Chapter 90 TWIST OF FATE
SELENE'S POV
I do not sleep.
Every time my eyes close, the mirror fractures again in my mind. I hear the thin, brittle sound of glass splitting, feel it echo through my ribs, my spine, my teeth. And then her voice comes, soft as silk and sharp as venom, sliding through my bones until there is nowhere left to hide.
He kneels in the night.
He asks the stars how to kill you.
I jolt upright in bed, breath shallow, palms pressing hard into my thighs to still the tremor running through them. Moonlight leaks through the narrow window in thin, sickly strands. It does not soothe me anymore. It watches. It measures.
The moon is no longer a comfort. It is a countdown.
I know Damien is awake too.
I feel it in the bond, stretched tight without warmth, humming with tension like a cord drawn too far. Not broken. Not yet. But strained in a way that makes my chest ache.
I rise quietly and dress without calling for anyone. No guards. No attendants. No witnesses. My movements are steady, almost detached, as though my body has already accepted something my heart is still fighting.
The halls open before me like they expect my passage.
Wolves bow as I walk past. Some avert their eyes. Some stare too long, fear and awe tangled together in their gazes. They feel it too. They feel the shift in the air, the wrongness crawling beneath their instincts.
They know something is ending.
The chamber beneath the eastern tower still breathes with moon memory. It should not. Damien sealed it years ago, locking away relics and remnants that belonged to an older, crueler age. But seals made by Shadow do not hold against Flame.
The door opens the moment my fingers brush the stone.
The mirror waits.
It stands exactly where it always has, tall and silver-backed, its surface polished to a perfect, merciless shine. It looks harmless. Ordinary. And yet my pulse stutters as I step before it.
This time, I do not hesitate.
“Show me,” I whisper, my voice steady despite the fear curling in my gut. “Not her lies. Not half-truths. Show me what is real.”
The glass clouds slowly, as though fog is breathing across its surface. Then it clears.
I see him.
Damien stands alone on the cliff, shoulders shaking, head bowed, his hands bleeding where he has clenched stone too hard. The night presses in on him, vast and merciless. His voice reaches me, broken and hoarse, carried across distance and time.
“How do I kill the only thing I love?”
The words slice straight through me, sharp enough to steal my breath. My knees weaken, but I force myself to stay standing. I will not look away. Not now.
The vision shifts.
I see him fall to his knees. I see him shake his head, hands fisting into his hair like he is trying to tear the thought from his mind.
“I can’t,” he whispers. “I won’t.”
For a single, unbearable moment, the dagger appears in his hands. Silver. Lethal. Waiting.
Then he drops it like it burns him.
He bows his head and sobs into the night, the sound raw and unguarded, nothing like the Alpha the world sees.
“I will break fate before I break her.”
The vision shatters.
The mirror clears.
I stagger back, pressing a hand over my mouth as the chamber spins around me. My wolf whimpers, not in fear, but in grief. In understanding.
So the Goddess did not lie.
She twisted.
She showed me his question, not his refusal.
My chest aches with a love so fierce it nearly brings me to my knees. Damien did not betray me. He never would.
But he is trapped.
And so am I.
Voices echo down the corridor, growing louder as I step away from the mirror. The council chamber doors stand open. I hear my name spoken like a verdict, like a sentence already passed.
“She cannot be allowed to reach the third bleeding.”
“If the Alpha will not act, we must.”
Something in me goes still.
I do not think.
I walk.
The chamber falls silent the moment I enter. Every voice cuts off. Every gaze turns toward me.
Damien turns first.
The color drains from his face when he sees me.
“Selene,” he says softly. “You should not be here.”
The elders do not hide their fear now. Nor their resolve.
One of them steps forward, chin lifted. “We were discussing necessary measures.”
“About my death?” I ask calmly.
Silence answers me.
I do not look at them again.
I look only at Damien.
“You do not get to decide my ending without me.”
The room trembles. Not with anger. With recognition.
The Goddess recoils inside me, furious. The moon flickers overhead, its light faltering.
Damien steps toward me, desperation breaking through his control. “Selene, please.”
I take his hands.
He flinches before he stills. The truth in him floods into me through the bond. His terror. His love. His refusal to become what fate demands.
“They want you to kill me,” I say quietly. “And you would rather die than do it.”
His throat works. He cannot deny it.
“So listen to me,” I whisper. “If fate demands a choice, then I will make one too.”
I release his hands.
I turn toward the door.
“Where are you going?” he asks, panic tearing through his voice now.
“To the place where this ends,” I answer. “Before anyone else decides it for me.”
“Selene, don’t.”
I pause at the threshold, only once.
“If you love me,” I say softly, “do not stop me. Catch me.”
Then I walk away.
By the time Damien reaches the courtyard, I am already beyond the gates. The night air cuts cold against my skin. The forest opens before me, ancient and waiting.
Above, the moon shudders, its surface cracking like old porcelain.
The Third Bleeding stirs and I have decided to walk towards it on my own terms.