Sera's POV
I wake up screaming.
The nightmare clings to me—Lyra's relieved tears, Elder Mordain's panicked face, the village burning, Maya's broken ankle, the Beast King's silver eyes turning red. But when I open my eyes, I realize the nightmare isn't over.
I'm still in the fortress.
Sunlight streams through the massive window, making the glowing marks on my arms shimmer. I sit up fast, my heart pounding. The wedding dress is still on, torn and stained with blood and dirt. My feet are scratched and bruised. Everything hurts.
But I'm alive.
Why am I alive?
I slide off the bed—it's so high my feet barely touch the floor—and run to the door. I grab the handle and pull.
Locked.
"Hey!" I pound on the wood with both fists. "Let me out! You can't keep me here!"
Silence.
I pound harder, screaming until my throat hurts. "I said let me OUT!"
Nothing. No footsteps, no voices, no response at all.
Panic rises in my chest like water filling my lungs. I'm trapped. Actually trapped. In a monster's fortress with no way out and no one coming to save me.
I slide down the door and sit on the cold stone floor, hugging my knees to my chest. The tears come before I can stop them—big, ugly sobs that shake my whole body.
Everyone's dead. My village, my neighbors, the baker who gave me extra bread when Father couldn't pay. Mrs. Chen who taught me to read. Little Tommy who always asked me to tell him stories. All of them, gone.
And the people who should have protected me—my own family—sold me to die.
"I hate you," I whisper to the empty room, to Lyra and Father and Lord Damon and everyone who betrayed me. "I hate all of you."
The marks on my arms pulse once, warm and almost... comforting? Like they're trying to tell me something.
I wipe my eyes and force myself to stand. Crying won't help. I need to think. I need a plan.
I walk to the window and look out.
The fortress is huge, with towers and walls that seem to go on forever. In the courtyard below, Shadowborn move around like they're doing normal things—carrying supplies, standing guard, talking to each other in their grinding stone voices.
They look almost... organized. Like an army, not mindless monsters.
One of them looks up, and its red eyes lock onto mine. I jump back from the window, my heart racing.
"Okay," I say out loud, trying to calm down. "Okay. Think, Sera. There has to be a way out."
I search the room. There's the giant bed, a wardrobe that's taller than me, a small table with a washbasin, and a bookshelf filled with old books. That's it. No other doors, no secret passages, nothing useful.
I open the wardrobe, hoping maybe there's a weapon or something I can use. Instead, I find clothes. Not monster clothes—human clothes. Dresses, pants, shirts, all in my size.
How did they know my size?
A horrible thought hits me: How long has the Beast King been planning to take me?
I slam the wardrobe shut and back away from it.
Hours pass. The sun moves across the sky. My stomach growls—I haven't eaten since yesterday morning, before the wedding that never happened.
I try the door again. Still locked.
I scream at it again. Still nothing.
Finally, I collapse back on the floor, exhausted and dizzy from hunger. Maybe this is how I die. Not killed by monsters, but forgotten in a locked room, starving slowly.
At least it's quieter than being torn apart.
I'm half-asleep when I hear it: footsteps in the hallway outside.
I scramble to my feet, my heart pounding. Someone's coming. Finally.
The footsteps stop right outside my door.
I hold my breath, waiting.
A tray slides under the door—there's a gap at the bottom I didn't notice before. On the tray: bread, cheese, fruit, and a cup of water.
"Wait!" I shout, running to the door. "Who are you? Let me out!"
The footsteps start to walk away.
"Please!" I pound on the door again. "I need to talk to someone! I need answers!"
The footsteps stop.
For a long moment, nothing happens. Then a voice speaks from the other side—rough and inhuman, but careful with the words.
"Eat. You need... strength."
It's not the Beast King's voice. This one is higher, younger somehow.
"I don't want food," I say. "I want out of this room."
"Can't. King's orders. You stay... until ready."
"Ready for what?"
Silence.
"Hello? Ready for WHAT?"
More silence. Then: "To understand. What you are. Now."
The footsteps walk away before I can ask more questions.
I stare at the food tray, my stomach twisting with hunger and fear. What if it's poisoned? What if they're trying to drug me?
But what choice do I have? Starve, or take the risk?
I grab the bread and sniff it. It smells normal. Fresh, even. I take the tiniest bite, ready to spit it out if it tastes wrong.
It tastes amazing.
I devour the entire tray in minutes, hating myself for being grateful.
Night falls. The fortress grows darker, filled with shadows that seem to move on their own. I climb onto the bed and pull the blanket over me, trying to feel safe. The marks on my arms glow softly in the darkness, like nightlights.
I must fall asleep eventually, because I wake suddenly to a sound.
Scratching. Like claws on stone.
It's coming from the window.
I sit up slowly, fear making my whole body shake. The window is three stories up. Nothing should be able to reach it.
The scratching continues. Slow. Deliberate.
I force myself to look.
A face appears in the window—another Shadowborn, this one smaller and faster-looking. Its red eyes bore into mine. It taps on the glass with one claw.
Then it speaks, its voice muffled but clear: "The king... wants you dead. Some of us... agree."
My blood turns to ice.
"Others want... to keep you. The king protects you. But he sleeps... sometimes."
The creature's claw traces a line across the window, and the glass cracks.
"Question is..." The Shadowborn tilts its head. "Which side... will win?"
The glass shatters.
The Shadowborn reaches through, its claws stretching toward me—
The door explodes open.
The Beast King fills the doorway, shadows swirling around him like a storm. His eyes burn red with rage.
He roars—a sound so loud and terrifying that the windows rattle and my ears ring.
The Shadowborn at the window vanishes instantly, dropping away into the darkness.
The Beast King crosses the room in two massive strides and looks out the broken window. Then he turns to me, and I see something in his face I didn't expect.
Fear. He's afraid. For me.
"You're bleeding," he says, his voice rough.
I look down. My arm has a cut from the flying glass. It's not deep, but blood is running down to my elbow.
The Beast King moves toward me, and I scramble backward on the bed. "Stay away!"
He stops immediately, his hands raised like he's trying to calm a scared animal. "Need to... heal it."
"Why?" The word bursts out of me. "Why do you care? You said some of your monsters want me dead! Maybe you should just let them kill me and get it over with!"
His eyes flash that strange silver color again. "No."
"Why not?"
He stares at me for a long moment. Then he says something that makes my whole world tilt:
"Because you're not... just claimed. You're bonded. To me. If you die..." He pauses. "I die too."
The room spins.
"What?" I whisper.
"The magic. The marks." He gestures at my glowing arms. "They don't just... protect you. They connect us. Your life... is my life now. Your death... is my death."
I can't breathe. "You tied your life to mine? Without asking me?"
"Yes."
"WHY?"
His jaw clenches. "Because it was... the only way. To save you. The curse required... a price. I paid it."
"By making me your prisoner forever?"
"By making you... impossible to kill. Anyone who tries... fights me. And I am..." He straightens to his full height. "Very hard to kill."
The marks on my arms pulse once, twice, like a heartbeat. Not my heartbeat.
His.
I can feel it. His life force flowing through the bond between us. He's telling the truth. We're connected now, in a way that goes deeper than chains or locks.
If I die, he dies.
But also... if he dies, I die.
"You monster," I whisper. "You trapped me."
Something that might be pain crosses his face. "Yes. But I kept you... alive."
He turns and walks to the door.
"Where are you going?" I ask, hating how my voice shakes.
He pauses in the doorway. "To kill... everyone who tried. To hurt you tonight."
Then he's gone, and I hear roars and screams echoing through the fortress.