Veer stared at Aarohi, frozen.
"Me?" he choked. "Why… why would Dev take me?"
Aarohi sat up slowly, her body still trembling from the possession. Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Because you married me. You accepted my bloodline. You're part of it now."
Father Desai's face paled. "Of course… The curse moves forward through connection. Dev's vengeance doesn't just follow blood—it follows the bond."
Veer stood, backing away.
"No. No, that's not how this ends. I didn't kill him. I didn't burn anyone alive."
"You didn't," Desai said gravely, "but the house doesn't care about innocence. It feeds on links. On love, guilt, and pain."
The priest's gaze turned to Aarohi.
"And you… you love him, don't you?"
Aarohi nodded, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Then he's already marked."
That night, they refused to sleep.
Aarohi insisted on staying near Veer, gripping his hand like a lifeline.
Every creak in the floor made her flinch.
Every flicker of candlelight made Veer clench his fists.
They knew it was coming.
And at 3:08 a.m., it came.
The bedroom door blew open with a thunderous crash.
The walls bled again.
The lights shattered.
And standing in the hallway—
—Dev.
This time, fully formed. No longer a shadow. He was a man-shaped inferno, skin cracked and glowing with fire beneath. His eyes burned with centuries of hatred.
He stepped forward, leaving scorched footprints behind.
"Rajnath's heir…" his voice cracked like firewood. "And her chosen…"
Veer stood tall. "I won't run."
Dev's head tilted.
"You don't have to. I'll take you apart from the inside."
Veer screamed and collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest.
Aarohi lunged to his side. "STOP! Take me instead!"
But Dev only laughed, a sound like shattering glass.
"I already have you."
Veer began choking.
His eyes rolled back.
Father Desai rushed in, drawing a circle around him with salt, chanting louder than he ever had.
But the salt lifted off the ground—hovering—and then blew away in a single burst of wind.
The house had stopped obeying holy law.
It belonged to Dev now.
Aarohi screamed, grabbing the ritual dagger Desai had shown them before.
"If this house takes him," she whispered, "it takes me too."
She raised the blade.
Veer, barely conscious, croaked out: "No… Aarohi… don't…"
And Dev stepped forward with glee. "Yes. Let your love destroy itself. That's what this house feeds on—sacrifice."
But just as Aarohi pressed the blade to her chest—
Desai shouted, "WAIT!"
He held up an old, half-burned ledger—the original house deed he had found in the basement archives.
"There's another way!" he screamed. "The house belongs to Rajnath's heir. But if she revokes the blood's claim… the curse dies with the name!"
Aarohi stared at the ledger, then at the blade.
"Sign it," Desai said. "Renounce your inheritance. Renounce your family."
Dev's eyes widened. "Don't."
But Aarohi didn't hesitate.
She stabbed her palm, letting blood drip onto the deed.
Then she picked up the priest's quill and signed her name, followed by one line:
"I reject the Bhattacharya legacy."
The moment the ink touched the paper—
The house screamed.
Windows shattered.
Walls cracked.
The floor split.
Dev howled—his body splitting apart, flame pouring from his mouth and eyes.
He roared, "NO! THIS ISN'T JUSTICE!"
And Aarohi shouted through the storm, "This is freedom!"
With one final blast of heat and light—
Dev exploded into ash.
Everything went still.
The silence was blinding.
The house was broken.
The walls scorched.
The floor smoldering.
But it was over.
Veer lay unconscious in Aarohi's lap, breathing shallow but steady.
Father Desai sank to his knees.
Aarohi looked around the ruined house—her house.
No.
Not anymore.
It was finally over.
But was it?
As the sun rose and the couple packed their things to leave Hollowridge forever, Aarohi paused in the foyer.
A cracked mirror hung by the front door.
She looked into it one last time.
And saw…
Dev.
Just for a second.
Smiling.
Then gone.