I wake with a jolt, my chest heaving as though I've just surfaced from deep water. The air around me is thick, saturated with something that feels both suffocating and familiar. I'm no longer in Freyr's throne room.
I'm somewhere else.
I stand in the middle of a room I recognize, though it's different now, faded. Time has worn it down—the walls, once rich with color, now cracked and peeling like forgotten memories. The scent of jasmine and warm sun that had always lingered in the corners of our home is absent, replaced by a damp, musty air that clings to my skin.
I see them before I hear them. Cassie and Ryan.
Cassie's eyes are wide with disbelief, her usually confident demeanor shattered as she stares at Ryan. The pain and betrayal that flashes across her face cuts through me, sharper than any blade.
"You did this," she says, her voice low, the words thick with accusation. "You're the reason they're gone."
Ryan stands across from her, his expression unreadable. His eyes, once warm with familiarity, now feel distant, cold. He doesn't answer right away, and that silence speaks volumes.
"Cassie—" Ryan begins, his voice steady, but there's an edge to it now, something I haven't heard before. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this. It was… necessary."
"Necessary?" Cassie's voice rises in disbelief. "Necessary? You took them from me! You took them from us!"
Ryan's gaze flickers for just a moment, a flicker of regret, but he doesn't offer an apology. Instead, his eyes harden, his jaw tightening as though bracing himself for what comes next.
The vision materializes two figures in the shadows behind him, men whose faces I can't make out. They speak, their voices low, but I can feel the weight of their words in my bones, their words slipping past Ryan with ease.
"The Unseelie Court didn't want them alive," one of them says. "You know why. But now, your brother wants them dead, because they are the reason the Vampires can't join the fae courts."
The words hit like a blow. I can't see the faces of these figures, but their presence is unmistakable. They stand like silent witnesses, as if this moment is meant for me.
The vision returns to Cassie looking at Ryan in shock, and I feel her pain in my chest.
Ryan steps back, as though the revelation has shifted something inside him. "I didn't have a choice," he murmurs, his voice breaking. "They had to go… for all of us."
Cassie steps forward, her face pale and strained. "And you think you could just take them, hide the truth? This isn't about the fae courts, is it, Ryan? This is about you."
Ryan doesn't speak, but I hear the words he doesn't say in the silence between them.
My mother's voice echoes in my mind—"It's not safe." Her fear, trembling in every word.
And then Ryan's voice, calm yet urgent, layered with something else—something darker: "It's not about safety. It's about what she's capable of."
"She's just a child!"
"Exactly," Ryan had said. "That's why she has to be protected. Because when the time comes…"
Before I can hear more, before I can understand what they're saying, everything goes black. The world blurs into a spiral, folding in on itself, and with a jarring snap, I'm back in Freyr's throne room. The cold air is sharp against my skin, the shadows in the room thicker than before.
My heart races, and my breath is shallow. The vision is gone, but the weight of the revelation, the knowledge of the past, lingers like a poison in my veins. What was the truth? What was the cost? And why does it feel like everything I thought I knew is unraveling?
Freyr's presence looms behind me, but I can't look at him. Not yet. Not when I'm still reeling from the glimpse into my own history.
I stand still in the center of the throne room, my body frozen, heart racing. The room spins around me, but it's not the space that's disorienting. It's the weight of what I've seen—what I've learned. The vision, so vivid, burns itself into my mind. Ryan's betrayal. Cassie's pain. My parents… taken. For reasons I still can't fully grasp.
My fists clench by my sides, but it does nothing to quell the trembling in my limbs. I can still hear the words echoing in my ears—the coldness in Ryan's voice, the grief in Cassie's. The truth is suffocating. I feel betrayed, used. The people I trusted, the ones who should have protected me, have instead tied me to a fate I never asked for. And the worse part? The anger I should feel doesn't come. It's overshadowed by a profound sorrow, as though a part of me is mourning something I can't yet name.
"Why?" I whisper to the shadows, though I already know I won't get an answer. "Why did it have to be this way?"
The room is still, except for the low hum of Freyr's presence. It presses into me, like a dark cloud on the verge of bursting. I clench my teeth, but I can't deny it anymore—he's been part of this from the beginning. And that thought alone sends a chill through me.
