Seraphina's POV
The moment I woke up, my fingers instinctively brushed against my forearm, where the strange mark still lingered. I had hoped that perhaps it had been a trick of the dim light, a fleeting illusion caused by exhaustion and fear. But no… it was still there.
I sat up, my mind still reeling from the events of the previous night. Caelum. Lorien. The fight. My pulse quickened at the memory of Lorien's fury, the raw possessiveness in his eyes. But what unsettled me the most wasn't the fight, it was Caelum's voice, the way his touch had sent a tremor through me, not of fear, but of recognition. It was different from Lorien's… I wanted to kiss Lorien but I felt disgusted but willing to kill Caelum. Gosh I wonder what kind of life Seraphina had to live.
And now, this mark?
With a deep breath, I pulled the sheets off and moved to my small wooden desk. I needed answers. If I asked the wrong person or the wrong way, I could be labeled a traitor or worse, but I couldn't let this be ignored.
I dipped my quill into ink and carefully traced the symbol onto a spare parchment. It was intricate, an eerie combination of curved lines and sharp points, almost like a sigil. The more I looked at it, the more something inside me stirred familiar, yet foreign.
I had to know what it meant.
After I got cleaned up, I carried the parchment close to my chest as I made my way through the halls.
I found an older servant near the kitchens, a woman who seemed to had worked here longer than most.
"Do you recognize this?" I asked, my voice steady despite the dread curling in my stomach.
The woman took the parchment hesitantly, her wrinkled hands trembling as her eyes landed on the drawing.
Her face paled, and immediately she dropped it as though it burned her.
"Where did you see this?" She whispered, stepping back as though I carried death itself.
"I just… found it." I hesitated.
Her eyes darted around, checking if anyone else was listening. Then, she leaned in, her voice barely above a whisper.
"This… this is a mark of the damned."
"What?" I stiffened.
"This mark… it is tied to ancient magic. Dark magic. People who bear it are either cursed… or chosen."
"Chosen for what?"
She shook her head rapidly, refusing to say more.
The mark burned against my skin, as if it knew we were speaking of it.
"I don't know why you are asking but you can go to the temple if you want to know more."
I turned on my heel and walked away, wanting to find someone who wouldn't cower in fear.
The temple was eerily silent. White candles flickered. I had been here only once before, when I was still a slave… I guess. I probably prayed to gods who never answered me.
"You are here."
The priestess sat on a raised platform, her robes flowing like water around her frail frame. Eyes blind yet she could see.
"You seek answers," she murmured before I even spoke.
I stepped forward, swallowing hard. "I need to know what this means."
I rolled up the sleeve of my dress slightly, revealing the mark. The moment she saw it, her body stiffened.
"Impossible," she whispered.
"Tell me." My throat tighted as I muttered.
The priestess exhaled shakily. "That mark… it is ancient. A sign of a prophecy foretold long before this kingdom existed. A mark that only appears on those who stand between light and darkness."
A chill settled in my bones.
"You mean… it's not a curse?"
"It is both a gift and a curse," she said gravely. "It means that you are bound by fate to something or someone. The stronger your connection, the stronger the pull the stronger your connection to either the light or darkness."
Lorien.
I felt it last night, the unbearable weakness when I tried to pull away from him. The fire in my veins when he touched me.
"How do I stop it?" I asked.
"You don't." The priestess's lips thinned. "It has already begun. But only him can help you choose to either save or end everything living."
Her words were an omen.
Was I just supposed to stay and listen to her condemn me? I was cursed in my first life and I'm also cursed to depend on a man to ruin the world? Funny. For heaven sake I was just 16! Yeah, Seraphina might be older but I was still a kid.
I left the temple with my head spinning.
I wandered back toward my chambers, but my thoughts consumed me so deeply that I took a wrong turn. The corridors blurred together, and before I knew it, I was somewhere unfamiliar.
A chill ran down my spine as I heard laughter. Men's laughter.
I turned a corner and came face-to-face with three drunk guards.
"Look at this," one of them slurred. "The little human wandering alone at night."
"Let me pass." I took a step back.
One of them grinned. "Why so scared? We just wanna talk."
Another reached for me, but I twisted away. "Don't touch me."
"Or what?" he sneered.
Fear clawed at my chest. I turned sharply and ran, ignoring their laughter as they stumbled after me. My feet hit the dirt path outside the castle, and soon, I was in the woods.
I didn't stop running. But just then a sharp pain struck my chest, like an invisible force crushing me from the inside. My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees, gasping.
My limbs felt heavy. My breath came in short gasps.
What… What is happening to me?
The men caught up. They loomed over me, but one of them froze. His nostrils flared.
"What… what is that smell?"
The second man sniffed the air, his eyes widening.
"It's…" He stumbled back. "It's the scent of a high-ranking werewolf."
Their faces paled.
The mark? Yeah, I was marked by Lorien. My hand subconsciously went to my neck.
They knew who I belonged to?
Lorien's mark.
One by one, they backed away as though I had become something monstrous.
Then, they ran.
I lay there, shaking, the pain in my chest growing stronger. I couldn't move.
Something was wrong with me.
Gosh, I had read too many books to understand that this was the mate bond punishment for going too far from Lorien.
I stayed there for what felt like enternity by the time the guards found me, I was barely conscious. And then it was all black.
~~~
I woke to hushed whispers, the crackling of torches, and the heavy scent of fear.
"She was found alone in the woods," someone said.
"And the men who attacked her? They ran screaming?"
"Not just that," another voice whispered. "Did you see the trees around where she collapsed? They were all blackened. Burned from the inside out."
My breath hitched. What?
"She must have done something," a woman muttered. "I heard she was seen visiting the priestess today. Perhaps she sought forbidden knowledge."
"Perhaps she isn't as human as she seems."
What was happening?
"Where am I?" The figures around all flinched back.
They were afraid of me.