Chapter 208 Seraphine

Chapter 208 Seraphine
“Oh.”

The single word hung heavy in the cool, ethereal air between us. The vast expanse of the dream realm stretched endlessly beyond, the stars shimmering faintly, their light waning as if mourning the weight of our conversation.

The Death Serpent inclined his head slowly, his voice low and somber. “The rot was designed to feed.”

A sudden chill curled through my spine, sinking deep into my gut. “To eat the memories?” I whispered, hardly daring to believe the truth.

“Yes.”

Around us, the stars dimmed further, their once-bright gleam now faint and flickering, as if the cosmos itself recoiled from the revelation.

“We hoped to uncover the origins of the blood laws,” he continued, voice thick with a strange mixture of hope and despair. “To understand how they were written.” A long pause followed, heavy with unspoken fears. “And perhaps... how they might be changed.”

I fixed my gaze on him, emotions swirling in a chaotic storm: terror, fascination, bewilderment, all crashing into each other, leaving me breathless.

“And have you found anything?” My voice barely rose above a whisper, trembling with a fragile hope.

The Death Serpent’s gaze drifted away, lost in the impenetrable darkness beyond the stars. “No.”

The bitterness in his tone was palpable, like the bitter dregs of a long-forgotten poison.

“We have devoured countless threads,” he said, voice heavy with the weight of countless years. “Years of searching, even before Thane emerged.” He exhaled slowly. “And still, no answers.”

The silence that followed was suffocating, as if the dream realm itself held its breath alongside us. Above, the stars continued their slow, eternal dance, casting a pale, silver glow that seemed almost mournful.

For the first time since I met him, the Death Serpent looked weary, tired not just in body, but in spirit. The exhaustion of one who has chased a ghost for centuries, only to find it forever out of reach.

I found my voice, soft and tentative. “What... what will you do now?”

His eyes flicked back to me, sharp and searching. “What do you mean?”

I crossed my arms, trying to steady myself. “If you leave.”

He froze, the very air around us seeming to still.

“If you walk away from Thane.”

His expression became an inscrutable mask.

“If you stop helping him.” I hesitated, the truth bitter on my tongue. “Then all of this... was for nothing.”

The words stung the moment I spoke them, cruel and unyielding.

But they were true.

The rot. The endless years. The dead threads. The searching. The waiting.

All for nothing.

For what felt like an eternity, the Death Serpent remained silent. Then, finally, his voice barely more than a whisper: “I cannot leave.”

My brow furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“I cannot simply abandon the agreement.”

The stars flickered, their light dimming as if echoing the cold weight settling in my chest.

“The contract remains unfinished.”

A chill gripped my stomach. “And if you do leave?”

His gaze met mine, steady and unflinching. There was no fear there, only a deep, unsettling concern. “I could die.”

“I—What?”

The Death Serpent looked away again, the shadows swallowing his hollow eyes. “The agreement was not made lightly.”

Around us, the dream realm shifted; the stars dimmed further, the wind vanished, silence stretching taut like a held breath.

“I require sustenance.”

I frowned. “Sustenance?”

His gaze locked onto mine, unwavering. “Knowledge.”

The unexpected answer caught me off guard. “What?”

“I feed upon it.”

Confusion tangled within me. “You... eat knowledge?”

A faint twitch curved the corner of his mouth. “You make it sound ridiculous.”

“It sounds ridiculous.”

“It is not.”

I stared, unblinking.

He sighed, a sound so unnatural, so profoundly unsettling that it seemed to reverberate through the very fabric of the dream realm. “I am not a mortal creature, Seraphine.”

“No kidding.”

“I do not feed the way you do.”

The conversation spiraled deeper into the strange and surreal. “Then explain.”

He considered for a moment before nodding slowly. “Knowledge sustains me.”

“How?”

“Sometimes through rot.”

I frowned deeper. “What does that mean?”

“The rot consumes memories.”

My stomach clenched painfully.

Right. The threads. The memories. The knowledge hidden beneath layers of forgotten lives.

“Other times...” He hesitated.

That hesitation snapped my attention sharply to him.

“You hesitate?”

“I dislike your tone.”

“You hesitated.”

He shot me a glare sharp enough to cut glass.

I smiled. Victory.

But he wasn’t done.

“Other methods exist.”

My smile faded, curiosity prickling. “What methods?”

He looked away again.

The silence that followed was answer enough.

My eyes widened in disbelief. “No.”

Silence stretched.

“You crawl into people’s dreams and eat their memories?”

He appeared mildly offended. “I do not crawl.”

“You absolutely crawl.”

“I travel.”

“You are a nightmare.”

“I am elegant.”

I laughed, clear, ringing laughter that echoed across the stars.

The Death Serpent looked horrified.

Which made it all the more hilarious.

Eventually, I stilled myself, the laughter dying on my lips.

Reality pressed down again, heavy and cold.

The contract.

The rot.

Thane.

The women.

The deaths.

My smile faded slowly. “You need knowledge.”

“Yes.”

The honesty in his voice cut deeper than any blade.

This wasn’t some ancient monster I faced, it was someone desperate. Someone trapped. Someone who had made terrible choices chasing something they desperately needed.

I lowered my gaze to the grass beneath us, then back to him.

A dangerous thought took shape in my mind.

Foolish. Reckless. Possibly catastrophic.

Still, I asked. “What if I let you?”

The Death Serpent frowned, confusion flickering in his eyes. “Let me what?”

I swallowed hard. “Consume mine.”

Silence.

Complete and suffocating.

Even the stars seemed to freeze in place.

He stared, unblinking. Then, finally, “What?”

“My memories.”

His expression remained unreadable.

Which somehow made the moment worse.

“The knowledge in my head.”

The stars dimmed dangerously.

“Seraphine.”

I pressed on, heart pounding. “If knowledge is what you need—”

“No.”

The sharp interruption startled me. Immediate, firm, absolute.

“No?”

“No.”

I blinked, confused. “Why?”

The Death Serpent’s gaze darkened with something close to dread. “I am not consuming your mind.”

I stared. “You literally consume people’s memories.”

“I am not consuming yours.”

The emphasis was unsettling. I filed it away for later.

But bigger problems loomed.

I looked away, toward the stars, the endless threads weaving through the dream realm like fragile, glowing strands of fate.

“Thane wants to rewrite the blood laws.”