Chapter 18 The Maiden's Bargain
Serafina
The gates of the Veiled Sanctum opened for me with a sound like stone inhaling. Warm air rolled out to meet me—ancient, untouched, humming with power that prickled across my skin like static.
As for the black wolf, it was gone.
One moment it had stood at the edge of the trees, watching me with those mesmerizing amethyst eyes. The next, it had vanished into the forest as if it had never existed at all, without so much as a huff goodbye.
It had led me here, and its task was finished.
This part... this part was mine alone.
I sighed, the childhood poem my mother once recited surfacing in my mind. I had never questioned what the maiden truly was. Now I knew. She was no heroine—she had been a virgin sacrifice to the dragon.
And now, I was standing in her place.
I stepped forward.
The instant my boot crossed the threshold, a torch flared to life along the cavern wall with a sharp whoosh. Blue-white flame bloomed from nothing. Then another ignited. Then another.
Each step I took lit the next torch in sequence, a relentless chain of fire racing ahead of me—as though the Sanctum itself were watching my progress with interest.
The walls began to glow faintly. Runes surfaced from the stone like silver veins beneath skin—thin, elegant strokes carved with maddening precision. As I moved deeper, the pattern revealed itself.
Arrows. Every single one pointed forward.
Helpful, I thought grimly. So the prey doesn't wander off.
Either way, I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.
Lio was dying. He was still so young, with his entire life stretched out before him. He deserved to live.
Maybe he would be given a real chance at a future—score higher on Rank Day. Fall in love. Marry. Have children.
I pressed onward, clinging to the small, bright possibilities of everything Lio could still become.
Even if it meant dying for it.
My footsteps echoed softly as the passage narrowed, then widened again, the ceiling rising until the darkness above swallowed the light of the torches.
Suddenly, the cavern spoke.
“Who dares enter my Sanctum?”
The voice was vast. Dark. Ancient. It rolled through the cave like thunder through stone, rattling my ribs, shaking dust from the ceiling.
I didn't answer. I lifted my sword instead, spinning slowly, searching the shadows for the source of the voice.
"WHO DARES ENTER MY SANCTUM?"
This time the voice sharpened—impatient, edged with warning.
Besides lies, shrines apparently disliked insolence as well.
I swallowed and forced my voice steady, even as it scraped raw from my throat. “My name is Serafina. Serafina Valen," I answered using my true name. “Who… who am I speaking to?”
A scoff reverberated through the chamber, multiplying as it bounced off the stone until it sounded like a dozen unseen mouths laughing at once.
“Names are wasted on the unworthy.” A pause. Heavy. Assessing. “Why are you here, Serafina Valen?”
“I come to save my brother,” I said. “He’s dying. I—” My voice caught, but I forced the words out. “I need a miracle.”
Silence swallowed the cavern whole. It pressed in, thick and judgmental, stretching until only my pulse thundered in my ears.
At last, the voice returned—lower now. Thoughtful. Echoing around me, bouncing off the wall in eerie succession.
“Your heart is desperate.”
“Your need is true.”
“But desperation is not enough.”
I tightened my grip on the sword. “Then tell me what I must give. I have no gold. No land. Or anything remotely impressive." I exhaled sharply. "I only have myself."
A low rumble rolled through the cavern—amused.
“All miracles demand sacrifice.”
“I know,” I said quickly. “And I’m willing to give my life if that’s the price.”
Laughter boomed through the Sanctum, deep and thunderous.
“No. I need you alive, little mortal. A corpse cannot uphold a contract." Then the laughter stopped. “Your choice must be absolute. You will accept the consequences—whatever they may be.”
So I'm not dying today. I felt a wave of relief. Good to know.
I slid my sword back into its scabbard. “I’ve made up my mind. I’ll accept whatever you ask—as long as my brother lives.”
The Sanctum answered.
Stone groaned. The ground vibrated beneath my boots as the cavern shuddered and split open, widening, flooded with sudden, blinding light.
I raised an arm to shield my eyes.
When the light faded, my breath left me in a rush.
The dark cavern was gone.
In its place stretched a meadow—lush, vibrant, impossibly green—rolling beneath a sky that should not exist beneath a mountain.
Wildflowers brushed my skirt, their scent sweet and overwhelming. A soft breeze stirred the grass, warm and alive.
A stone path cut through the field leading to an arch woven from living vines and blossoms, the flowers subtly glowing as if lit from within.
It was beautiful.
I followed the path, stopping beneath the arch. Petals drifted down from above settling around my head like a crown.
Beyond the arch rose an altar of obsidian, polished to a mirror sheen so dark it swallowed the light around it—a stark contrast to the bright field of grass and flowers. Candles rested atop it, unlit but waiting.
The voice returned, closer now. Like it was everywhere.
“Why do you stop?”
“I—I was only looking,” I said quickly. I set my lantern down, my palms slick with sweat. “I’m not hesitating or reconsidering my choice."
“Are you certain?” The words brushed against my thoughts, intimate and probing. “Whatever I ask—you will give?”
“Yes," I nodded. “Whatever you ask. Just promise me you'll save my brother."
"I will save your brother, Serafina Valen. Now walk to the altar," the voice commanded, "and kneel."
My body moved before doubt could catch up. The white dress beneath my cloak whispered against the stone path with every step, suddenly, unbearably, bridal in a way.
I reached the altar and sank to my knees.
The meadow stilled, as if witnessing a sacred event.
“Place your palms,” the voice murmured, almost gentle now, “where the altar dips.”
I looked down.
A shallow hollow had been carved into the obsidian and above it sat a small chalice—black, unadorned—filled with a dark red-brown liquid that made my stomach twist.
Blood. Whose? A mystery.
My hands shook—but I obeyed, placing my hands on each side of the hollow. The instant my palms touched the stone, the candles ignited. Heat surged through the altar. Then pain exploded.
Invisible blades sliced across both palms, sharp and merciless. I cried out, jerking instinctively, but an unseen force pinned my hands in place.
The chalice tipped. Its contents poured into the hollow, pooling between my bleeding hands.
My blood followed.
The two liquids spiraled together, glowing brighter as they merged—crimson threading into gold, alive, binding, claiming.
A violet flame erupted from the mixture, undeniable and true.
Suddenly a heartbeat thundered through the altar.
The voice returned, but now it was no longer distant.
It descended in my head, heavy with longing.
“You are mine,” he whispered. “And I am yours.”
A pause.
“…My wife.”
Every hair on my body rose.
I jerked back, stumbling away from the altar. My hands throbbed, blood smeared across my palms.
“W-wife? What—what are you talking about?!”
A deep rumble cracked through the chamber—
No, through the entire mountain.
The ground shook violently, the meadow rippling like water. The flowers bowed. And the bright blue sky above darkened, swallowing the light.
With a deafening roar, the mountain ahead of the altar split open.
Stone tore apart like paper, revealing a cavernous hollow filled with swirling gold and emerald light. Heat blasted outward as something massive shifted in the shadows.
Then he emerged.
A dragon—immense, magnificent, terrifying—unfurled from the darkness. His scales shimmered in shifting hues of emerald, ruby, and gold, as though precious gems had been melted into living armor.
His eyes burned like twin suns.
He lowered his serpentine neck until his enormous head loomed before me, filling my entire world.
When he spoke, the cave trembled at the sound.
“I am Azerath.”
The dragon dipped his head, gaze locking onto mine with unmistakable possession.
“Your husband... your mate”
The chamber fell silent.
I stood trembling before the being whose Sanctum I had entered—bound by a contract I had never understood.
And now... I was married to a dragon older than empires.
I swallowed. What have I done?