Celeste's POV
"Stop!"
A guard's hand clamped down on my shoulder just as we reached the forbidden library's entrance.
My heart plummeted. We'd been so careful, sneaking through empty corridors, avoiding patrols. But we'd failed.
"Turn around slowly," the guard commanded.
I exchanged a desperate look with Aria. We were caught. Tomorrow I'd be handed to Seraphina, and now I wouldn't even get the chance to fight back.
We turned.
The guard stared at us. Young. Uncertain. His eyes lingered on the mark glowing on my palm.
"You're the bride," he said quietly. "The one they're giving away tomorrow."
"Yes," I admitted. No point lying now.
The guard's jaw tightened. Then, to my shock, he stepped aside. "The forbidden library is through that door. You have two hours before the next patrol. Make them count."
I stared at him. "You're... letting us go?"
"My sister was Bride 8." His voice shook. "Prince Lucian told us she died from power consumption. But I've heard the rumors. About the trapped souls. About the murders." He met my eyes. "I won't help them kill another innocent girl. Even if it costs me my life."
"Thank you," I whispered.
He nodded once and walked away, leaving us alone.
Aria pulled open the heavy door. "Quickly. Before he changes his mind."
The forbidden library was smaller than I expected. Dusty shelves lined the walls, filled with ancient books that hummed with dark energy. My skin prickled just being near them.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Aria asked nervously.
"Bride 12's ritual," I said, scanning the shelves. "The one that was supposed to give her more time. If I can find it—"
"You'll end up like her," a voice said from the shadows. "Screaming as your soul tears apart."
I spun around.
Lucian leaned against a bookshelf, arms crossed. His silver eyes gleamed in the darkness.
"How did you—" I started.
"I've been following you since you left your chambers," he interrupted. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice you sneaking through my palace?"
Anger surged through me. "Your palace? I thought you were handing me over to the Council tomorrow. Why do you care what I do tonight?"
"Because that ritual you're looking for will kill you faster than Seraphina ever could." Lucian pushed off the shelf and moved closer. "Bride 12 was desperate. She didn't read the fine print."
"What fine print?" Aria demanded.
Lucian pulled a book from the shelf without looking. He'd obviously been here before. "The ritual requires a sacrifice. You gain time by stealing it from someone else. Bride 12 tried to steal time from the Dark God himself." He opened the book, showing us a page covered in dried blood. "This is what happened to her."
The page showed a drawing of a woman screaming, her body dissolving into shadows.
"She lasted three hours after completing the ritual," Lucian said quietly. "The Dark God took everything. Her time. Her soul. Her very existence. There's a reason it's in the forbidden library."
I wanted to argue. To tell him I didn't care. But the drawing was horrifying.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" My voice broke. "Just accept death? Let Seraphina win?"
"You're supposed to trust me," Lucian said.
I laughed bitterly. "Trust you? You just told the entire Council you were handing me over! You said one life wasn't worth—"
"I lied." His voice cut through my rant like a knife.
I froze. "What?"
"I lied to the Council. I lied to you. I lied to everyone." Lucian's expression was unreadable. "Because they were watching. Testing me. Making sure I'd choose the realm over one girl."
"But you said—"
"I said what they needed to hear." He moved closer until we were inches apart. "Did you really think, after twelve centuries of waiting, I'd just hand you over to your death?"
Hope fluttered in my chest. "So you're not giving me to Seraphina?"
"Over my dead body." His silver eyes burned with intensity. "Which, admittedly, is difficult to arrange since I'm immortal. But I'd find a way before letting her touch you."
"Then why tell me you were?" I demanded. "Why make me think you'd betrayed me?"
"Because I needed you angry," Lucian said simply. "Angry enough to try something reckless. Angry enough to sneak into the forbidden library where we could talk without being overheard." He gestured to the room around us. "These walls are shielded. The Council can't spy here. It's the only place in the palace where I can speak freely."
I tried to process this. "So this was all a test? A trick?"
"A necessity." Lucian's voice softened slightly. "The Council has spies everywhere. If they knew I planned to defy them, they'd move up the handover. You'd be with Seraphina right now instead of tomorrow."
"So what's the real plan?" Aria asked.
Lucian pulled out a small crystal from his pocket. It glowed with the same silver light as my mark.
"This is a Realm Key," he explained. "It can open a portal to anywhere in existence. Tomorrow, during the handover ceremony, I'll create a distraction. You'll use this to escape to the mortal realm."
"The mortal realm?" I shook my head. "But I'm bound here. You said—"
"I lied about that too," Lucian admitted. "The binding can be broken. It just requires..." He hesitated. "A sacrifice."
My stomach dropped. "What kind of sacrifice?"
"The one who binds you must willingly break the bond," Lucian said. "Which means I have to give up my claim on you. Permanently. Once you cross through that portal, you'll be mortal again. Human. Free."
"And you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"I stay here. Face the Council's punishment for defying them. Probably imprisonment. Maybe execution if they're feeling dramatic." He said it so casually, like his death meant nothing.
