“"We can't be together," he whispered, voice breaking. "You are my destruction." Tears burned her eyes as she shook her head, stepping closer even though it felt like standing at the edge of a blade. "And you... are my ruin too." The words tasted like a goodbye neither of them could accept. They were bound by something that had been waiting before either of them had names - stitched into the marrow of their bloodline, fed on every grief their ancestors had swallowed in silence. A curse that needed only one thing to wake. Them, together. They were never meant to love safely. And if they ever surrendered to it - One would die. The other would be hollowed out by loving them. The curse had learned patience from centuries of waiting. And already, without permission, without mercy, the distance between them was shrinking.”