Page 139 of Bound to the Dreadlord

"Sera—"

I exhale shakily, my body burning with something new.

Something that was not there before.

I feel them.

The brothers. Their shock. Their horror. Their fear.

And then I feel him. Veylan.

His grip is too tight, his breathing uneven, his chest heaving against mine.

I blink, slow, heavy, dragging myself back to reality.

The magic still hums beneath my skin, a living thing, restless and wrong.

Something inside me is different.

It did not just take my life.

It gave me something back.

I shift in Veylan’s arms, my fingers digging into the fabric of his bloodstained armor.

He flinches.

The monster flinches.

My lips part, but no words come.

I do not know who I am anymore.

I died.

And yet I am here.

The silence is deafening.

No one speaks.

No one moves.

Veylan’s fingers tighten on me, as if he is trying to ground himself.

I look up. Into his eyes.

The monster who betrayed me.

The monster who killed me.

The monster who chose me.

He does not speak. His jaw clenches, his expression torn between relief and something else.

Something darker and he sees it.

He sees what I have become.

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