The rain had been falling for hours.
It was the kind of cold drizzle that seemed to cling to the bones, soaking the soul more than the skin. Seraphina stood beneath the cracked stone arch of the castle garden's old gate, her breath curling in the night air, fists clenched at her sides. The roses were wilting around her—black petals drenched and heavy, like grief in bloom.
"I knew you'd come," she whispered to the darkness.
And out of the shadows, he did.
Calyon stepped forward, the hood of his cloak lowered just enough to reveal his face—the face she had once loved, memorized, dreamed of. Now it looked like a ghost of what it used to be. Older. Colder. More haunted. And crueler.
"You shouldn't have sent that raven," he said.
"You shouldn't have betrayed me."
He stopped a few paces away, eyes flicking to the dagger at her belt. "I didn't betray you."
"You handed me over to the Council. You told them where to find me," she said, stepping forward, tone ice. "And now my name is written in the blood of my sisters. Do you think I don't know what that means?"
A beat passed. Then he laughed. Low and bitter. "I was trying to protect you. You have no idea how close they were to hunting you down and ending you. I bought you time. I gave you a way out."
"There is no out," she snapped. "Not for people like me."
He moved closer. Too close. She didn't flinch.
"Not everything is as black and white as you think, Sera."
"And not everyone is who they pretend to be."
A gust of wind pushed past them, scattering dead petals into the air like ash. Seraphina turned her back on him, heart pounding like thunder.
"You loved me once," he said. Not a question. A memory.
"I love a version of you that never existed."
"No," Calyon said, his voice suddenly soft. Too soft. "You love the part of me you buried with your innocence. You think it died—but I carry it still."
She turned to him. "I don't care what you carry. I only care what you destroy."
He stepped forward again, and this time she didn't move. He took her face in his hands, his touch like fire against her rain-slicked skin. She hated how much she felt.
"I'm going to kiss you," he murmured, brushing a thumb against her lip. "Because if I don't, I'll regret it until my dying breath."
"I don't want you to," she said, voice trembling.
"I know."
And he kissed her.
It was not sweet. It was not gentle. It was hunger and pain and guilt and all the things they could never say, burned into a single moment. She let it happen, if only to taste the end of them.
When they broke apart, she drew the dagger.
He blinked. "You—"
She sliced her palm and pressed the blood to the ancient stone gate.
"By the pact of thorns," she whispered, voice full of venom, "I sever the bond between us."
Calyon recoiled as the magic hissed between them. He felt it too. The rupture. The final cut.
Seraphina stepped back. "We're done."
"But they'll come for you now," he said, stunned. "You've declared yourself."
"I was never hiding."
He shook his head, eyes wild. "They'll kill you."
"Then let them try."
And she vanished into the storm.
---
In another part of the castle…
Talon watched from the balcony, cloaked in shadow.
His jaw clenched as he saw Seraphina disappear into the trees, her silhouette swallowed by fog. He'd known she would meet Calyon tonight—he'd arranged it. Or rather, he'd manipulated the whispers to ensure it. He needed to see what kind of woman she truly was.
And now he knew.
"She'll hate you when she finds out," said a voice behind him.
He didn't turn. "She already does."
"Then why do you care?"
Talon turned now. His brother stood in the doorway, arms folded. The "delicate one" they all called him, with his poetic eyes and soft voice. But Talon had seen what lay beneath that silk—the steel spine and sharp cunning.
"Because she's mine," Talon said simply.
The brother raised a brow. "You don't own her."
"Don't be naïve. Power doesn't care about poetry."
"You want her power."
"I want her loyalty. Which is power."
The brother stepped forward, closer now. "And if she gives her heart to another?"
Talon's eyes flashed like a knife. "Then I will take it back. Piece by piece."
There was silence. Then, a sigh.
"I pity you."
"No," Talon said, turning back to the window, rain hitting his cheek like penance. "Pity her."
---
In the forest beyond the walls…
Seraphina ran until her legs gave out.
She fell to her knees, blood dripping from her hand, heart racing like a caged bird. Her mind replayed the kiss again and again like a looped curse. There had been truth in it. And lies. Always both. She hated how her body remembered what her soul wanted to forget.
The rain had stopped, but her world had not stilled.
She took a shaky breath and stood.
That's when she heard the rustle of wings.
The white raven landed on a branch above her, eyes glowing faintly blue. Not a real bird. A message. From the High Sorceress.
She held out her arm. It dropped a silver scroll into her palm.
Seraphina Vale,
The time has come.
Choose your side.
Before one is chosen for you.
She looked up at the stormless sky.
"Then let the choosing begin."