The morning light was cruel, piercing through the cracked windowpanes and painting cold lines across the floor. Aurora lay curled on the bed, clutching the quilt as if it could shield her from the darkness inside her. The pact with Kaelen burned in her veins, a fierce, unyielding flame that promised power but demanded a price she could barely comprehend.
Elias sat beside her, his fingers tracing gentle patterns on her skin—calming, grounding. But even his touch couldn't silence the shadows creeping at the edges of her mind.
"Do you feel it too?" she asked softly.
He nodded, eyes heavy with weariness. "The demon inside me is stronger. Sometimes I hear it whisper, like a snake coiled around my soul."
Aurora swallowed the lump in her throat. "We have to find a way to break it."
Lucien appeared at the doorway, his presence sharp and steady. "The demon prince's bargains always come with conditions—hidden clauses meant to trap you."
Aurora lifted her eyes to him. "Is there a way out?"
Lucien shook his head. "Not without rewriting the terms."
Rewriting a demon's bargain was no simple task. It required rare knowledge, rituals lost to time, and a will strong enough to resist temptation's sharp claws.
Aurora spent the day poring over ancient tomes Lucien had brought—books filled with cryptic symbols, faded ink, and warnings written in trembling script. The language was old but familiar, as if the curse was woven into her own blood.
Hours bled into night. Aurora's exhaustion grew, but so did her resolve.
She would not lose Elias to the darkness.
Not now.
Not ever.
The next evening, Lucien guided Aurora to a hidden chamber beneath an abandoned chapel—a place forgotten by time, where the veil between worlds was thin.
Candles flickered, casting long shadows that danced on cold stone walls. An altar lay at the center, carved with symbols of binding and release.
"This is where we will try to rewrite the bargain," Lucien explained, lighting a circle of salt and sage.
Aurora nodded, steeling herself.
Elias stood by her side, pale but determined.
Kaelen's presence still haunted her—an invisible weight pressing down.
As the ritual began, Aurora's voice rang out, reciting the ancient incantations.
The air thickened, charged with power. Shadows flickered and stretched, whispering secrets meant to be forgotten.
Kaelen appeared suddenly, stepping through the darkness like a shadow given form.
"You think you can rewrite what I have bound?" His voice was both amused and warning.
Aurora's eyes met his. "I will do whatever it takes to save him."
Kaelen smiled, a cruel curve. "And what of your soul? Are you willing to trade that too?"
The room trembled as dark energy surged.
Lucien's dagger glowed bright, a beacon against the creeping night.
The bargain unraveled, threads of the curse pulled taut and rewoven.
Elias gasped, clutching his chest as the demon's hold fought to cling.
Aurora felt the fire within her flare—pain and power mingling, a dangerous dance.
Kaelen's eyes burned with fury and fascination.
"You are stronger than I anticipated," he said. "But this is far from over."
With a final, sharp glance, Kaelen vanished into the shadows, leaving a cold silence behind.
The ritual left them drained but alive.
Elias opened his eyes, clearer now, but haunted.
"I'm free," he whispered, "but only for now."
Aurora held him close, tears tracing paths down her cheeks.
"Then we fight. Together."
But as days passed, strange things began to happen.
Whispers echoed in empty rooms.
Shadows moved just beyond sight.
Aurora felt an unseen gaze watching her every step.
Kaelen's bargain was broken—but not destroyed.
The demon prince was waiting.
And so was the darkness inside her.