Days after days passed, but it was all torture...but it seems today was different.
The chamber smelled of smoke and blood.
I was hauled into it like a prisoner brought before a king. Chains cut into my wrists, dragging sparks of pain with every step. The silver collar still burned my throat, each breath like swallowing fire.
The Court gathered again, their pale faces gleaming in the torchlight, eyes gleaming with hunger. The last time I had stood here, Liam had bled for my defiance. Tonight, I knew the stakes would be worse.
Marcus waited at the dais.
He sat like a monarch carved from shadow, his cloak spilling down the steps, his gaze as heavy as the air itself. When he lifted one hand, the entire chamber silenced as if the world itself bent to his command.
"Aria," he said, my name a knife against my skin. "You test my patience."
Kaylan shoved me forward, her grip cruel, her armor glinting like storm clouds caught in flame. "Patience she doesn't deserve," she spat. "She defies you at every turn, Marcus. Let me end this farce."
But Marcus didn't look at Kaylan. His eyes never left mine.
"You've seen what defiance costs," he murmured, voice as smooth as velvet over steel. "You've watched the boy bleed in your stead. Yet still, you cling to rebellion."
I swallowed, but my voice didn't falter. "If breaking me is your goal, you'll have to try harder."
A ripple of disdain moved through the Court. Some laughed. Some hissed.
Marcus rose. His shadow lengthened across the floor, devouring the circle of firelight until I stood in darkness with him. "Then I will offer you something no one else in this hall has ever been given."
The crowd stilled.
He descended the dais, step by step, until he loomed above me. His presence pressed against my ribs, suffocating.
"A bargain."
The word fell like a stone into silence.
"If you serve me," Marcus said, his eyes burning into mine, "openly, without hesitation, I will spare him. Liam will live. He will breathe. He will not be touched again — unless you fail me."
The promise rang through the hall like thunder.
Gasps. Murmurs. Shock.
Kaylan's jaw tightened. "My lord, this is madness—"
"Silence," Marcus said, and the word snapped her into obedience.
He turned back to me. His lips curved in something almost like a smile. "But if you refuse…"
The air thickened. My heart slammed against my chest.
"…then I will end him in ways that even the darkest corners of your nightmares cannot conjure. He will scream until his voice is gone. He will bleed until there is nothing left to spill. And when the fire consumes him, you will watch every moment."
The torches flared as if to underline his words.
My throat closed. Shadows writhed at my feet, restless, hungry, screaming against my ribs.
"Choose," Marcus said softly. "Your loyalty… or his life."
The chamber erupted in whispers. Some leaned forward eagerly, others shook their heads in disbelief. To bargain with a fledgling — unheard of. To promise life — unthinkable.
And then Lucian's voice cut through the din.
He rose from his place, golden eyes glinting with amusement, his smile sharp enough to cut glass. "What a gift you've been offered, little stray." His voice coiled like smoke, wrapping around me. "Do you truly wish to see your precious boy carved apart? Take the bargain. Kneel. Serve. Marcus is merciful when he chooses to be."
His words slithered under my skin, tempting, taunting.
Marcus didn't stop him. He only watched, waiting, testing.
Kaylan's snarl broke the moment. "She'll never bend. She's too arrogant, too foolish. Let her refusal be her doom."
The Court hissed and roared, some calling for my submission, others for Liam's death.
I closed my eyes.
In the silence of my skull, the shadows whispered. Bend. Break. Serve. Kill. Choose.
When I opened them, Liam's face filled my vision. Not here, not now — but in memory. His smile in the dungeon, faint but defiant. His whispered word: Endure.
I drew a breath. It burned.
Then I lifted my chin.
"No."
The word shattered the chamber.
Gasps. Howls. Roars of fury.
Kaylan's laughter cracked sharp as a whip. "Fool!"
Lucian's smile widened, almost fevered. "Delicious."
But Marcus only stood there, unmoving, as if carved from stone. His eyes were endless, fathomless.
"You refuse," he said. Not a question. A truth.
My voice shook, but I forced steel into it. "I won't sell myself for his life. If you want me, Marcus, you'll have to take me. But I'll never kneel."
The shadows roared inside me, swelling, pressing against the chains until smoke curled up from my skin.
The Court was chaos — some screaming for my death, others for blood, others just watching, hungry.
Marcus lifted one hand. Silence fell again.
His gaze lingered on me, long, unblinking. Then his lips curved faintly.
"Very well," he murmured. "The bargain is refused."
My heart stopped.
"Liam's death—"
The Court leaned forward like wolves ready to feast.
"—is postponed."
The hall erupted in shock.
Kaylan staggered a step forward. "What?!"
Lucian's laugh rang, high and delighted.
Marcus turned back toward the dais, his cloak whispering behind him. "Let the fledgling stew in the weight of her choice. Let her watch as each moment draws the boy closer to death. Mercy is a chain. And soon, it will choke her."
The Court roared, half in outrage, half in glee.
Kaylan's eyes burned into mine, promising pain. Lucian's gaze lingered, golden and sharp, like a predator savoring its prey.
And Marcus, seated once more, leaned back into his throne of shadow.
"You will break, Aria," he said softly, a whisper meant only for me. "Not with blades. Not with blood. But with love."
The words seared deeper than any wound.
The chains dragged me back toward the dark.
But in my chest, the shadows writhed, restless, unyielding.
And I swore to myself, through the ache of guilt and the sting of fear:
If Marcus wanted me broken, he would have to shatter the night itself.