POV: Lucian
I'd built an empire on control.
Every decision calculated. Every risk measured. Every emotion locked behind walls I'd spent years constructing.
But Celeste Thorne destroyed those walls in three weeks.
Now I stood in my office watching her process the Oracle's ultimatum one of us had to die and I'd already made my choice.
It would be me.
I'd known from the beginning this was how it would end. The mirror had shown me dying for her. I'd seen it hundreds of times. Different locations, different weapons, but always the same ending.
Me dead. Her alive.
I'd accepted it years ago.
We need a plan, Celeste said, pacing like a caged animal. We need to find a way to save both of us.
There isn't one.
You don't know that!
Yes, I do. I moved to my desk and pulled out a leather journal. Five years of research. Five years of studying fate and destiny and magic. I've read every text. Consulted every expert. When the universe demands balance, there's no negotiating.
I won't accept that! Her voice cracked. I won't let you die for me!
You don't have a choice.
Like hell I don't!
She grabbed the journal from my hands and threw it across the room. It hit the wall and fell, pages scattering.
Stop acting like you've already decided! Tears streamed down her face. Stop treating this like some business transaction where you've calculated the acceptable losses!
I'm not
Yes, you are! She shoved my chest. Hard. You're planning to sacrifice yourself and you're not even asking what I want!
Her words hit harder than her fists.
What you want? I repeated quietly.
Yes! Me! The person you're supposedly doing all this for! She shoved me again. What if I want you alive? What if I want us both to survive? What if I
She stopped. Turned away. Her shoulders shook.
I'd never felt more helpless in my life.
Celeste
Don't. Her voice was muffled. Don't comfort me. Don't tell me it'll be okay. Just... tell me the truth. You've already decided to die tonight, haven't you?
I couldn't lie to her. Not anymore.
Yes.
POV: Celeste
The word broke something inside me.
Why? I spun to face him. Why are you so ready to die?
Lucian's expression was calm. Too calm. Like he'd made peace with his death already.
Because you're worth more than me, he said simply.
That's not true!
It is. He moved closer. You have power. Real power to change fate, to save lives. I'm just a man with money and resources. The world needs you more than it needs me.
I don't care what the world needs! The confession burst out before I could stop it. I care about what I need! And I need you alive!
Lucian froze. Celeste
No, listen to me. I grabbed his shirt, fisting the expensive fabric. For five years, you've been watching me from the shadows. For five years, you've been planning and protecting and controlling everything. But you never once asked what I wanted.
I wanted to keep you safe
I know. And you did. You saved me from Adrian. You gave me a home, a job, a purpose. Tears blurred my vision. But you also gave me something I wasn't expecting. You gave me hope. You made me feel seen. You made me feel like I mattered not because of some magic mirror or destiny, but because of me.
His jaw tightened. You do matter.
Then stop treating yourself like you're expendable! I shook him. You matter too! To me! And if you die tonight, I'll spend the rest of my life knowing that the man who saved me, the man who saw me when no one else did, died because he thought I was worth more!
You are worth more.
Then let me prove it! I pulled him down until we were eye to eye. Let me save you for once! Let me be your partner, not your mission!
Something cracked in Lucian's expression. The mask he wore the cold, controlled billionaire shattered completely.
What remained was raw and desperate and utterly human.
You think I haven't tried? His voice broke. You think I haven't spent five years looking for a way to save us both? I've read every book, consulted every expert, and made deals with entities I shouldn't even know exist. And every single one told me the same thing: the visions are showing our possible futures. In every single one where I live, you die. In every one where you live, I die. There is no option where we both survive.
Then we make one!
How?
I don't know! But we're smart! We're powerful! We have magic that shouldn't exist! I grabbed his face. We've already broken the rules. We stopped Adrian. We changed my vision of Mr. Chen dying. We've rewritten fate before!
Small fates. Individual deaths. Lucian's hands came up to cover mine. But this? This is cosmic balance. Every death we prevented created a debt. Tonight, that debt comes due.
Then we pay it together or not at all.
That's not how it works
I don't care how it works! I shouted. I'm not losing you! Not after everything!
Lucian stared at me. Then, slowly, he pulled my hands from his face and held them between us.
Why? he asked quietly. Why fight so hard for me? I manipulated you. Destroyed your life. Why do you care if I live or die?
I could've lied. Should've lied. Kept my heart locked away.
But I was done with lies.
Because I love you, I whispered.
The words hung in the air between us.
Lucian's eyes widened. What?
I love you. Saying it again made it more real. I don't know when it happened. Maybe when you saved me from Adrian. Maybe when you held me after my first vision. Maybe it started the moment I walked into your office and recognized you from the mirror. But I love you, Lucian Ashcroft. And I won't let you die.
For a long moment, he just stared at me.
Then he kissed me.
