Celeste POV
"Touch our bond again, and I'll show you why you should fear me more than him," I say, my hand burning with silver light.
I don't know where the words come from. I don't know how I'm making light pour from my hands like water.
But I can feel the king's power trying to rip Kael away from me, and something inside me screams NO.
The king stares at me, his face pale. "Lady Celeste, you don't understand what you're protecting—"
"He's MINE," I say, and I sound like a wild animal. "The tie is sealed. You can't break it."
"She's right," Kael says from where he's chained to the wall. His green eyes are sparkling, fixed on me like I'm the only thing in the world. "The link is complete. Try to break it, and you'll kill us both."
The king looks between us, his face shifting from determination to fear to something that looks almost like... resignation?
He rolls up the scroll. "Very well. But Lady Celeste, I must warn you. That monster you've bonded yourself to is—"
"The Serpent King," I finish. "I know. He told me before he passed out."
Actually, he barely whispered it, but I heard every word. And when the link formed between us, I felt the truth of it burning through my veins.
Kael isn't just a shifter. He's royalty. Ancient, powerful, and scary.
And somehow, I'm his fated mate from three hundred years ago.
Which should be impossible because I wasn't living three hundred years ago.
Except... maybe I was? Maybe my soul keeps coming back? Maybe that's why I got a second chance at life after Damian and Vivienne killed me?
My head hurts just thinking about it.
"If you know what he is, then you know how dangerous he is," the king says softly. "He could make war on all five kingdoms. He could destroy everything."
"He won't," I say with confidence I don't fully understand.
"How can you be sure?"
I look at Kael, at his silver hair and deadly beautiful face and eyes that watch me like I'm precious. "Because he's been waiting three hundred years for me. He's not going to ruin this by being stupid."
Kael's lips curve into a smile that's both frightening and soft. "Smart girl."
The king sighs deeply. "Then I hope you can control him, Lady Celeste. Because if you can't..." He leaves the threat hanging in the air.
He walks out, leaving us alone.
The moment the door closes, I rush to Kael's side. The metal chains glow with magic meant to hold him, but his skin is already healing where the arrow pierced his chest.
"How do I get these off?" I ask, pulling at the chains.
"You can't. Only the king has the key." Kael tilts his head, studying me. "How did you find me?" "I followed the bond. " It sounds crazy, but it's true. After the wedding chaos, when the guards took Kael away, I felt him being dragged somewhere. Like a string pulling in my chest. " And then I felt the king trying to cut the bond, and I just... reacted."
"With magic," Kael says softly. "You have magic, Celeste. Real magic. That's not normal for people."
"Nothing about me is normal anymore," I say. "I died and came back to life. I joined with a cursed serpent king. I can feel you in my head—"
"I can feel you too," Kael interrupts. His eyes burn into mine. "I can feel your anger. Your pain. Your thoughts of betrayal and death. I know everything that happened to you in your first life."
My breath catches. "Everything?"
"Everything." His voice is gentle now. "Damian. Vivienne. The drug. The jail. I felt it all when the bond formed."
Tears burn my eyes. Nobody knows what they did to me. Nobody knows how badly they hurt me.
Except Kael. He knows it all now.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I didn't mean for you to see—"
"Don't apologize." Kael's voice is sharp. "They hurt you. They killed you. And now they're going to do it again."
"Not if I stop them first."
"We," Kael corrects. "We stop them. You're not alone anymore, Celeste. You have me now."
The bond between us swells with warmth, and I realize he means it. He's not going to leave me. He's not going to hurt me like Damian did.
Because he's been waiting three hundred years for this. For me.
"Why me?" I ask softly. "Why am I your mate? Why did your curse require my choice specifically?"
Kael's expression changes to something ancient and sad. "Because three hundred years ago, before I was cursed, you were my wife. My queen. When my enemies came for me, you threw yourself in front of the witch's spell. You died saving me."
My heart stops. "I... died?"
"Your soul did. But souls don't disappear—they're reborn. The gods promised me that if I waited, if I suffered the curse, your soul would find me again. You'd be reborn as a prince who would choose me freely at a Selection Ceremony." His eyes are fierce. "And you did. You walked past every safe choice and picked the monster everyone fears."
"You're not a monster," I say furiously.
"Yes, I am." Kael's smile is sharp. "But I'm YOUR monster now."
Something in his words makes my skin tingle with warning and promise and something that feels dangerously close to desire.
Before I can reply, the dungeon door crashes open again.
But this time, it's not the king.
It's Damian, his amber eyes wild with rage. Blood drips from a cut on his face. His clothes are torn. He looks like he fought through an army to get here.
"You," he snarls, pointing at me. "You ruined EVERYTHING!"
He pulls out a knife—long, black, covered in the same symbols as the shot that nearly killed Kael.
"If I can't have you," Damian says, his voice shaking with rage, "then nobody can."
He lunges at me with the poisoned blade.
Kael roars, pulling against his chains so hard the stone wall cracks.
But he's still stuck. Still chained. Still unable to reach me.
I have one second to decide: fight or run.
I choose fight.
The silver light bursts from my hands again, brighter than before. It hits Damian like a wall, throwing him backward against the prison door.
His knife clatters to the floor.
We both stare at my glowing hands in shock.
"What ARE you?" Damian whispers, his face pale with fear.
I don't know. I honestly don't know.
But behind me, Kael starts laughing—deep and dark and winning.
"She's mine," he says simply. "And you just made a fatal mistake, fox."
The silver chains tying Kael begin to crack.