"You're disturbed," Freyr's voice cuts through the silence, calm and deliberate. I don't need to turn around to know he's there, his presence thick in the air. I can feel his gaze on me, like a weight pressing into my skin.
I don't answer, but I can feel his eyes boring into my back, waiting for me to react, to speak.
"I understand," he continues, his voice smooth as velvet. "It's a heavy burden to realize how many strings have been pulled, and how little of it was in your hands."
I can hear the amusement in his tone, but there's a quiet sadness there too. Or is it just manipulation, masked with feigned empathy?
"Do you?" I snap, my voice tight. "Do you understand what it's like to have your entire life turned upside down? To realize the people you trusted… are the ones who destroyed everything you believed in?"
Freyr doesn't respond immediately. When he does, his voice is softer, tinged with something that almost sounds like sincerity. "You can't go back, Sarah. But you can move forward. The question is—how far are you willing to go to uncover the truth? To control the power inside you?"
I freeze, the weight of his words sinking into me. Control the power inside me. The magic, the darkness—it's been with me all along, and now that I've seen a glimpse of the consequences, I don't know if I can manage it.
"I don't need your help," I mutter, my voice thick with defiance, but even I can hear the uncertainty in my words. "I didn't ask for this."
"You're right," Freyr agrees, his voice low and purposeful. "You didn't ask for it. But you've already embraced it. And that, my dear, is the problem. You want the truth, but you're not ready for what comes with it. You want control, but that comes at a price."
A shiver runs down my spine as his words wrap around me like chains.
"What price?" I ask, more to myself than to him, but Freyr answers as though he's been waiting for me to ask.
"To embrace the darkness, Sarah," he says, stepping closer, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You must accept it as part of you. All of it. The power. The chaos. But know this—every step you take away from understanding your true nature, toward mastering your powers… it pulls you deeper into that abyss. And when it consumes you…"
He lets the sentence trail off, letting the weight of his words sink into the silence. My breath catches, my chest tightening with an emotion I can't name.
"Your human side will wither," he adds softly, almost too softly. "And once that happens, there's no going back. You will become something… else."
I swallow hard, my fingers gripping the pendant at my neck. The heat of it contrasts sharply with the coldness of the room, but even its warmth offers little comfort now.
"Why should I trust you?" I ask, my voice sharp, though I know I'm asking the wrong question. What other choice do I have? Every path seems to lead back to him, to the power he holds over me.
"Because, Sarah, the more you uncover about your past, about who you truly are… the more your magic will strain against your control. And the more the darkness will try to consume you." Freyr steps closer, his shadow stretching over me, almost enveloping me. "You can fight it, but it will never stop. The more you resist, the stronger it becomes. And when it breaks you…" He pauses, his eyes darkening. "You'll be lost forever. This is the price of knowledge, of power. The question is—how much of yourself are you willing to lose?"
I take a step back, heart racing, as the weight of his words threatens to suffocate me. The darkness… It's been there all along, hasn't it? The power, the hunger, the urge to let go. To surrender to it. The thought sends a jolt of fear through my veins. But there's something else there, too. A flicker of something I can't explain. Hope? Ambition?
"I don't know if I can do this," I whisper, my voice barely audible. The confession stings more than I expect. I've always thought I had control. But now? Now I'm not sure I can even keep myself together.
"You don't have to do it alone, Sarah." Freyr's voice softens, but there's something almost predatory in the calm. "But remember—this path leads to power. And once you start walking it, there's no turning back."
I want to refuse. I want to turn and run. But there's something in me—the same part that was drawn to him, to the pendant, to the darkness—that pushes me forward. The need for answers, for understanding, is stronger than the fear that claws at my chest.
"What's the first step?" I ask, my voice steady, though I feel the weight of my decision settling over me.
Freyr smiles, and the gesture sends a cold shiver down my spine. "The first step, my dear, is to embrace your fate. And once you do, I will show you the rest."
As the words hang in the air, I feel a strange sense of finality. The door to my past, to my future, is closing behind me. There's no turning back now.
