'Third Point of view'
Sebastian froze.
Ravyn's lips brushed his ear, and for a split second, his body betrayed him.
A rush of heat.
A spike of craving.
He is not emotion but primal.
He jerked back like she was flame, her heart thundering. "Get out."
Her silver eyes glittered. "If I leave, Serena dies tonight."
Serena stepped between them, blade unsheathed, tip pointed at Ravyn's throat. "Try it."
"I'm not your enemy," Ravyn said coolly. "But the curse has already chosen. If he doesn't release it into someone tonight, it'll consume the one closest to him."
Her gaze flicked to Serena.
And stayed there.
Sebastian growled. "Stop talking like I'm a bomb."
"You are," Ravyn replied. "Mira made sure of it. Every day you resist, it gets stronger. The more you fight, the more it twists your instincts. Eventually, it won't ask for permission. It'll take."
Serena didn't lower her blade. "And you just want to offer yourself up, do you? As some kind of... magical sex filter?"
Ravyn tilted her head. "Call it what you want. I'm a Binding Vessel. I was trained for this. I can take his hunger without being destroyed by it."
"You mean corrupted," Sebastian muttered.
"No," she said gently. "You're already corrupted, Sebastian. I'm here to keep you human."
Silence.
The weight of her words coiled around the room.
Serena's knuckles whitened on her sword. "You're lying."
"No," Ravyn said, her voice lowering. "But I am running out of time."
She unfastened the cloak at her neck.
It slid to the floor.
Underneath was silk—black and sheer, barely concealing the runes glowing faintly across her skin. Ancient sigils lined her collarbone, wrapped her thighs like garters, and coiled around her hips in loops of power.
Sebastian's throat dried.
The hunger surged.
He bit it back with effort, but the curse stirred in his chest, purring.
Serena flinched as it passed through her. "Gods, what was that—"
"The curse," Ravyn said calmly. "It's already touching her. Tasting. Soon, it will take. She's too emotionally close."
Ravyn stepped toward Sebastian and reached for his hand.
He didn't move.
Their skin touched.
White fire shot up his arm—and with it, a flood of hunger, sharper than pain, hotter than magic. His knees buckled again, and Ravyn caught him.
"It's working," she whispered. "You're stabilizing. But only if we finish the binding."
Sebastian gritted his teeth. "You mean sex."
"Yes."
Serena moved like lightning—shoving Ravyn back, her blade at the woman's throat again.
"Over my dead body."
Ravyn didn't flinch. "That's what I'm trying to prevent."
Sebastian stepped between them, chest heaving. "Enough."
He looked at Serena, then Ravyn.
"I'm not doing this because I want to."
His voice was cold.
"I'm doing it because if I don't, people die. Mira made sure of that."
Ravyn nodded solemnly.
Serena turned her back and walked out without a word.
The door slammed.
Silence.
Ravyn looked at him. "You should hate her, you know."
"Mira?" His voice was bitter. "I do."
She tilted her head. "No. You don't. You hate what she did. You still love her. That's why the curse took root so deeply. It needs love to twist."
He stared at her. "Are you going to psychoanalyze me before or after you undress?"
A small smile. "During."
She stepped forward, guiding him backward toward the bed.
The chamber pulsed with magic.
Not gentle but Demanding.
The curse flared in his blood, craving, twisting, commanding.
Ravyn touched his cheek. "Let it take me. I'll hold it."
His breath caught, She leaned in and kissed him.
Power crackled.
The world went white for a breathless moment—then back into color, pulsing with lust, magic, and something deeper.
---
Elsewhere...
Lyra's eyes shot open, She screamed.
Serena rushed to her bedside. "Lyra—what is it?"
"The mark," Lyra gasped. "Sebastian—he's feeding it. It's awake now. I felt it. The tether's formed."
Serena's chest tightened.
"I felt Ravyn," Lyra whispered. "She's not just binding him—she's taking part of him. She's drawing from his core."
"What does that mean?"
Lyra looked up, fear in her wide green eyes. "It means if she dies... he dies too."
---
Back in the chamber...
Ravyn writhed beneath Sebastian, her nails carving into his back, the sigils on her skin blazing with each thrust. But it wasn't pain—it was channeling, a magical ritual far deeper than flesh.
The hunger tore through him like wildfire—but for once, it didn't consume him.
She was absorbing it, as well as balancing it.
His vision blurred, the world spinning with light and shadow—and for one devastating moment, Sebastian wasn't sure if the moans echoing around him were hers… or his.
"Almost done," Ravyn gasped, sweat slicking her skin. "Just a little more—"
Someone knocked on the door.
Then the door exploded.
Serena burst in, sword flashing, her expression twisted in rage—and pain.
But what surprised Sebastian wasn't her expression.
It was the woman standing behind her. Mira.
Alive. Smiling.
Ravyn screamed.
Sebastian grabbed a sheet, covering Ravyn's body with an instinct he couldn't explain. "You—Mira—you're supposed to be dead."
Her lips curled. "And you're supposed to be mine."
Ravyn stood shakily, fury blazing in her eyes. "You bound him with a curse that would kill the world—"
"And now you've touched my property," Mira said softly. "That's unforgivable."
She raised a hand. Dark fire coiled in her palm.
Sebastian stepped in front of Ravyn, chest bare, body shaking but gaze defiant. "You won't touch her."
Mira's smile widened. "I already have."