"No," I said firmly. "No, I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself for me."
"It's not your choice," Lucian replied. "It's mine. And I've had twelve centuries to think about it. This is how it has to be."
"There has to be another way!" I grabbed his arm. "We can fight together. Use my power—"
"Your power isn't strong enough yet," Lucian interrupted. "You've had one day of training. Seraphina has been studying dark magic for months. The Dark God is ancient and cunning. You'd die within minutes."
"So I just run?" I couldn't believe this. "Leave you here to die? Leave Aria and everyone else to face the Dark God alone?"
"You survive," Lucian said, his voice hard. "You go back to the mortal realm. Live your life. Forget about this place. Forget about me."
"I can't do that," I whispered. "Not after everything. Not after remembering—"
"Remembering a thousand-year-old love story?" Lucian's expression was carefully blank. "That was the Priestess and a human prince. They're both gone now. You're Celeste. I'm a monster. There's nothing between us worth dying for."
His words hurt more than I expected.
"You don't mean that," I said.
"Don't I?" He pulled his arm free. "I've killed twelve women, Celeste. Trapped their souls. Waged wars. Destroyed kingdoms. The man you remember loving died the day you did. What's left is just a weapon pretending to be a person."
"That's not true," I insisted. "I've seen glimpses of who you were. The books you brought me. The way you caught me during training. You're not just a weapon."
"Glimpses aren't enough," Lucian said coldly. "Tomorrow, you take the Realm Key and leave. That's an order."
"I don't take orders from you," I shot back.
"Then take advice from someone who's loved you across two lifetimes—run." His voice cracked slightly. "Run and don't look back. Because if you stay, if you try to fight, you will die. And I've already watched you die once. I can't... I won't do it again."
The vulnerability in those last words broke through his cold facade.
This wasn't about sacrifice or duty. This was about a man who'd spent twelve centuries in grief, terrified of losing the woman he loved a second time.
"Lucian," I said softly, reaching for him.
He stepped back. "Don't. Don't make this harder than it already is."
"What if I don't want to make it easy?" I asked. "What if I want to stay and fight?"
"Then you're a fool," he said flatly. He handed me the crystal. "Tomorrow at sunset. The ceremony will be in the grand courtyard. When I give the signal—when you see me draw my sword—use the key. It'll take you anywhere you think of. Picture your old library. Your apartment. Anywhere but here."
I stared at the crystal in my palm. My ticket to freedom. To life.
To abandoning everything and everyone I'd started to care about.
"I need to think about this," I said finally.
"Don't think. Just survive." Lucian turned to leave, then paused. "For what it's worth, Celeste... meeting you again, even for these few days, was worth twelve centuries of waiting."
He walked away, disappearing into the shadows.
I stood there, holding the crystal that represented my escape and my cowardice in equal measure.
"Miss Celeste?" Aria touched my arm gently. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "Run and live? Or stay and probably die?"
"There might be a third option," Aria said slowly. She pulled a thin book from the forbidden shelf. "This is Bride 12's diary. The real one, not the one Prince Lucian showed everyone. She wrote something in the last entry. Something about the trapped brides."
She opened to the final page. The handwriting was shaky, desperate:
If anyone reads this, know that we twelve are not gone. We are trapped between life and death, bound by dark magic. But we're still conscious. Still aware. And we've learned something the Dark God doesn't know—
The trapped can trap the trapper.
If someone with Priestess power were to reach us, we could reverse the binding. Turn his weapon against him. Twelve souls, twelve pieces of his power. Steal them back, and he weakens. Weaken him enough, and he can be sealed.
But the price is terrible. The one who frees us must take our place. Must become the new prison for dark power. Trapped. Alone. Forever.
I hope whoever reads this is braver than I was.
I hope they choose to fight.
The diary ended there.
I looked at Aria, then at the crystal in my hand.
Run and live.
Or stay and become a prison for twelve centuries' worth of dark magic.
Some choice.
But maybe, just maybe, it was the choice that mattered.
"We have until tomorrow sunset," I said slowly. "Can you find me everything this library has on soul binding and dark magic?"
Aria's eyes widened. "You're not actually considering—"
"I'm considering all my options," I interrupted. "Including the ones that make me a hero or an idiot. Possibly both."
As Aria began pulling books, I looked at the Realm Key one more time.
Freedom was right there. Safety. Life.
But twelve women were trapped because of me. A realm was in danger because of me. And a prince who'd waited twelve centuries was planning to die for me.
Maybe it was time to stop running from my problems.
Maybe it was time to become the girl who saved the day instead of the girl who needed saving.
The mark on my palm pulsed with agreement.
The Priestess whispered: Finally. You're learning.
Tomorrow at sunset, Lucian expected me to run.
Tomorrow at sunset, I was going to give him the shock of his immortal life.
"Aria," I said, smiling grimly. "How do you feel about committing treason?"
She grinned back. "I thought you'd never ask."