The mirror didn't lie,Sera stood before it, staring at the girl she no longer recognized. Her skin was paler, her veins darkened with the creeping mark of the Shadow Prince. The eerie glow of it pulsed, as if alive, As if it were waiting.
She ran trembling fingers over the place where Elias had touched her last,where his warmth had tried to fight the cold creeping into her bones.
But it wasn't enough.
The change was happening, She could feel it,And she didn't know if she wanted it to stop. A sharp knock shattered the silence.
She barely had time to turn before Elias burst through the door,His silver eyes locked onto her,and something broke inside him.
"God, Sera…" His voice was raw, his hands clenching at his sides as if he was barely holding himself together.
He stepped closer, then stopped, Afraid to touch her,She hated it,Because she wanted him to lose control.
To make her forget the shadows crawling inside her, To make her forget how badly she had wanted the Shadow Prince's touch.
"Don't look at me like that." Her voice was barely a whisper,Elias's jaw clenched. "Like what?" "Like you've already lost me."
His entire body was tensed And then, in a single heartbeat, he closed the distance between them his hands gripping her face, his breath hot against her lips.
"I haven't lost you," he growled "I won't." And then he kissed her,It wasn't soft,It wasn't sweet.
It was desperate, possessive, punishing,like he was trying to brand himself onto her before the shadows could take her away.
Sera gasped against his lips, her body arching into his,His fingers dug into her hips, pulling her closer as if he could hold her there forever. And for a moment, she let herself believe he could, But then...
A sharp, searing pain shot through her spine, She screamed, tearing herself from his grasp as black tendrils of shadow exploded from her skin.
Elias staggered back, eyes wide with horror,It was happening,She wasn't just marked anymore, She was becoming one of them.
"Sera...don't!" Elias lunged forward, but it was too late,The shadows wrapped around her, pulling her toward the window, toward the dark figure waiting outside.
The Shadow Prince.
A smirk curved his lips, his crimson eyes glowing as he held out a hand,"Come to me, little star." Sera's entire body shook.
Her mind screamed at her to run to Elias,But her soul whispered something else. Because for the first time she wasn't afraid, For the first time,she felt powerful.
Her heart pounded, torn between light and dark, love and ruin, And she knew.
Whoever she chose… the other would never survive it.