“We have to kill him,” I gasp, staring up at the endless tangle of trees above me. “Kill him — but also keep him alive.”
Sin staggers a few feet away, hand braced against a tree, his chest heaving.
“That’s how we break that leash,” I whisper, the words tasting like ash. “That’s how we win.”
Chapter 15
Draven
I’m so tired. Every muscle feels like it’s been shredded and stitched back together with acid. Even keeping my head up feels like too much.
I don’t know where I am. I don’t know… anything.
My eyes drift to the beast in front of me. He’s massive — nearly swallowed by thick, glowing red threads that pulse like veins made of fire.
His head hangs forward, limp. Eyes closed. Like every breath of life inside him was smothered a long time ago.
I glance down.
Same red threads. Coiled tight around my chest. My arms. My throat. I’m stuck in place, I can’t even twitch a finger.
Panic flares, but it dies before it can reach my limbs. I’m too far gone for that. Too empty.
Why am I here?
Who… am I?
Kassira
I’m furious. Heart-shattered, soul-bruised, and every inch of me aching. But mostly — I’m pissed.
I storm through Kunou Forest, branches snapping beneath my feet, rage pulsing through every step.
Sin follows in silence, not a word escaping him.
My thoughts spin in violent circles, darkening the edges of my vision. Draven asked me to kill him. He looked me straight in the eyes and begged for death. My mate begged me to kill him. My soulmate. It broke my heart. Shattered it in pieces so small that even grains of sand are giant in comparison.
But in that wreckage, an idea sparked. Dangerous. And also absolutely desperate.
Magic can’t follow someone into death. It doesn’t belong to that realm — it belongs to the living. Thanatos, the God of the Underworld, doesn’t tolerate magic slipping through his gates. He doesn’t like it. It’s too unpredictable.
There were witches once who tried to cheat him — binding magic to their souls and crossing over. He burned them to ash. No soul. No afterlife. No rebirth. Just smoke and screams leftbehind. And those screams lingered for months, echoing from the gates of his realm like a twisted warning.
Curses are also snapped clean the moment death touches the soul. And that’s the loophole I’m clinging to. That’s what might free Draven.
Except death is unpredictable. Thanatos is greedy. And Draven… Draven is powerful. The kind of soul Thanatos would love to keep.
All these thoughts feel like they’re digging holes inside my skull.A sharp scream rips out of me, splitting through the quiet trees. I grip my hair, pulling so hard it stings.
“How?” I cry out, breath ragged. “How do I kill him and bring him back?”
I spin to face Sin, eyes burning, desperation bleeding from every inch of me. “Tell me. Tell me how, Sin. Please.”
He’s buck naked and painted in blood. His wounds already closed up — alarmingly fast — but the blood stayed. At least until we get to my small den near the river. The place where I spent six months getting ready to completely leave Draven behind. And now, in that same place, I’ll get ready to bring him back. Somehow. I’m counting on that big brain of mine that everybody’s been talking about to think of something.
Sin’s eyes are too sad. Too heavy. I don’t like seeing him like this.
“Wasn’t there a guy… centuries ago?” he murmurs. “He brought his human mate back to life? I swear I heard that story somewhere.”
