Chapter 3

I gasped, air flooding my lungs. Real air.

I was in my small apartment, the one above the diner.

My clock read 10:00 PM. Three years ago.

Tonight. The Lighthouse Festival.

The night Kaelen first publicly humiliated me.

The night he forced me into a "binding" at Blackwood Manor.

My heart pounded with a mix of dread and a strange, fierce new resolve.

I knew things now. Things that changed everything.

He didn' t hate me. He was cursed.

But the pain he caused was real. The humiliation was real.

A knock on the door.

Seraphina.

She sauntered in, her eyes glittering with malice.

"So, the little stray is ready for her leash?"

Her voice was honey-laced poison, just as I remembered.

Before, I would have cowered. Now, a cold anger settled in me.

Kaelen appeared behind her, his presence filling the tiny room.

Colder. Harsher than my memory served.

The curse. It was strong on him.

He held out a gown, silver-threaded, shimmering.

"Wear this. Tonight, you attend the Coven's Solstice Rite with me."

His voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

This was it. The rite where, in my previous life, a "corrupted" Coven member attacked me.

Kaelen' s orders, I had thought. A test.

It led to the Elemental Uprising. To my death.

He then forced a small vial into my hand, a "fortifying tonic."

I brought it to my lips, and the faint, bitter aftertaste hit me.

Nightshade Dew.

A component of the Shadow Curse's subtle influence.

Seraphina was smirking.

I drank it, my eyes on Kaelen. This time, I knew.