I stood motionless, staring at the empty space where Seraphina had vanished, the weight of the silence pressing down on me. My heart thundered in my chest, each beat an echo of something I couldn't ignore—a weakness.
Foolish. Foolish mortal. She thought she could escape me.
I should have let her go. Should have let her disappear into the night, fading like any other insignificant mortal. But the primal urge to chase her clawed at me, relentless and raw. I couldn't tear myself away.
Her scent lingered in the air—earth, fire, rebellion—curling around me like smoke from a fire I couldn't douse. A fire I didn't want to douse. And that realization, that thought, chilled me to my core.
I knew the cost of that flame. The price I would pay if I allowed it to consume me.
I sucked in a sharp breath, chest tightening, as the storm inside me intensified. No. I couldn't let her win. Every fiber of my being screamed to claim her, to force her into submission, but something else tugged at me. A strange compulsion to understand her. To unravel why she fought me so fiercely.
But no. That wasn't my purpose.
My job was simple: to break her. To deliver her soul.
Her resistance—this puzzle—was meant to be solved, not nurtured. The gods had already made their decision, and I had struck a bargain with Kaoth. A bargain I could not, and would not, walk away from.
Still, the image of her face lingered, burning in my mind—her eyes swirling with anger, fear, and something else. Something dangerously alluring.
She was a mortal. She was beneath me.
I clenched my fists, forcing the thoughts from my mind. This obsession—this growing fascination—had no place here.
I moved forward, my steps quiet but deliberate. The chapel loomed ahead, its ancient wooden doors weathered and stained with time. Faint slivers of light filtered through the cracks, casting an ethereal glow across the cold stone floor.
She wasn't far. I could feel her, her heartbeat thrumming through the air like a pulse, guiding me closer, drawing me in.
Each step quickened. Each breath came faster. The distance between us narrowed, and with it, the inevitable collision.