Elara's POV
Pain explodes through my body.
The curse magic doesn't just push at me this time it attacks. Stabbing into my skin like a thousand frozen knives, trying to rip me apart from the inside.
I scream and drop to my knees.
Elara! Kaelen's voice cuts through the pain.
Strong arms catch me before I hit the floor. Through blurring vision, I see his face above mine silver eyes wide with something that looks like panic.
Don't you dare die, he growls. You said you weren't afraid. Prove it.
Morganna's laughter echoes around us. Did you really think I'd let her absorb my curse so easily? That was just a test, granddaughter. This is the real thing.
The pain gets worse. I feel the curse trying to freeze my blood, stop my heart, shut down my lungs.
My body tries to absorb it like before, but there's too much. It's like trying to swallow an ocean.
Fight it! Kaelen commands. His hand grips mine, and I feel something flow from him into me warm, powerful magic that isn't the curse. His own power, trying to help.
And somehow, that makes a difference.
My absorption magic latches onto his power, uses it as fuel, and suddenly I'm not just swallowing the curse I'm devouring it.
The pain starts to fade.
The curse magic dissolves, transforms, and becomes part of me.
Morganna's laughter cuts off. What? No. That's not possible!
I open my eyes. I'm glowing actually glowing with silver-white light. The same light from when the Calling Crystal exploded.
Kaelen is staring at me with wonder and fear mixed on his face. You're not just absorbing it. You're transforming it into pure magic.
Get away from her! Morganna's voice is furious now. She's mine! My weapon! My tool!
I'm nobody's tool, I gasp out.
The glow gets brighter. Power surges through me more power than I've ever felt. The curse magic I've absorbed is changing, becoming something new.
Something that belongs to me.
Impossible! Morganna shrieks. You should be dying! The curse should be killing you!
Maybe your curse isn't as strong as you think, I say.
The light explodes outward in a wave that shakes the entire throne room.
When it fades, I'm standing on my own. Breathing hard, but alive. The curse magic is gone not just absorbed, but completely neutralized.
Morganna's voice is silent.
Kaelen slowly gets to his feet, his eyes never leaving me. What are you?
I don't know, I admit. But I think I'm done being afraid of curses.
Theron appears at the doorway, weapon drawn. My King, are you He stops, staring at me. She survived. She actually survived a full curse attack.
More than survived, Kaelen says quietly. She destroyed it. He circles me slowly, like he's seeing me for the first time. Three hundred years. Three hundred years of this curse, and you just... erased part of it.
Part of it? I ask.
The curse is massive built from three centuries of death magic. What you absorbed was just a fraction. But you neutralized it completely. Made it vanish. His voice shakes slightly. Do you understand what that means? If you can absorb the whole curse
She can't. A new voice interrupts from the doorway.
I spin around.
Corvus stands there, his silver eyes hard as stone. If she tries to absorb the entire curse at once, it will kill her. Even with her power, there's a limit to how much dark magic a human body can transform before it breaks.
You, Kaelen says, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl. What are you doing in my citadel, hunter?
Protecting my investment. Corvus walks into the throne room like he owns it. Elara, you need to leave. Now. Before Morganna regroups and tries again.
I'm not leaving, I say firmly.
Then you're a fool. Corvus pulls out the vial of silver liquid from before. Last chance. Drink this, block your absorption power, and I'll get you out of here safely.
And everyone I know dies when the Dragon King destroys my village for not providing tribute, I shoot back. No thank you.
Kaelen's eyes narrow. Your village? The tribute is meant to protect He stops. Understanding floods his face, followed by rage. They lied to you. The tributes aren't to protect villages. They're to feed the curse. To give it someone to kill so it doesn't spread beyond the citadel walls.
My stomach drops. What?
The curse needs death, Kaelen says bitterly. Without regular sacrifices, it grows stronger and starts reaching beyond this fortress. The tributes buy time a few months of stability before another is needed. Your village was never in danger. They just wanted to get rid of you.
The words hit me like a physical blow.
Everything I thought I knew everything I sacrificed for was a lie.
They knew, I whisper. My father, my stepmother, everyone. They knew the tributes die, and they sent me anyway.
Not sent, Corvus corrects quietly. You volunteered, remember? They just didn't tell you the truth about what you were volunteering for.
I feel sick. Betrayed. Used.
Kaelen's hand touches my shoulder gentle, careful. I'm sorry. If I'd known you believed the old lies, I would have told you.
Would you? I look up at him. Or would you have let me die like all the others?
He flinches but doesn't look away. I don't know. Probably. I stopped caring about tributes a long time ago. They come, they die, and the curse is satisfied for a while. That's how it's always been.
Until now, Theron says from the doorway. She didn't die. She fought back.
Kaelen's silver eyes lock onto mine. Why? Why fight so hard to survive when you thought you were saving your village? Why not just... let go?
I think about my answer carefully.
Because somewhere between volunteering and arriving here, I realized something, I say slowly. I don't want to die. Not for my village, not for anyone. I've spent my whole life being nothing, having nothing, mattering to no one. For the first time ever, I have power. I have a choice. I meet Kaelen's gaze without flinching. And I choose to live.
Something shifts in Kaelen's expression. The cold mask cracks just a little.
Then live, he says quietly. Stay here. Let me study your power. Together, maybe we can find a way to break this curse that doesn't require your death.
Or mine, Corvus adds sharply.
Kaelen's eyes flash. I didn't invite you into this conversation, hunter.
Too bad. I'm here anyway. Corvus moves to stand beside me. Elara, don't trust him. He's a king. Kings use people.
And hunters don't? I ask.
Corvus has the grace to look uncomfortable.
Before anyone can respond, the floor beneath us starts to shake.
Not an earthquake. Something worse.
The black marble cracks. Dark smoke pours through the cracks, and I smell death and rot.
She's coming, Kaelen says, his voice tight. Morganna. She's done hiding. She's coming here herself.
That's impossible, Theron says. She can't enter the citadel. The wards
The wards are three hundred years old, Corvus interrupts. And they were designed to keep the curse in, not keep Morganna out. She built them, remember?
The smoke coalesces into a shape.
A woman appears.
She's beautiful in a terrible way ageless, with long black hair and eyes that burn like coals. Power radiates from her in waves that make my teeth hurt.
And when she smiles at me, I see my own face reflected in hers.
Hello, granddaughter, Morganna says. We finally meet. And before this night is over, you're going to give me exactly what I want.
She raises her hand, and the entire citadel screams.
The curse activates not just in one place, but everywhere at once.
Every wall, every floor, every inch of the fortress erupts with dark magic.
Servants start collapsing. Guards drop their weapons, clutching their chests.
Even Theron falls to one knee, dark veins spreading up his neck.
Stop! Kaelen roars. Dragon fire explodes from his hands, slamming into Morganna.
She swats it away like an annoying fly.
You can't hurt me, darling, she purrs. I made this curse. I control it. And right now, I'm going to use it to kill everyone in this citadel except you and dear Elara. Then she'll have a choice: absorb the curse to save all these people, or watch them die. Either way... Her smile widens. I win.
The curse magic intensifies. People start screaming.
I see a young servant girl collapse, blood pouring from her nose. An old guard gasping for air. Even Corvus is struggling, his silver eyes dimming.
They're all dying.
And only I can stop it.
I look at Kaelen. His jaw is clenched, his hands glowing with dragon fire, but he's helpless. He can't fight his own curse.
Don't, he says, reading my intention. Don't you dare sacrifice yourself for
I don't let him finish.
I close my eyes, open myself completely, and let my absorption power explode outward.
The curse magic rushes toward me like a tidal wave.
And I begin to drown.