Chapter 107 107

Chapter 107 107
IVER’S POV

Silence doesn’t settle after she says it.

It presses. “Queens don’t share crowns.”

The words stay in the air long after her voice is gone, like the clearing itself is holding onto them, unsure what to do next. I don’t move because I can't, not when I felt it.

Not just the power of her control over it. It was clean, precise and final. That’s what terrifies me.
Not that she’s losing herself, that she isn’t. When did she learn to use her powers like that?
My gaze drops briefly to the body on the ground, then lifts back to Selene. She’s already moved past it. Like it meant nothing. Like it had to happen.

Something twists in my chest. “Everyone out,” I say, low but sharp. No one argues which surprises me because I had since abdicated. The wolves move quickly, pulling back, dragging the others with them. Even the cultists retreat, slower, watching her like they’re trying to understand what they just witnessed. Good. They should be afraid because I am.

The clearing empties until it’s just us. Selene doesn’t turn to me immediately. She stands there, still, her breathing uneven not from weakness, but from restraint. Like everything inside her is still moving, still pushing, and she’s forcing it to stay contained, barely.

“Selene,” I say, stepping closer.

Her head tilts slightly, just enough to acknowledge me. “They’re not gone,” she murmurs.

My jaw tightens. “There’s nothing here.”

Her lips part slightly, like she wants to argue but then she stops and that’s worse. Because instead of snapping back, she just… listens. To something I can’t hear.

I step closer. “Whatever you think you’re hearing, it’s not real.”

Her gaze shifts to me now, slowly. And for a second just a second I see it, not anger, not grief but distance. Like she’s already somewhere I can’t reach.

“They are real,” she says quietly. “Just not here.”

A chill runs through me, that’s not confusion, that’s awareness. And it clicks into place all at once the cultists, the screams, the way her power reacted before anything even happened.

“They’re using you,” I say.
Her expression doesn’t change. “They’re reaching you.”

Still nothing. That silence starts to feel like resistance.

“No,” I correct myself, stepping closer again, voice tightening. “Not reaching, but pulling.”

My pulse starts to spike. I can feel it now, the pattern, the manipulation. Not of her mind of her power.

“They’re turning you into a conduit.”

That gets a small reaction, but there. Her fingers twitch at her side. “Selene, listen to me,” I press. “This isn’t control. This is exactly what they want. Every time you use it like that, you’re opening yourself up to them.”

Her gaze sharpens slightly. “So what do you want me to do?”

“Stop.” The word comes out harsher than I intend.

“Shut it down. All of it. Before it gets worse.”

Silence. Then, “That’s not going to happen.”

Flat, too certain. Something in me snaps not outward, not yet, but inward. Tightening. Warping. “You don’t understand what this is doing to you,” I say, stepping closer again.

“I do.”

“No, you don’t…”

“Iver.”

My name stops me cold because of how she says it, not soft, not angry but measured. Like she’s already decided something.

I shake my head once, pushing forward anyway. “If you won’t stop, I will.”

The words land heavier than I expect. Her eyes don’t widen but she doesn’t react at all.

And that’s when I realize how far I’ve already gone. “Iver,” she says again, quieter now.

But I’m already moving, not attacking but containing. My power spreads outward, faster than before, sharper, layering into the space around her, building structure, locking points into place.

Another cage, stronger this time. It has to be. “I’m not letting them take you,” I say, voice rough now, edges fraying. “I’m not letting this take you.”

The energy tightens and closes in. For just a second, I think it might work. Then she looks at it without struggling or panicking like the first time. She’s just… looking. And something in her expression shifts with understanding. That’s what breaks it, not her power but me because I see it in her eyes, she’s already accepted what I’m about to become. The cage trembles.
My control slips just slightly, but enough that the structure wavers, overcorrects, tightens too fast.

My breathing turns uneven. “Iver…” she says, softer now.

There’s something else in it this time, not fear, not quite but recognition. My hands shake yet I don’t lower them. “I’m doing this for you,” I insist, but it doesn’t sound right anymore. “You haven't seen it yet, but you will. I just need to…”

The energy spikes again, unstable now, feral at the edges. Her gaze doesn’t leave mine. And then, very quietly,

“I might have to kill you.” she says coldly. Like she means it.

Suddenly everything stops, not just the air or power but me too. Because she doesn’t say it like a threat. She says it like a truth she’s just discovered. Something inside my chest caves in.
For the first time since this started,

I hesitate. “You won’t,” I say, but there’s something wrong with my voice now. Something thinner. Less certain.

Her head tilts slightly. “I don’t want to,” she replies.

And somehow that’s worse. The power around us flickers. Breathing with my pulse now instead of my control. I take a step back without meaning to. Because I see it now, not just her losing herself.
But me too, though it doesn’t stop the instinct clawing up my spine. Doesn’t stop the need to lock this down, to fix it, to protect her from something she refuses to fight.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” I say again, quieter now, but more broken.

Even as the energy around me twists into something I barely recognize. Even as part of me understands, she’s not the one I should be trying to save anymore.