Chapter 159 Hundred and sixty two

Chapter 159 Hundred and sixty two

“Ryder, you’re scaring me.” Sienna’s voice cracked as she dragged him closer to the mural, his weight heavy in her arms, his breaths weak and uneven. He didn’t answer. His head lolled against her shoulder, and for a moment she thought he had slipped under again. But then his fingers twitched against her sleeve, a silent sign he was still fighting to stay present. “Stay with me,” she whispered urgently. “Please. I need you awake.”

“I’m… trying,” he breathed, but the words were barely air.

She refused to let him slip. With one hand braced at the back of his neck, she guided him to sit against the ancient stone wall. Silver dust drifted around them with every movement, disturbed from carvings that had been untouched for centuries. The temple ruins were cold, silent, suffocatingly still , as if time itself held its breath here.

Ryder blinked slowly, unfocused, and Sienna cupped his jaw. “Look at me.”

His eyes found hers, glassy with exhaustion. “I can’t… feel my hands.”

She grabbed them, squeezing hard. “Feel this.”

He swallowed, struggling. “Sienna…”

“I’m here.”

“You shouldn’t touch me when I’m like this.”

“I don’t care,” she snapped, voice shaking. “You’re not dying on me. Not tonight.”

He gave a small, pained smile. “You keep making promises you can’t keep.”

“And you keep trying to break them,” she shot back, brushing her thumb across the corner of his mouth. “But I’m not letting you.”

A soft rumble of thunder echoed through the ruins, but there was no storm outside. It came from the temple itself , from the ancient stones beneath them.

Ryder’s head tilted weakly. “What… is that?”

Sienna turned slowly, her heartbeat stumbling as she looked at the far wall. The mural carved into the stone had begun to glow. Lines of ancient script flickered with pale silver light, awakening as if responding to her presence.

Ryder’s breathing hitched. “Sienna… don’t go near it.”

She ignored him.

She stood, stepping toward the luminous carving. The symbols flowed like living water, rearranging themselves, reshaping old truths into legible words. Her hand hovered inches from the warm surface.

Ryder forced himself forward, wincing as pain lanced through him. “Don’t touch it. Sienna, listen to me, ”

“Something’s calling me,” she whispered.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

She pressed her palm to the stone.

Light exploded outward, washing the chamber in a cascade of silver. Ryder shielded his eyes, teeth locked against the pain the light triggered in his veins. Sienna didn’t move. She stood rigid, eyes wide, trapped in the mural’s ancient vision.

“Sienna,” Ryder rasped, trying to rise. His knees buckled beneath him, and he collapsed back to the floor. “Talk to me. What do you see?”

Her breath left her in a tremor. “A wolf… a throne… blood. So much blood.” Her voice lowered, trembling as the vision poured into her. “Two figures standing beneath the moon. One marked by shadow. One marked by light.”

Ryder tried again to reach her, dragging himself across the stone. Every inch hurt. Every breath was a fight. But he needed to get to her. He couldn’t let her face this alone.

“What happens to them?” he demanded, voice raw. “Sienna, what do you see?”

Her hand curled into a fist against the wall. “A crown shattering. A heartbeat stopping.” She swallowed hard, eyes burning. “It’s… it’s us.”

Ryder froze.

Sienna’s voice barely held together. “The curse was never meant to be broken.”

He stared at her, unblinking. “There has to be another interpretation.”

“There isn’t,” she whispered. “The prophecy is clear.”

“Tell me.”

She turned slowly, her gaze meeting his , and he saw the truth before she spoke it.

“One has to die willingly,” she said, voice shattering on the last word. “To free the other.”

Ryder felt something inside him go very still. “Sienna…”

“No.” She stepped toward him, shaking her head fiercely. “I’m not letting that happen.”

“You don’t get to choose.”

“Yes, I do.” Her breath came fast, breaking. “You’re not sacrificing yourself. You’re not even thinking it.”

“Sienna, ”

“No!” She dropped to her knees in front of him, hands gripping his face. “I just got you back. I just, Ryder, look at me. Look at me.”

He did.

And she wished he hadn’t.

Because there, in his eyes , behind the pain, behind the exhaustion, behind the flickering glow of Lunaris’s mark , she saw resolve beginning to take shape.

“You can’t,” she breathed. “I won’t let you.”

“You can’t stop what’s happening to me,” he whispered softly. “You feel it too.”

She tightened her grip. “I can hold you together. I can, ”

“You’re burning yourself out,” he cut in, voice shaking. “Every time you shield me, you’re tearing your power in half. You think I don’t see it? You think I haven’t noticed how pale you look? How your hands shake after you touch me?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does,” he said hoarsely. “Because if you die trying to save me, the prophecy still wins.”

She looked away sharply, blinking back tears she refused to let fall. “There has to be another way.”

“Sienna.”

“No.”

“Sienna,” he said again, firmer this time despite how weak he was. “Listen to me.”

She refused.

So he placed his shaking hands on her cheeks, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“If one of us has to die,” he whispered, “it should be me.”

She recoiled like he had struck her.

“Don’t say that,” she begged. “Don’t you ever say that.”

“It’s the truth.”

“No, it’s not.”

“I’m marked by shadow,” he said quietly. “I’m already fading. You saw it tonight. My body is breaking. My spirit is slipping. I’m halfway gone.”

“Then I’ll pull you back.”

“Sienna.”

“I will.”

“Sienna,” he said again, voice breaking, “you can’t.”

She shook her head. “I’m not choosing between us. I’m not letting the goddess force that choice. I’m not losing you.”

“You already are.”

She froze.

His voice softened. “Every hour. Every time I seize. Every breath that comes harder than the last. You know what’s happening.”

She didn’t speak.

She couldn’t.

Guilt, grief, terror , all of it tightened around her chest until she felt she couldn’t breathe.

He touched her hair gently. “If my death ends this, let it.”

“No,” she whispered fiercely. “I won’t survive it.”

“You will.”

“I won’t.”

“You’re stronger than you think.”

“And you’re giving up.”

He flinched.

She leaned closer, her forehead touching his. “Don’t do that. Don’t decide you’re ready to die when I’m still fighting for you.”

Ryder closed his eyes, breath trembling.

“I’m not ready,” he murmured. “But I’m realistic.”

“Well I’m not,” she said, brushing her lips against his cheek in a trembling near-kiss. “I’m selfish. I want you. I need you. And I am not letting you go.”

He inhaled sharply at her closeness, pulse unsteady. “Sienna…”

“I mean it.” Her words were a vow carved from desperation. “I will destroy every prophecy. Every goddess. Every curse. Anything and anyone who tries to take you from me.”

He tried to smile but failed, emotion choking it. “You can’t fight fate.”

“I can,” she whispered, “and I will.”

She reached for his hand, weaving their fingers together.

A shock went through both of them.

Ryder gasped, body arching painfully as a violent tremor seized him from head to toe. Sienna tightened her grip, pressing her power around him instinctively.

“Stay with me,” she whispered.

His breath hitched.

Then stopped.

For a heartbeat.

Two.

Her eyes widened.

“Ryder, ”

His chest rose sharply as he sucked in a ragged breath. His eyes flew open, flooded with shadow , the mark burning brighter, spreading across his skin like black fire.

“Sienna,” he rasped, voice shaking violently, “she’s pulling harder, ”

He convulsed.

The prophecy’s shadow wrapped around him like a noose.

Sienna held him as the light around them cracked.