Her breath was still trembling on her lips when Silas whispered, "fuck it."
And then kissed her.
Not gently, not sweetly…
It was a kiss born of centuries. Of deaths and rebirths. Of watching her crumble and rise again, life after life, and never being able to reach her. It was a kiss full of punishment–for himself, for her, for fate.
But as the kiss continued she didn't dare to push him away, cause she didnt know when it would happen again or would it even happen again.
She savers every moment now, to remember this moment between them..
As the kiss got more heated her fingers knotted into his coat, pulling him closer like he was the only thing tethering her to the world.
His lips were colder than she expected, but the fire behind them–the fire in him–ignited something buried deep within her.
Their mouths met with hunger and hurt, with every ache of things unspoken.
His hands trembled as they slid around her waist, and for a moment, they were not bruised, cracked and desperately colliding.
When they finally broke apart, breathless and dazed. Moriah laughed.
It wasn't a soft laugh.
It was wicked and unhinged and beautifully hers.
It carried the weight of her madness and the melody of freedom she finally felt after many deaths.
"So," she said, lips red from the kiss, voice trembling with something unnamed,
"You're human after all."
Silas ran a hand through his hair, already regretting–but not really.
"You're dangerous," he murmured.
As he said that her smile widened, too sharp for comfort. "You have no idea."
Silas Pov: Cracks in the Wall
She was unraveling him.
Piece by fragile piece.
And it terrified him, but also excited him, seeing her like this.
Silas had held himself like stone through wars, revolution, kingdoms rising and falling. He had killed kings and knelt to none.
But to her…
He could kneel to her, he knew that..
He had been made into steel, forged in flame and expectation. But she—
She looked at him like she knew him.
All of him.
Even the parts he had buried with blood and fire.
And still wanted to touch him, to learn more of him.
After a few seconds of looking at each other Silas turned and left her all alone on the rooftop, needing space.
Air.
Silence.
But her laughter echoed after him like the chime of something dangerous.
Something scared.
Something he could no longer deny..
That he has fallen for her..
Adn hard.
But Silas wont say that to her…
He is scared of rejection, of fear in her eyes.
He had returned to the training hall, attacking the wooden post like it had dared kiss her instead.
But as he punched and punched the imagination wouldn't leave his mind.
Her lips.
Her smile.
Her red eyes that looked at him asking for more..
That look in her eyes–like she had just remembered who she was and who he was.
Like she had remembered him.
For centuries, he had walked in the shadows of others' fates.
For centuries, he had been the blade of justice.
Detached.
Calculated.
But for her..
He had always bent, his own rules, his heart and mind.
He just hadn't realized it until now, until he kissed her and she kissed him back with passion.
Moriah's Pov: Unchained
She stood alone on the rooftop, the stars above burning cold and bright.
He kissed her.
He kissed me.
Her heart and mind was a storm. Her mind is at war. But her body still tingled with the memory of his mouth, the was he said "fuck it" like it was the only prayer left to them.
In past lives, he had judged her.
In this one, he kissed her…
And that made her laugh again, mad and wild. The moon didn't judge her. The wind didn't fear her.
Why should she?
She twirled once, arms wide to the dark sky, and whispered into the night.
"This time, I won't beg."
"This time the world would beg me."
Then she turned and went inside. And as she walked the silent halls of Velcrim Manor, every step felt like a drumbeat, every breath of her a vow.
She was going to become something new, something people should fear.
Something very terrifying.
Not because she had to. No.
But because she chose to.
Days Later - The Dance of Power
Silas avoided her for three days.
She didn't mind.
She trained.
She studied.
She read through every ancient tome in the manor's hidden library.
Magic, politics, poisons.
Seduction.
combat .
There were journals written in blood.
Diaries from broken women who came before her. Moriah read them all.
And every night, she waited. Waited to see if he'd come to her.
On the fourth night, he did…
She was in the ballroom, barefoot, spinning slowly to music only she could hear.
Her white hair caught the candlelight in rives of silver.
"You're late," she said without turning around.
"You weren't expecting me."
"I always expect you. I just never know what version of you I'll get."
He said nothing. Just watched her move. The pain in her eyes masked by a performance of joy. The madness curling in her smile…
She turned to him, firelight licking the silk of her dress.
She looked like she'd walked out of a dream–and straight into a nightmare.
"I dreamed of you," she whispered.
"You were holding my hand as I died. Again."
As she said that he flinched. "I tried to stop it."
"But you didn't."
"No."
Silence settled between them, heavy and taunt.
"Do you regret kissing me?" she asked.
He met her gaze, tortured and raw. "I regret not doing it sooner my ruin."
She closed the space between them slowly, like a predator.
Like a lover.
Like someone with nothing left to lose.
"I'm going to become something dark," she whispered. "And you'll have to choose."
"Between what?"
"Between killing me, or loving me."
His breath caught, and he looked in her eyes.
And then finally, he said, "who says i haven't already chosen?"
Elsewhere: The Web Tightens
Unseen eyes watched from far away. An enchantress sat on a throne made of crow feathers.
A scholar read from a scroll that glowed with cursed light. A knight carved her oath into her skin.
A council.
A curse.
A secret.
The villain was awakening.
And the man meant to stop her had fallen in love.
Too soon…
Or perhaps–right on time.
Moriah's Journal, Found Years Later
"The first time I saw him, I wanted to hate him. He was too calm.
Too cruel.
Too beautiful.
He wore his silence like armor and his gaze like a blade. I thought he would be the end of me."
"Now I wonder if he was the beginning."
"Every life I've lived, someone has tried to break me. But in this one… I think I might break the world instead."
"And he–my commander, my warden, my shadow–he'll either stand beside me…
Or be the first to burn."