nods. “Together.”

The words settle into the broken sanctuary like an ancient oath cast into stone. The curse may still hang over us, but if it takes us, we’ll go down in a blaze of glory.