Freyr's presence lingers in the room like a weight, the air heavy with the consequences of my next choice. His words hang around me, suffocating, as if they've embedded themselves into my skin, leaving a burn I can't escape. The hunger for answers gnaws at me, but so does the fear of what I might become if I go any further.
"I can't just give in to this," I murmur, my voice shaky but firm. I try to find the words that will push him away, that will close this door, but even as I say them, I know they won't be enough. I know there is no way to retreat.
Freyr chuckles softly, the sound a dark melody that fills the silence. It's a sound I can't quite place—one part sympathy, one part amusement, and all too knowing.
"You can, Sarah," he says, his tone low and coaxing, like a thread drawing me in. "But you don't WANT to. Not really."
His words penetrate deeper than I care to admit. I don't want to be this person—the one willing to risk everything for the truth, for the power, for something I don't even understand. I don't want to step further into the darkness, to embrace a fate that feels both wrong and inevitable.
"Then why are you doing this?" I ask, finally turning to face him, my gaze unwavering, though the doubt in my chest is a heavy weight I can't shake. "Why push me toward this… this destruction?"
His eyes lock with mine, and there's a flicker of something in them, something ancient and infinite. He steps closer, his shadow consuming mine, yet I stand my ground.
"I'm not pushing you, Sarah," Freyr says, his voice calm but intense. "I'm showing you what you already are. What you've always been. You want answers, but answers come with a price. And you already know that. The truth has always been yours to claim. But the power you'll gain? It will never come without sacrifice. You will lose pieces of yourself. You will lose the very thing that makes you human. But that's the cost of embracing your true nature."
I stagger back, my breath hitching in my chest. "So I have no choice?" I ask, my voice cracking with the weight of the realization.
"You always have a choice, Sarah." Freyr's voice softens just a fraction, and his gaze holds mine with a certain understanding. "But not all choices are equal. The one you face now is the one you've been building toward all your life. And the only way to control it is to accept all of it—your power, your darkness. Everything. The question is, what will you become when you do?"
His words ripple through me, like a wave crashing against the shore, eroding whatever strength I have left. The idea of losing my humanity, of becoming something else, something darker… it terrifies me, yet the call to embrace that darkness is undeniable.
"I don't know if I can handle it," I whisper, the admission slipping from my lips before I can stop it.
Freyr steps forward, his presence a dark shadow that swallows all light. "You can. But only if you stop fighting it. Only if you choose to surrender."
I shake my head, the weight of the decision pressing down on me, suffocating me. "What happens if I do?" I ask, though I'm afraid to hear the answer.
His smile is cold, predatory. "You'll have the power you crave. The answers you seek. But you will never be the same. Once you embrace this power, there's no turning back."
I stare at him, my heart pounding in my chest, torn between the fear of what I might lose and the hunger for the truth that gnaws at me relentlessly.
"Do you want to find your parents, Sarah? Do you want to know the truth behind their deaths, behind the warlock's game? Do you want to understand why you are the key to everything?" Freyr's words drip with temptation. "If you do, you must let go of what you once were. Only then will you be able to see everything clearly."
The room around me grows darker, the shadows pulling tighter, pressing against my skin. The weight of the decision bears down on me like a physical force. Every part of me screams to turn away, to reject him, to fight for whatever humanity I have left. But the other part of me—the part that wants the truth, the part that's been searching for something my whole life—wants to move forward. Wants to embrace the darkness, to wield the power Freyr offers.
I swallow hard, forcing the words out of my mouth, though they feel like they're tearing through my chest. "And if I do? If I accept your offer? What happens to me?"
"Everything will change," Freyr says, his voice dark and smooth, full of promises. "But that's the only way you'll ever become what you were meant to be."
I close my eyes for a moment, taking a shaky breath. When I open them again, the shadows around me feel even thicker, more suffocating. But I can't turn back. Not now. Not after everything I've seen.
"I'll do it," I say, my voice trembling but resolute. "I'll embrace it."
Freyr's smile widens, but it's not a smile of warmth. It's a smile of victory.
"Good," he says softly. "The first step has already been taken."
I feel the darkness pulse around me, alive and hungry, and in that moment, I realize just how far I've fallen. But there's no going back now. Not ever.