Not gentle. Not careful. Desperate and fierce and absolutely certain.
His hands tangled in my hair. Mine clutched his shirt. We kissed like the world was ending because maybe it was.
When we finally pulled apart, both breathing hard, Lucian pressed his forehead to mine.
I love you too, he whispered. I've loved you since the moment I saw your face in that mirror. Every day for five years. And that's why I can't let you die.
Then don't let either of us die. I held his face. Find another way. There has to be another way.
There isn't
His phone exploded with notifications.
He pulled it out, and his face went white.
What? I demanded. What is it?
He turned the phone toward me.
A live video feed. The Twilight Markets. The Mirror Keeper army still assembled. But now, standing on the platform beside their leader was someone else.
Someone I recognized.
Adrian.
He looked different. Enhanced. His eyes glowed with the same silver light as the Mirror Keepers. And in his hands, he held my mother's mirror.
Hello, Celeste, Adrian's voice came through the phone. Surprise. Turns out your new friends needed someone who knew you. Someone who could tell them all your weaknesses. Someone who wanted revenge.
He smiled. It was twisted and wrong.
The Mirror Keepers offered me power in exchange for information. And I told them everything. He stroked the mirror like it was precious. About your apartment. Your routine. How much this mirror means to you. How you'd do anything to save your mother's soul.
No, I breathed.
So here's the new deal, Adrian continued. Midnight. Both of you come. And when you arrive, you get to choose: save the mirror and each other dies, or save each other and the mirror and your mother's soul gets destroyed. Either way, I win.
He raised a hammer over the mirror.
You have five hours. Choose wisely.
The feed cut out.
I stared at the blank screen, horror flooding through me.
He's working with them, I whispered. Adrian's working with the Mirror Keepers.
Not just working with them. Lucian's voice was grim. He's been enhanced with their magic. Which means he's as dangerous as any of them now.
What do we do?
Lucian set his phone down carefully. His jaw was set with determination.
We stop playing by their rules, he said. They want us separated? We stay together. They want us to choose? We refuse. They want one of us to die? His eyes met mine, fierce and burning. We make sure none of us die and all of them regret threatening what's mine.
How?
A dark smile crossed his face. By calling in a favor from someone who hates the Mirror Keepers even more than I do.
Who?
Before he could answer, the office doors exploded open.
A man strode in tall, handsome, with dark eyes that gleamed with dangerous amusement.
Did someone say they needed help dealing with Mirror Keepers? The man grinned. Because that's my specialty.
Lucian sighed. Dante Morelli. Thank you for coming.
My blood ran cold.
Dante Morelli. The crime lord from the Twilight Markets. The man who'd given me his card weeks ago.
The man who hated Lucian.
You called him? I asked Lucian. Your enemy?
Sometimes, Lucian said grimly, you need a devil to fight an army of angels. And Dante owes me a favor.
Dante's smile widened. A favor I'm happy to repay. Especially if it means taking down those self-righteous Mirror Keepers. His eyes found me. Hello again, Celeste. Miss me?
What's he talking about? Lucian's voice dropped dangerously.
We met. Briefly. Dante's smile was pure mischief. She's even more beautiful up close, Ashcroft. I can see why you're willing to die for her.
Dante, Lucian growled. Focus.
Right. Business. Dante's expression turned serious. Here's what I know: The Mirror Keepers have been hiding in my territory for months. Planning something big. And tonight's their move take back their lost sister and eliminate the man who's been keeping her from them.
Me, I whispered.
You. Dante looked at me with something like respect. You're more important than you realize, Celeste. You're not just another Mirror Keeper. You're the key to something they've been searching for. Something that could change everything.
What? I demanded.
Dante pulled out an ancient scroll and unrolled it on Lucian's desk.
The symbols matched the ones on my mirror.
This, he said, pointing to text I couldn't read, is the prophecy of the Last Keeper. A Mirror Keeper born without magic who awakens power greater than all others combined. Power to not just see fate, but rewrite it completely. Power to break the cycle of death and destiny forever.
He looked up at me.
You're the Last Keeper, Celeste. And if the Mirror Keepers get their hands on you, they won't just make you join them. They'll use your power to control fate itself. To decide who lives and who dies across the entire world.
The room spun.
That's impossible, I whispered.
Is it? Dante gestured to me. You awakened power without training. You stopped Adrian with a thought. You've been changing small fates for weeks. And tonight, if the prophecy is right, your power will fully awaken.
What happens when it awakens? Lucian asked, his voice tight.
Dante's expression turned grim.
She becomes either the world's savior, he said quietly, or its destroyer. Depending on who controls her when the transformation happens.
He looked between us.
So here's my advice: forget the Oracle's ultimatum. Forget one of you dying. Because if Celeste transforms tonight and the Mirror Keepers have her, both of you dying will be the least of the world's problems.