The chamber did not vanish this time.

:

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55 vouchers

It clung to me like smoke, and I was dragged deeper into Severine’s world, like she want to make sure I get everything.

Days passed–or what felt like days. I saw fragments, like shards of ss reflecting a story too sharp to hold.

Severine moving through the stone corridors with her hair undone, the tired smile of a woman who gave too much but believed it was for love. Her hands shook when she poured water into a bowl, and she steadied herself against the wall. Her lips were pale, her skin growing thinner, like parchment over me.

And always, Totti was there.

Not withfort. Not with worry.

With ambition. fn1f52 Th?s chapter is updated by f?ndnovel/fn1f52

He touched her as if she were both beloved and a weapon, stroking her hair before asking for more spells. Kissing her mouth before demanding more strength. Whispering love like a key to unlock her every hidden

power.

And she gave. Always, she gave.

One night, I saw her copse at the edge of the ritual circle. Her breath came shallow, her fingers bloodied from carving runes into stone. The heart of the mermaid pulsed faintly now within Totti’s chest, its glow like veins of ocean fire threading beneath his skin.

“Tired again?” His voice was soft, but it wasn’t concern. It was a calction.

She forced augh, weak but stubborn. “I’ll grow stronger. My master warned me of this–magic costs, she said. But you’re worth the price.”

Worth the price.

The words cut through me like ss.

I wanted to grab her. Shake her. Tell her: No, it isn’t supposed to cost like this. Not your body, not your soul. He’s taking more than you know.

But she couldn’t hear me.

She looked at him like he hung the moon, even as she coughed and crimson flecked her lips. She hid it, turning away quickly, wiping her mouth before he noticed. Or maybe he did notice, and simply didn’t care.

The tragedy was not only in her blindness.

It was in his silence.

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Because in Totti’s eyes, there was no rm. Only hunger.

Hunger for what she could give.

Hunger for what she would sacrifice.

And Severine mistook that hunger for devotion.

She thought herself blessed. Chosen. Loved.

The vision twisted again, dragging me further.

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I saw her sitting at the edge of the garden one morning, staring at her reflection in a basin of water. The sun gilded her hair, but shadows bruised her eyes. She lifted her hand to her face, as if searching for the girl she had once been. For the strength that used to live in her limbs before every spell wrung her dry.

Then Totti appeared, strong and shining, his presence filling the garden like a king. He bent to kiss her, and she melted against him, relief softening her features.

“I would give you everything,” she whispered. “Even if it breaks me.”

He smiled. Not in gratitude. Not in fear.

In triumph.

The basin water rippled, and I saw my own reflection there–my own eyes wide, horrified, filled with tears.

I realized then: Severine was not yet ready to see the truth.

Her love was still too bright. Too blinding.

And that was the deepest tragedy of all.

She would keep giving until there was nothing left to give.

And Totti would keep taking.

b***** /b

Severine stood near the ritual circle, her hair a wild halo around her face.

She was paler now than I had ever seen her in these visions, the kind of pale thates from sickness, not from birth. Her wrists trembled as she ground herbs into a bowl, dark streaks staining her fingers.

And Totti was there. Always there.

He looked impossibly strong. The veins of ocean–fire from the mermaid’s heart now pulsed under his skin like a second life, like a secret only he carried. His hands rested on the edge of the altar, his posture that of a king waiting to be crowned.

When he spoke, his voice was smooth as silk sliding over a de.

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“Vampire blood.”

Severine froze. The pestle stilled mid–grind. For the first time, I saw her really look at him. Not with devotion. not with trust but with something like suspicion.

“Vampire blood?” she echoed, softly, as if saying the words might summon something.

Totti nodded, slow, deliberate. “Thest thing we need. Once we have it, the ritual isplete. I will be stronger than any Lycan who has ever lived. And you…” He smiled, stepping closer. “You will be by my side, my queen.”

Her eyes flicked to his face, searching. I could almost see her thoughts, the threads of doubt starting to form. Her master’s warnings, the growing weakness in her limbs, the blood she hid in her handkerchief.

“My master has been questioning metely,” she said atst, her voice quieter now, but firmer. “He wonders why I’m getting weaker. He will soon discover the forbidden heart of the mermaid is gone. He will know I

took it.”

Totti’s smile didn’t waver. He reached out and touched her chin, tilting it up as though she were a child. “Severine…”

She drew back a fraction. Just a fraction – but enough that my heart tightened.

“Where,” she asked, “will we get vampire blood? It is not a thing to be found in market stalls. Even if I had strength left…”

For the first time, there was a tremor of unease in her tone. Not fear for herself. Fear of what she was bing.

Totti’s eyes darkened, but not with shame. With calction. He stepped closer until his breath stirred her hair. “Severine,” he said softly, “didn’t you love me?”

The question was a dagger wrapped in velvet.

Her lips parted. I saw the war inside her – the young witch who believed in the man who whispered love to her at midnight, and the apprentice who remembered her master’s warnings about forbidden spells and their price.

“I do,” she whispered, and it sounded like a confession. “I have done everything you asked. I stole the mermaid’s heart. I built your circles. I burned my strength like kindling. But—”

Totti didn’t let her finish. He kissed her forehead, a gesture so gentle it was almost cruel.

“Then trust me,” he murmured. “Trust that I will take care of everything. You just finish the ritual. For us.”

Her eyes fluttered shut. She wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him. But when she opened her eyes again, for a heartbeat – a single heartbeat – I saw something crack in them.

A question.

A shadow of doubt.

16:47 bSat/b, Oct 4

And then it was gone, swallowed by devotion.

She nodded, weakly. “For us,” she echoed, though her voice didn’t quite reach her own ears.

I felt my stomach twist.

The tragedy was no longer only that he had fooled her.

It was that she was beginning, piece by piece, to realize it – and still she stayed.