Celeste's POV
I crushed the Realm Key in my fist.
The crystal shattered into powder, its escape magic dissolving into nothing.
"What are you doing?!" Lucian screamed.
"What I should have done from the beginning," I said, power flooding through me. "Fighting back."
The trapped brides launched at Lucian. I threw myself in front of him, my marked hand blazing with silver light.
"STOP!"
My voice carried the weight of a thousand years. The ghostly brides froze mid-air, mere inches from Lucian's face.
The Dark God—wearing Seraphina's body—laughed. "Foolish girl. You think you can command what I've bound?"
"I don't think," I said, stepping forward. "I know. Because I remember now. I remember EVERYTHING."
The memories crashed through me like a tidal wave. Not just the Priestess's memories. Not just Celeste's memories. But the truth that connected them both.
"A thousand years ago," I said, my voice steady despite my racing heart, "I wasn't just the Moon Priestess. I was the Moon Goddess's daughter. Her heir. The one meant to take her place when she grew tired of watching over the realms."
Lucian gasped behind me. "Celeste—"
"But I fell in love with a mortal prince," I continued, never taking my eyes off the Dark God. "And when my mother forbade our love, I made a choice. I gave up my divinity. Became mortal. Died as a human just to prove that love was stronger than immortality."
"A touching story," the Dark God sneered. "And entirely useless. You're still just a girl with borrowed power."
"Am I?" I smiled. "Because the prophecy says 'when the one who remembers returns.' Not when the Priestess returns. When the DAUGHTER returns. When the heir remembers who she truly is."
I raised both hands, and pure divine light erupted from my palms. Not just Moon magic. Not just celestial power. The power of a goddess remembering herself.
"I am Celeste Ashford, mortal librarian who learned to survive in a world that hated her."
The light grew brighter.
"I am the Moon Priestess, who loved a prince enough to die for him."
Brighter still.
"And I am Selene, daughter of the Moon Goddess, heir to the celestial throne, and the one person in all existence you should have left alone."
The light exploded outward, slamming into the Dark God with the force of a star going supernova.
Seraphina's body flew backward, crashing through walls. The trapped brides dissolved into silver mist, their chains broken.
For one beautiful moment, twelve ghostly women stood free, smiling at me with gratitude before fading into peaceful light.
Then the Dark God rose from the rubble.
But he wasn't in Seraphina's body anymore.
He stood in his true form—a massive shadow creature with eyes like dying stars and a mouth full of endless darkness.
"You remember," he said, his voice shaking the palace. "But remembering isn't enough. You're still mortal. Still weak. Still mine."
He lunged.
Lucian moved to intercept, but I held up my hand, stopping him.
"This is my fight," I said.
"Celeste, you can't—"
"I love you," I interrupted, finally answering his question from before. Not borrowed from the Priestess. Not confused with gratitude. Real, honest love. "I love you, Lucian Nightveil. The mortal prince. The immortal monster. The man who waited twelve centuries. All of you. I love all of you."
Tears ran down his face. "Celeste—"
"So trust me," I said. "Trust that my love is strong enough to break your curse. Trust that I'll come back to you. Trust that one hundred forty-four years is nothing compared to forever."
Understanding dawned in his silver eyes. "The prophecy. You're going to—"
"Yes." I turned to face the Dark God. "I'm going to break your curse by taking your place. Become immortal so you can finally die. And in one hundred forty-four years, you'll break mine. We'll trade places until the Moon Goddess says we've suffered enough."
"No!" Lucian grabbed my arm. "There has to be another way!"
"There isn't," I said gently. "The moment of greatest sacrifice, remember? This is it. Me choosing to trap myself for over a century just to free you. That's how the Moon knows my love is real."
I pulled away from him and walked toward the Dark God.
"But first," I said, power gathering around me, "I'm going to finish what I started a thousand years ago. I'm going to seal you away. Not forever—even I'm not that powerful yet. But long enough that when I'm finally free again, you'll still be locked up tight."
The Dark God roared. "YOU CANNOT CAGE A GOD!"
"Watch me."
I slammed my hands together, and reality itself bent to my will. Divine sealing magic—the kind only a goddess could wield—wrapped around the Dark God like chains made of starlight.
He screamed. Thrashed. Fought.
But I was the Moon Goddess's daughter. And I'd just remembered how to use my birthright.
The seal snapped into place.
The Dark God collapsed, his power bound, his form shrinking until he was nothing but a small black stone on the floor.
I picked it up. It pulsed with malevolent energy, but it couldn't hurt anyone now.
"One thousand years," I said to the stone. "That's how long this seal lasts. Plenty of time for me to figure out how to make it permanent."
I turned to Lucian.
He stood frozen, staring at me like he'd never seen me before.
"You're really her," he breathed. "The goddess's daughter. You were divine all along."
