THE BLOODBOUND: THE ETERNAL CURSE

n and th

still pressed against my chest, each breath slow and calculated, each step deliberate. I had seen what Elias was capable of-how he could tear through my team

athing steady, but the tension was thick. The deeper I went into the palace, the stronger the pull of his power became. It was as though the walls themselves were saturated with the dark

r felt wrong. Cold, but not in the way it had been in the hallways. This was different:

that everyone whispered about in fearful tones. But what I saw when I stepped into his chambers m

ut his expression was something I hadn't anticipated. His face was softened, not in

down her back in gentle waves. She wore a simple servant's gown, dirtied from what looked like a long day's labor. Her eyes were l

s wasn't doing wh

od or toss her aside like so many others I had seen him do in t

tone devoid of the arrogance I had come to associ

of hair from the girl's face. She flinched, but he didn't

he name tasted foreign on my tongue, contradicting the image

her voice trembled as she spoke. "My lord, I-I don't dese

st paternal. "You are not nothing, not to

ess innocent lives he had destroyed. But what I saw now was that this soft side of him shook

e pale, her hands still shaking, was not the victim I had expected. Elias wasn't the monster I had imagined, either

cker of trust in her eyes, which spoke of years of serving him. She had acc

their weight carried something heavier. "I'll ensure

she moved too fast, she might provoke him. She gave one last lingering look at Elias be

long moment, thick with unspoken words, que

ght with an emotion I could

e had been expecting me. "You're here to kill me, Selene," he said softly, but there was no fear in his voice, no anger, just

me. "I've made no mistakes," I replied through gritted te

raising an eyebrow. "Is th

d. There was no fury in me, no bloodlust. I had come here expecting to kill a tyrant. Instead, I had f

nce, to take what you thought was owed to you. But vengeance... vengeance is a hollow thi

ds. "What makes you t

He was unnervingly calm, too calm. "But pity is not the same as mercy, Selene. Mercy comes fr

ar it. I didn't wan

ith a person. A person who had been alive for far longer than I could comprehend, who

at, frustration rising in my chest. "You're a

"And for that, I deserve nothing less than your hatred. But you need to understand

arrowing as I tried to find my resolve ag

e piercing me. "Time is all you hav

t the monster I had built him up to be. But that didn't change the fact that he

thing for sure: I had to make a choice. This choic