POV: Seraphina
I couldn't remember what day it was anymore.
Time had stopped making sense. Days blended into nights, and nights blended into mornings. I lived in a strange dream where nothing hurt and everything felt right. I was losing myself in the house, and I couldn't bring myself to care.
Theron was with me every night. He would come to my room as the sun set, and we would talk for hours. He told me stories about his past—about the times before the curse, about the woman he'd loved who rejected him, about the goddess who'd cursed him out of anger and rage. He told me about eight hundred years of pain, and I listened to every word like it was the most important thing in the world.
And when he needed it most, I sang for him.
My voice would fill the room, and his silver eyes would close in relief. The evil inside him would quiet, and for a few hours, he could breathe. He could be something other than a monster.
During the day, the house was mine to explore. Servants bowed to me now. They called me "my lady" instead of "girl." They brought me food without asking what I wanted. I was becoming someone important in this world, and it felt incredible.
I spent my days in the libraries, reading about eternal magic, about the Eternal Ritual, about what transformation would mean. The books showed me pictures of women who had undergone the process. They were beautiful, strong, eternal. They stood beside kings and ran entire kingdoms.
That could be me.
That would be me.
Theron had given me jewelry—not just pieces, but objects of power. A necklace that glowed with siren magic. Rings that boosted my voice. A crown of metal that felt like it was made for me. He'd shown me the ritual room where the transformation would happen. He'd explained how it would work. How my mortal body would burn away and be reborn as something forever.
"It will hurt," he'd warned me. "The change is agony. But when it's over, you'll be like me. We can be together without fear."
I'd asked him when it would happen.
"Soon," he'd said. "When the time is right. When the Council stops watching. When it's safe."
That was three months ago.
Now I stood in my chamber, looking at my image in a mirror made of dark glass. My eyes still looked the same—sea-green and deadly. My hair was still dark blue. My body was still weak and human. But something inside was changing. I could feel it.
I could feel the house magic accepting me. I could feel power building in my blood. It was like my siren bloodline was waking up, preparing for the transformation that was coming.
A helper knocked on my door—a young girl named Marta.
"The king requests your presence," she said nervously. "In the main room. He says it's important."
My heart jumped. This was it. This had to be it. After three months of waiting, of planning, of falling more and more in love with him, he was ready to perform the ritual.
I put on one of the beautiful gowns he'd given me. I fixed my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to remember who I used to be. The traveling singer. The girl running from village to town. The lonely child of a siren family she didn't understand.
That girl was gone. This new Seraphina was someone else entirely. Someone worthy of a king.
I made my way through the palace hallways toward the throne room. Servants stepped aside to let me pass. Some bowed. Some smiled. They all knew what was coming. Everyone in the palace knew. The entire country was waiting to see if the king would actually go through with it.
When I reached the throne room doors, they opened instantly, responding to my siren magic.
Inside, the throne room was filled with living courtiers. They lined the walls in their best clothes, glittering with power and ancient magic. Theron sat on his chair, looking every inch the king he was. His silver eyes found me instantly, and something cracked in his chest.
"Seraphina," he said, his voice carrying through the entire room. "Come here."
I walked toward him, and the courtiers watched me with looks I couldn't read. Some looked amused. Some looked angry. Some looked like they were waiting for a show.
When I reached the chair, Theron stood and took my hand.
"I have something to tell you," he said. "In front of my entire court. In front of all the immortals who have questioned my decisions."
My heart was racing so hard I could barely breathe. This was it. He was about to introduce the Eternal Ritual. He was about to tell everyone that I would become his permanent queen.
"I have decided," he said slowly, "that the time has come for me to take a consort."
The room exploded in whispers.
"A mortal?" someone laughed.
"He's going mad," someone else said.
But Theron's grip on my hand stiffened, and his voice grew louder.
"Not just a consort," he said. "A wife. An eternal partner. In three days, I will perform the Eternal Ritual on Seraphina Tideborn. She will become eternal. She will become my queen. And any soul who objects will face my curse."
The room went quiet.
This was happening. This was really happening.
I looked up at Theron's face, and I saw love there. Real love. The kind that was ready to start wars. The kind that was willing to disobey immortal law. The kind that would change everything.
"Are you ready?" he asked softly, for my ears only.
I opened my mouth to say yes.
But before I could speak, the throne room doors burst inward with a force that sent everyone flying backward.
A woman stood in the doorway, glowing with shadow magic. Lady Morganna. Behind her was the Council's seal—the official mark of immortal power.
"Your Majesty," Morganna said, her voice dripping with false sweetness, "the Council has arrived to discuss this issue personally. And we have brought news you need to hear before you make any more rash choices."
Theron's hand released mine as he stepped forward, preparing for fight.
"What news?" he asked.
Morganna smiled, and it was the smile of someone about to destroy everything.
"The news," she said slowly, "that the girl is already pregnant. And not with your child, Your Majesty. The Eternal Ritual cannot be performed on a woman carrying another immortal's children. It will kill her. The ritual will consume her fully, and she will turn to ash."
The world stopped.
I looked down at my body, my hand going to my stomach.
Pregnant?
I couldn't be pregnant. I hadn't... we hadn't...
But as soon as the thought came, I realized something frightening.
I could feel it. I could feel new life inside me. Powerful life. Half-immortal life. How had I not noticed? How had I been so caught up in my happiness that I'd missed this?
"That's not possible," Theron said, but his voice was unsure.
"Is it not?" Morganna stepped closer. "Tell me, Your Majesty. Are you truly so arrogant that you never considered your own curse might transform when it meets siren blood? That your very presence might have infected her? That the curse itself might have taken root inside her, making something that was never meant to exist?"
I felt Theron's eyes on me.
And in that moment, everything changed.
Everything I'd built, everything I'd
believed, everything I'd hoped for—it all crumbled to dust.