The morning after Harvest Night, I woke to silence.
Not peace.
Silence.
Heavy. Suffocating. Like the whole town was holding its breath.
My throat burned. My skin tingled with leftover warmth that didn't belong to me. I lay in my bed for minutes—or hours, I couldn't tell—watching dust swirl in a shaft of gray morning light.
The memories came in pieces. The music. The fire. The crimson moon.
Cassian's eyes.
Elias's growl.
And that voice: "Choose none, and be torn in two."
My body ached. Bruises bloomed across my arms and thighs like ink stains. There were two small, dark marks on my collarbone.
Like teeth.
---
I barely made it down the stairs before the knock came.
Three precise taps.
I froze.
Then the door creaked open on its own.
Cassian stood in the doorway.
He didn't ask to come in.
He wore black again—always black—and the light behind him seemed to bend around his silhouette. His eyes flicked across the room, then landed on me.
"Good morning, little flame," he said, stepping inside. "I see you survived the night."
"I didn't invite you in."
He smiled slowly. "No. But the house knows me now."
I backed up. "What do you want?"
He moved toward me like a tide rolling in. Controlled. Unstoppable.
"You," he said. "I want to ensure you're safe."
He reached up and touched my cheek. His fingers were cold.
"I dreamed of you," he whispered. "Your scent. Your pulse. It echoes in my bones."
I pulled back. "Don't."
His eyes flared red for a moment—just a flash.
"Don't pretend you didn't feel it," he said. "When I touched you last night. When we danced."
"That wasn't real. None of this is real."
Cassian chuckled. "Oh, darling. This is more real than anything you've ever known."
He leaned in, brushing my hair aside to expose my neck.
"I should've marked you then," he murmured. "But I waited. Out of respect. Out of... restraint."
I turned my face away. "I don't belong to you."
His smile vanished.
"Then who do you belong to?"
"I belong to myself."
Silence.
Then he laughed. Low. Dangerous.
"For now," he said, stepping back. "But if you let him touch you again, I won't be so gentle next time."
He left without another word.
The door closed behind him with a whisper.
---
That evening, I walked the edge of the woods, needing air.
The trees were quieter than usual. Watching.
I didn't hear Elias approach.
His hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me back into the shadows before I could scream.
"What did he do to you?" he growled.
I struggled. "Let go of me."
He didn't.
His eyes searched mine—gold, burning, wild.
"I can smell him on you."
My breath caught.
"I didn't—he was just there. He came into my house."
Elias snarled. "He's trying to take you. But you're not his."
His grip tightened.
"And you think I'm yours?"
He pushed me gently—but firmly—against the bark of a tree. His body boxed me in, heat radiating from him in waves.
"You're not his," he said again, softer now. "Not yet."
He leaned in, nose brushing the curve of my throat.
"I should've marked you first."
I trembled. "You don't get to decide that."
He growled. "You don't understand what you are. What you've awakened."
"Then explain it."
His eyes locked on mine.
"I can't. Not here. Not yet. But I'll protect you—from him, from everyone. Even if it means you hate me."
His mouth brushed my shoulder, lips grazing the skin above the bruises Cassian left.
He licked it.
A low sound rumbled in his chest.
"That scent—your blood—it doesn't belong to him."
He stepped back suddenly, fists clenched.
"If he touches you again, I'll tear him apart."
He left as fast as he came.
And I sank to the ground, shaking.
---
That night, a summons came.
A knock on my door—this time, Eva.
Her face was pale. "They want you at the council hall."
"Who?"
She swallowed. "All of them."
---
The council chamber sat beneath the town library—hidden in plain sight. I followed Eva down stairs older than anything else in Ashwood.
Stone walls. Candles flickering in wall sconces. A table carved from obsidian.
Twelve figures sat around it.
Cassian and Elias stood opposite one another, silent, coiled.
An older woman at the head of the table rose.
"The girl comes," she said. "As she must."
"I don't want any of this," I said. "I just want to go home."
"You are home," Cassian said.
Elias glared at him.
The woman raised a hand.
"You've both broken sacred law. You've touched the unmarked. You've spilled energy into her. You've drawn blood before choice."
"She is choosing," Cassian said. "Even if she doesn't know it."
"She hasn't chosen," Elias growled. "And she won't."
"You don't know that," Cassian spat.
"Enough," the councilwoman snapped. "You will back off. You will give her space to decide."
Silence.
Cassian's jaw tensed. "And if she chooses neither?"
"Then you both forfeit."
Neither of them spoke.
But their silence was dangerous.
---
After the meeting, Eva walked me back.
"They're going to keep coming," she said quietly. "They can't help themselves now."
"What happens if I leave?"
Her eyes darkened.
"You won't make it far."
---
That night, I dreamed of being chained in moonlight.
And somewhere in the dark, two monsters tore each other apart.
For me.
But not because of me.
Because of what lived in my blood.
Because I wasn't just human anymore.
I was a prize.
And they would not stop until I was claimed.