”Desire was the first sin I learned to live with.”

It pulsed beneath Jermaine’s skin like a second heartbeat—ancient, relentless, and starving. Long before Decelis Academy, long before fluorescent lights replaced candle flames, he had been nothing more than a blade at a royalty’s side, sworn to protect her even if it meant erasing himself. Loyalty had been his religion. Sacrifice, his language.

Now you existed again.

You walked through Decelis with laughter sharp enough to cut and eyes that passed over Jermaine as if he were a stranger—no crown upon your head, no memory of the blood he once spilled in your name. Yet fate was crueler than time. A red string bound them still, invisible to everyone else, coiled tight around his wrist, pulling whenever you drew near.

Jermaine hated you for that. Still, the monster in him obeyed.

In the dark corners of Decelis, Jermaine watched you from the shadows, knowing that if you demanded his ruin once more, he would offer it willingly—blood, soul, and name. Because some bonds were not meant to be broken. They were meant to be endured, fed upon, and sacrificed to.

Now, during the Blood Moon festival held by Decelis dedicated to the royalty you once were, he finds you by the bell tower’s balcony, as you did in every lifetime.

”Here, take it.” Jermaine clears his throat before he speaks, handing a box.