"I was," I confirmed. "But I'm also Celeste. The girl who scrubbed floors and cataloged books and learned that survival is its own kind of power." I smiled sadly. "Both parts made me strong enough for this."
"For what?" he asked, though we both knew.
"For the trade." I walked to him, taking his cold hands in mine. "Your curse breaks now. You become mortal. You age. You die. You get to be human again after twelve centuries of suffering."
"And you?"
"I become what you were. Immortal. Bound to this realm. Watching centuries pass." I touched his face gently. "But only for one hundred forty-four years. Then you rescue me, just like I rescued you. We trade places until we've both paid the price for our forbidden love."
"That's not fair," Lucian said, his voice breaking. "You just got your life back. Your power. Your memories. You should be free, not trapped again."
"I will be free," I promised. "In one hundred forty-four years, when you come back for me. When your eternal love proves itself one more time."
I leaned forward and kissed him. Soft. Gentle. A promise across time.
When I pulled back, I whispered the words that would seal our fate:
"By the power of the Moon's daughter, I break the curse of immortality. Let Lucian Nightveil return to mortality. And let me take his place until love sets me free."
Silver light exploded between us.
Lucian gasped as warmth flooded back into his body. Color returned to his pale skin. His silver eyes faded to a warm gray-blue. His heart, silent for twelve centuries, began to beat again.
He was mortal.
He was free.
And I felt the immortality settle over me like a frozen blanket.
"No," Lucian whispered, grabbing me as I stumbled. "No, Celeste, what have you done?"
"What I had to," I said. But my voice sounded different now. Distant. Cold. Like his used to sound.
Because I wasn't fully human anymore.
I was becoming what he'd been—a prisoner of time.
"One hundred forty-four years," I reminded him. "Wait for me."
"I will," he promised, tears streaming down his now-mortal face. "I'll wait a thousand more if I have to. I'll find a way to bring you back sooner. I swear it."
"I know." I smiled, even as I felt myself changing. Felt Celeste the mortal slipping away and Selene the immortal guardian taking her place. "I love you."
"I love you too," he said. "Forever."
The transformation completed.
I gently pulled away from him and walked to the window. Outside, the three moons shone brighter than ever. One of them—the smallest—pulsed with recognition.
My mother. The Moon Goddess. Watching. Approving.
Well done, daughter, her voice whispered in my mind. You've proven your love. Now prove your patience. One hundred forty-four years. Then freedom. Then forever.
I turned back to Lucian one last time.
He looked so different as a mortal. Vulnerable. Breakable. Beautiful.
"Go," I said, my voice already taking on the cold authority his used to have. "Live your mortal life. Fall in love again if you need to. Be happy. And in one hundred forty-four years—"
"I'll come back," he finished. "With eternal love strong enough to break your chains."
He walked away, stumbling slightly on legs that hadn't been mortal in over a millennium.
At the door, he paused. "Celeste?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For giving me back my humanity. Even at the cost of yours."
Then he was gone.
And I stood alone in the palace, immortal and untouchable, with one hundred forty-four years stretching before me like an endless night.
But I wasn't afraid.
Because I knew the truth now.
Love that spans eternity never really ends.
It just waits.
And I was very, very good at waiting.
The real question was: what would happen in one hundred forty-four years when Lucian returned?
Would he still love me?
Would his mortal life change him?
And most terrifyingly—would I still be me by then?
Or would immortality turn me into the same cold monster it had made him?
I looked at the black stone in my hand—the sealed Dark God.
Then at my reflection in the window. My eyes had changed. They glowed silver now, just like Lucian's used to.
I smiled.
It was a cold smile.
An immortal's smile.
And somewhere deep inside, the part of me that was still Celeste whispered:
I'm going to lose myself, aren't I?
The Goddess part answered:
Perhaps. But love will bring you back. Just like it brought me back before.
The door burst open.
My father, Helena, Marcus, and—impossibly—Seraphina stumbled in, confused and disoriented.
They'd been in the mortal realm when the Dark God possessed Seraphina. Now they were here, dragged along by dark magic they didn't understand.
Seraphina's eyes widened when she saw me. "Celeste? What... what happened? Why do you look like that?"
I looked at them. My family. The people who'd made my mortal life hell.
And I felt... nothing.
No anger. No pain. No hurt.
Just cold, immortal indifference.
"Go home," I said, my voice echoing with power. "All of you. Forget this place. Forget me. Live your mortal lives and never speak my name again."
"But—" Marcus started.
"GO!"
Divine power exploded from me, shoving them backward through a portal that opened to the mortal realm.
They vanished, screaming.
The portal sealed.
And I was alone again.
For the first time in my life, I had power.
Real power.
The power to protect. To punish. To rule.
And I had one hundred forty-four years to decide what kind of immortal I wanted to be.
The kind who stayed cold and distant like Lucian had been?
Or the kind who remembered what it meant to be human?
Only time would tell.
And I had nothing but time.