The hunters flooded the abandoned mill, swords drawn and eyes gleaming with cruel intent.
Cressida stood at the front, her smile sharp as a blade.
“The dead prince and his pathetic omega whore.
Corvus will reward me well for this.
Soren shoved Vesna behind him, his body trembling from fever and poison.
The black lines across his chest pulsed violently, spreading like living shadows.
Every surge of protectiveness fed the curse faster.
“Stay back,” he growled, voice raw with alpha command even in his weakened state.
Vesna’s heart hammered.
She could feel her gift awakening — the dangerous power to absorb and transfer pain.
But using it now might kill them both.
The first hunter lunged.
Soren met him with desperate strength, slamming the man into the wall.
Another attacked from the side.
Vesna grabbed a broken chair leg and swung it with all her might, cracking it across the attacker’s skull.
Chaos erupted.
Steel clashed.
Growls filled the air.
Soren fought like a cornered wolf, but the poison was winning.
His movements slowed.
Blood trickled from his side where a blade had grazed him.
Yet his eyes kept finding Vesna, fierce and desperate.
“Run… if you can.
”
“I’m not leaving you,” she snarled back.
Cressida laughed.
“How touching.
Too bad love is exactly what’s killing him.
”
They barely escaped.
Vesna dragged Soren through a hidden back passage she’d discovered weeks ago, the narrow tunnel scraping her shoulders as they crawled to freedom.
Behind them, the hunters tore the mill apart.
Cressida’s furious screams echoed through the forest.
They ran — or rather, stumbled — deeper into the wilds until they collapsed beside a hidden stream.
Soren’s breathing was ragged, his skin burning with fever.
The black lines had reached his throat.
Vesna pressed her hands to his chest, channeling her gift once more.
She pulled the poison into herself, feeling the icy corruption slither into her veins.
Agony ripped through her body, but the lines on Soren’s skin receded slightly.
“You’re hurting yourself,” he gasped, gripping her wrist.
“Stop.
”
“I won’t watch you die.
” Tears stung her eyes.
“Not after I dug you out of that grave with my own hands.
”
Soren pulled her closer despite the pain.
In the moonlight filtering through the trees, his face was pale but beautiful — sharp features softened by something deeper than gratitude.
“Why do you keep saving me, Vesna? I’m a dead man walking.
My own brother wants me gone.
I have nothing to offer you.
”
“You offered me hope the moment you looked at me like I mattered,” she whispered.
“No one’s ever done that.
”
Their foreheads touched.
The world narrowed to just them — two broken souls who had found each other in darkness.
Soren’s hand cupped her cheek, thumb brushing away a tear.
“I love you,” he breathed, the words slipping out like a confession.
“I know it’s killing me.
I don’t care.
”
The kiss was desperate and tender, born of fear and longing.
Vesna tasted salt and blood and something that felt like home.
For one perfect moment, the forest disappeared.
But the poison surged.
Soren gasped against her lips, body convulsing as the black lines exploded across his skin, racing toward his heart.
He collapsed in her arms, barely conscious.
“No!” Vesna sobbed, holding him tight.
“Stay with me.
Please.
”
His eyes fluttered open, glazed with pain but full of fierce love.
“Worth it… every second.
”
Footsteps crashed through the trees again.
More hunters.
Corvus’s forces closing in.
Vesna looked down at Soren’s fading form, then at the shadows moving closer.
Her gift burned inside her — the full, terrifying power she had always hidden.
She could transfer the poison.
She could end this.
But using it might destroy her soul.
Soren’s weak voice broke through.
“Don’t… become like him.
”
The lead hunter burst into the clearing, sword raised.
“There they are!”
Vesna stood, placing herself between Soren and the blade, power crackling at her fingertips.
The black poison in her veins responded, ready to be unleashed.
Corvus stepped out from behind the trees, his cold eyes gleaming with triumph.
“Hello, brother.
Ready to finish what we started?”
Corvus raised his hand, signaling the final strike.
Will Vesna unleash her deadly gift and risk becoming a monster to save the man she loves? Or will their forbidden love destroy them both before the truth can save the kingdom?
The betrayal runs deeper than anyone imagined, and the price of survival may be higher than they can pay.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
