Sable POV
I was bleeding again.
Not that it mattered. Pain was constant here...an old friend, a cruel lover. I'd forgotten how long I'd been chained to this gods-forsaken altar. Time didn't tick in this pit of madness. It screamed.
The Entity's whispers had clawed their way into my skull, every word a serrated knife.
"You were made for this." "She will betray you." "Let go. Let me in."
And for a while... I believed it.
I let the chains bite deeper. Let the rot seep in. Let myself become the monster he wanted.
Until I saw her.
That vision, fuck, I don't know if it was real or a divine hallucination, but it was her. Silver light and power, soft voice and molten eyes. She reached through the void and fucking touched me.
"You are mine, not his," she said.
And I broke.
I screamed as my body ignited. Not with hellfire, but with something else. Something ancient. Pure. Her magic surged through my veins like it was hunting the infection, burning the darkness from inside out.
The chains shattered like glass under my fists.
The Entity howled, and everything around me trembled.
I didn't wait.
I tore a hole in the veil, ripping reality with my claws and throwing myself through it, not caring where I landed. Just away.
I collapsed in a forest that reeked of nightmares. The trees whispered secrets. The ground pulsed with dead magic. My body was broken, smoke still curling from my skin, but I didn't care.
I was out.
But I wasn't free.
I leaned against a tree, panting. My claws dug into the earth like I could ground myself. Like I could hold back the thing inside me that still wanted to kill everything.
Including her.
"I'll destroy her," I whispered to the wind. "I'll fucking taint her just by touching her."
She was safe right now. With the damn Vampire King. Liam. He'd protect her. He'd keep her away from me.
Good.
Because if I saw her right now, I wouldn't know whether to worship her… or ruin her.
The wind didn't answer.
Of course it didn't.
I was still alone. Still bleeding. Still a fucking monster.
But something had changed.
A thread of light..thin and trembling, was wrapped around my soul. She'd put it there. Her voice, her power, her hope.
Hope. That was the most dangerous thing of all.
I snarled and stepped deeper into the forest.
The Entity wasn't going to stop.
And neither was I.
If I was going to fight him…
I'd need to become something worse than what he made me.
But still worthy of her light.
Even if it killed me.
The Entity POV
My lair pulsed with agony and power, just as I liked it.
Bone towers cracked with fire, their screams feeding my magic. Rot curled in the air like perfume, thick with the scent of old sins and broken souls. The shadow beasts prowled, whispering in languages mortals forgot, and I listened to them all. Every whimper. Every thought. Every fear.
But his mind? Sable's? Oh, I had twisted it beautifully.
Until she infected him.
That fucking goddess.
He'd been mine. I had carved my sigils into his bones, poured centuries of agony into his veins until even his nightmares bled. He was the weapon. My masterpiece. And yet… tonight, the bitch dared reach inside his mind like she had the right.
I felt her light. It burned. It seared through my abyss and touched him, my demon, like he belonged to her.
He should have shattered.
Instead, he woke the fuck up.
I watched, seething, as he pulled against my chains, his roars echoing off the walls of my realm like thunder. Her words still rang in his ears...you are mine, not his.
Bull. Shit.
The divine magic laced around him like armor, and the moment the chains snapped, I screamed. Not out of pain. No. Out of rage.
He escaped.
He ripped a hole in the veil and fled. Fled me.
The taste of that goddess's interference still lingered in my mouth like acid. I nearly vomited. Her power fizzled in the air, stinking of hope and purity, two things I fucking despise.
I watched him collapse in that cursed forest, clawing the dirt like a broken beast, mumbling about being "wrong," afraid he'd destroy her.
Good.
Maybe he still would. Maybe the infection I planted runs deeper than her little pep talk can heal. Maybe he'll kill her for me without even realizing it.
But I wasn't counting on maybes anymore.
No. This calls for war.
I vanished in a burst of smoke and ash, flaring across realms until I tore through the palace wards like wet paper. The royals were mid broadcast, prattling on about "peace and prosperity."
Ugh. Vomit.
Lorelei stood there, looking like a gift-wrapped corpse, preening for the lens. Kristoff lounged like the oversized lion he is...smug and stupid.
BOOM.
My entrance was, as always, spectacular.
Flames danced across the throne room. The air cracked with shadowfire. Screams rose like a symphony, and I stood in the middle, glorious and furious.
"You fools lost me my key. My weapon. You dare fail me?" I roared, my voice making the walls bleed.
Lorelei tried to sing, but her song choked in her throat.
Kristoff growled, stepping forward. "We'll fix this. We swear it."
I sneered. "You'd better. Or I'll peel the flesh from your bones and feed your golden cubs your entrails."
The FaeNet feed had already gone viral. Mortals screaming, nobles pissing themselves, children crying in their cradles. Beautiful chaos.
Then I was gone. Left them there shaking, their kingdom humiliated in front of eight million viewers.
Let the world see their gods bleed.
Let them whisper my name in terror.
And far below, in the palace dungeon, I felt them gathering, the Bone Seer, the Butchers, the Mirror Witch, every monster I've fed with promises and blood.
They're scared now. Good.
They should be.
Because I'm not done.
I'll burn this world down to its bones just to watch her scream.
And when Sable returns?
He'll wish he never broke those chains.