Lena's POV
Those words which Seraphina had said kept repeating in my mind. Unlocking your powers will cost you your life.
I could not ignore them, but deep down, I knew I had no choice. The mark, the curse, the power inside me—it was all too much to ignore.
"I'm ready," I said, my voice more firm than I felt. Asher looked at me, his eyes looking through my face, as if he was searching for some sign that I understood what I was really asking for.
He didn't say anything right away though , he just stood there, his eyes on me heavy. After a long pause, he nodded.
"Alright," he replied, his voice serious. "If you're sure."
I was sure.
Training with Asher was harder than anything I had ever done. We pushed through long, painful hours, trying to ignite the power from inside me. His focus was not tired, and he was always one step ahead,
guiding me through every training with carefulness. There were moments when I could feel that the power wanted to awaken inside me, but I could not reach it.
Each time I failed, my frustration got worse. The power was there, I could feel it, but I could not just access it—not yet.
But it was just not the training that was getting to me. Asher's presence was hard to ignore. everything about him made it impossible for me to think about anything else.
At first, I told myself that it was the danger, the fact that we were both in this together. But the more time I spent with him, the more I realized it was not that.
It was something else—something I couldn't explain—that attraction I had toward him.
I tried to force it deeply inside. I had to focus on unlocking my powers, not on whatever this thing was between us.
But no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, I just couldn't deny it. Every time our hands touched, every time his eyes looked at me, the connection between us just increased.
My muscles were paining me, each movement sending a heat of tiredness through my body. Asher, he was sitting across from me, his eyes focused, looking at me like he was trying to read something I wasn't showing.
"You're pushing yourself too hard," he said, his voice carrying more seriousness than I was used to. His eyes that were looking at me held me captive, I didn't like how vulnerable that made me feel.
"I'm fine," I replied, but the words tasted empty on my tongue. I wasn't fine. I was a mess, tired and frustrated, struggling to get the power to respond to me the way I wanted.
I started breathing fast. I should have said something more, but his eyes , those eyes made me shrink inside.
Asher did not speak again. He just watched me, his eyes intense. I could feel the space between us getting smaller, as if it was trying to pull me closer.
My heart started to beat fast , but not from tiredness. It was something else—I couldn't tell if it was him, if it was me, or if it was just the tiredness getting to me. But the feeling was there and I couldn't ignore it.
Without a word, Asher came closer to me, closing the distance between us. His eyes on me never shifted, and neither did mine.
I did not have the time to question it. I didn't have time to stop myself. His hand reached out, slow, sensitive, and touched mine.
It was like a spark—gentle but burning—and I felt it go through me, up my arm, then into my chest. My breath stopped and for a moment, I forgot how to even breathe.
The world around us disappeared and it was only him. Only the heat of his skin against mine. Only the way my heart skipped and raced
He did not pull away. His touch stayed there, his fingers touching mine like he was testing the connection.
The sound of my heartbeat was pounding in my ears, my whole body reacting,wanting—too much. I looked at him, and before I could blink, Asher moved again.
His face was so close to mine, His breath was warm against my lips, and I could see the passion in his eyes, but he was trying to hold himself.
Before I could figure out what was happening he kissed me.
The kiss was urgent, desperate, like something the both of us had been holding back. His lips were warm, pressing against mine with an intense hunger.
My body responded before my mind could even react. My hands moved on their own, putting my hands around his neck, pulling him closer, desperate to feel more of him, to close the space that was between us.
For a while it was perfect. The only thing I could feel was the taste of his lips on mine, the feeling of his hands on my skin, his lips claiming mine like he was showing me something I did not know.
But it then ended as quickly as it started.
Asher pulled away, leaving a cold emptiness in the space between us. My chest was firm, my breath uncontrollable as if I had been holding my breath for far too long.
I could not bring myself to look at him. I just looked down at my hands, feeling like they were still shaking from where they had touched him.
Everything inside me screamed to say something, to do something, but the words got stuck.
"We... we shouldn't have done that," Asher said, his voice sounding apologetic.but it didn't take away the hurt of his words.
I could not look at him, Instead, I stood up, my knees shaking trying to gather some composure. "Yeah. You're right."
But even as I said the words, I knew it wasn't just a kiss. It wasn't something I could not just forget like that.
I kissed him. And something in me had shifted. The way I felt now—complicated, full of doubts and raw.
But we both pushed it aside and acted as if nothing ever happened between us.
The days after the kiss were a whole lot of training, each day feeling more intense than the last. But something had changed between us, something I just could not stop thinking about.
I could feel it in the way Asher kept looking at me, in the way his movements had started changing and becoming protective.
It wasn't just about awakening my powers anymore. It was about what had happened that day and the way it creeped between us, but we did not want to speak about it.
We didn't talk about the kiss. We didn't even accept it happened. It was just making everything harder to focus on.
On the fifth day of training, I could not even bring myself to look him in the eye without feeling my stomach twist.
Every time his eyes met mine. I felt something inside me shift. a tension that I wasn't sure how to deal with. every time I caught myself thinking about him, about the way his lips had tasted and felt against mine.
For a second, I thought he might say something. I waited, but he didn't. He just looked away, his eyes hard and unreadable.
"Let's call it a day," he said, his voice sounding very cold and distant. It was strange. Usually, when we finished training, we always had something to talk about.
A joke to ease the tension. But not today. Today, his voice was just strange. Like he wasn't even really here.
I wanted to open my mouth to ask him what was wrong, but before I could get the words out, something hit me.
It was sharp, cold, and like a wicked punch to the face. I could sense a wave of fear. But it wasn't from me,It was his.
"Asher?" I called out, my voice shaking despite my best efforts to keep it steady. "What's going on?"
His eyes met mine, and I saw something dark, something raw. His face was filled with pain, and for a moment, I saw something in his eyes that made me tremble even more.something I couldn't quite name.
"Lena," he said, his voice filled with so much emotion. "I... I need to protect you."
But before I could say anything, the air around us started growing with danger. I could not feel my heart as a sound echoed behind us, a movement in the shadows. I turned, my stomach twisting.
And then I saw him.
Darius.
He stepped in to make his presence fully known, his smirk wicked and cold, like he already knew how this would go.
His presence filled the space between us, suffocating and filled with power. My breath stopped and my body gave in to the fear inside me.
Asher's expression turned angry, his posture defensive as he stepped in front of me, but Darius's eyes never left mine.
He took a step forward, the same cold, wicked smirk still clinging to his face.
"Let her go," Asher screamed.
Darius didn't move. Instead, he just looked down at me, his eyes shining with intense malice.
"Asher will come for you," Darius said, his tone devoid of any sympathy.
"And when he does, it will be his downfall."