SERAPHINA’S POVI'm stuck in a room surrounded by fire, pounding at the door while the very last bits of oxygen are being consumed by the flames. The walls around me have corroded to ash and crumble to the floor, but I don't stop pounding and screaming for help until it finally bursts open. I breathe a sigh of relief, only briefly, before I realize standing right in front of me is a burning corpse; charred completely, with a disfigured body and towering over me, tears of bright viscous liquid streaming down. It's a gruesome sight that cripples me with fear before I scream out loud and shut my eyes.The next time I open them, I'm somewhere else. Staring at a white ceiling, I'm breathing so hard that my chest burns painfully. The entire room around me is white as I take in my surroundings, riddled with panic. I thought I was on fire, I thought I was going to die, yet suddenly, I'm somewhere different. Am I still dreaming?A frame is crouched over by my side, with wide shoul
SERAPHINA’S POVIt’s been four days now in this painfully white clinic room. It's been three hours since Artemis left to pick up fresh clothes and real food for me. And it's been almost twenty-four hours—twenty-four long, dreary hours—since the news of Juliet's death was dropped like a bomb. But of course, I know it's a lie. Juliet is not dead. Juliet is not dead.Juliet is not dead.I repeat this to myself, laughing heartily at Jasper’s cruel attempt at a joke yesterday. I laughed right in their convincing faces then, at the Oscar-worthy tears that drenched Jasper's face, and the godforsaken snot that followed.God, he really must have given the cheap prank his best, expensive tricks.Juliet is not dead—I chant it to myself, again and again, until I can feel it in my heart that the words are true. She's a werewolf, and if I had somehow survived the explosion, then she did too. She had to have. What good would all the werewolf agility in the world be if it could n
SERAPHINA’S POVHe picks up my hand, holding onto it tightly like I might slip from his fingers, placing it against his beating heart, and staring right into my soul with a precision that leaves me breathless."This isn’t your fault, baby. Don’t you feel that? Don’t you feel my heart? You’re the life that keeps it beating, Sera. I realized that when I ran into that fire to find you. I realized then - it has become essential for me to always find you, to always love you, and my heart might very well stop pumping if I’m ever forced away from this truth. But I swear, by the moon goddess, by every drop of blood in my veins, by every shred of my being, not even decay or the deepest pits of hell could stop me from loving you. I'd battle through an inferno, crawl if I have to, endure every agony, time and time again, just to ensure this heart keeps beating—to ensure it beats for you."His words are my undoing—and without realizing it at first, tear after tear rolls down my cheek, before i
SERAPHINA’S POVThe following days drift by fast, like a daze, as if time becomes the wind that breezes past us in the blink of an eye, and everything that comes with the passing days a simple dream. It’s all a never-ending nightmare I can’t wake up from, no matter how hard I scream and cry and deny its reality. It remains, casting darkness like a storm that never fades. Juliet isn’t hiding away. It sounds completely unbelievable. I held on to the possibilities of it being all a lie for a few days, an elaborate prank, until the fifth day came, and I hadn’t seen her, and Jasper hadn’t broken into a maniacal laugh about how crazy we all were for falling for it.Slowly, reality has begun to hit, as it always does. It was easier to ignore before while I was still in the hospital room, but outside, it is a different case. Grief is everywhere—at her locker in the form of a thousand flowers and notes, in front of her dorm room, and in all the faces I see.‘Sorry for your loss.’
SERAPHINA’S POVA part of me dies once I make the realization. Deny it as I may, I did it. ‘You killed your own friend.’‘You lost control again.’ The vicious, negative voices in my head begin tearing me down once more, just like they had that night, taunting me, lording over me for ever being hopeful for a second that I could change anything.Hope is a luxury I once had. I danced around in the fields of possibilities, imagined what my life could be like. Hope was like a shining sun that could never set over the horizon. But my hope is dead, and I realize now there was never a point in having it in the first place.I’d always be the evil witch from Astria who killed her friend.My entire body trembles dangerously, shivering in the cold that bites at my skin. I fall to my knees and stare at my hand, the one stained with blood, endlessly flowing blood. First was my father, then Gideon’s Beta - now, Juliet.Even if my father and Gideon’s Beta deserved it - what about Julie
SERAPHINA’S POVOlivia holds me up once I stumble to the ground, panic and surprise plastered across her face. I guess I was the last thing she was expecting to see tonight, being a wanted criminal and all that. "Sera, what happened to you? You look like a mess!" she exclaims once I'm settled on a chair, brushing my sweaty hair away from my face while I catch my breath. "The guards came looking for me again, and Artemis isn't home, so I ran… I don't know where he is, and I don't have anywhere else to go," I say, looking up at her with a desperate plea.Her face turns worried and horrified by my news, with emotions I can't place perfectly, something akin to sadness and pity. Regardless of what she feels, I'm only grateful I don't see hate looking back at me… I was scared that she'd hate me now. "I knew I could come here in case of anything," I smile, clutching onto her arm.Now she frowns, avoiding my eyes for a second, and gently tugs her hand away, which confuses me. I l
ARTEMIS’ POVIt’s been days—I don’t know how long—of arguing with the same group of old bastards, trying to find a way to convince them of Sera’s innocence, to not lock her up like common vermin, people who don’t even know their own left from right. I’m completely tired and exhausted, unable to keep my eyes open, yet regardless, I keep pushing through because she’s worth it. I’d rather fight until I die than let them take her away and lock her up. Let people who know nothing about her castigate her like a criminal when she’s nothing but the brightest ray of sunshine in this goddess-forsaken world.It’s clear that neither of them are brave enough to question the laws of old, the stories that are completely false and hold no truth to what really happened 500 years ago. I try to convince them of Astria’s innocence, of the fact that it was us who actually started the war, summoning Horatio, who was exiled, to read ancient texts and prove it to them, yet in the face of actual truth
OLIVIA’S POV (BONUS)I hold my breath until Sera goes down through the balcony, my heart racing fast and pounding loudly in my ears, louder than my own conscience screaming at me. She came to me for help… she had nowhere to go. It’s all I can think about as pain constricts through my chest, as I clench my fist and bite on my lower lip.Jasper waits for a second more before he lets Alice go from his hold, and she drops to her knees, panting from exhaustion but rushing to her feet the very next second to go after her. This time I reach for the door, blocking it before she can get out, before she can chase after Sera and possibly do something she will regret.Her cold eyes focus on me instantly, gnashing her teeth my way. “Olivia…” she begins in a calmer tone, yet her intentions are clearly written all over her face, “move.” “Back off. She has enough on her plate right now,” I say with a warning tone.Alice looks at me incredulously, taking a step back to scoff at me. “En