The Throne of Nox is nothing like I expected.
It's perfect.
Too perfect.
The black stone gleams beneath my boots, polished to a mirror finish, the air heavy with cold that seeps into my bones, but never touches Freyr. He walks ahead, his steps silent, graceful, like this place was built for him.
Maybe it was,
He told me this is what I wanted.
Freedom.
Power.
No bond.
No him.
And yet…..
Every step feels heavier.
The silence presses against my ears until I think I might scream just to hear something.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Freyr's voice cuts through the hush, smooth, indulgent. "This is what you've earned. The realm is yours to command, Sarah. You just have to take it."
I swallow hard, keeping my face blank, my steps steady.
But I see it.
The cracks.
At first, I think they're nothing——hairline fractures in the polished floor, shadows lingering where they shouldn't.
But the whisper.
Soft.
Relentless.
Sarah…..
I freeze.
The voice is familiar.
Too familiar.
Freyr doesn't notice.
Or maybe he does and pretends not to.
"Residuals," he says lightly, without looking back. "Echoes of your old weakness. The bond's ghost. You'll feel them for a while. It's natural."
Natural?
There's nothing natural about this.
I press my hand to my chest, expecting nothing.
And yet…..
There it is.
Faint.
A pulse that shouldn't be there.
I shake it off.
I have to.
Freyr gestures toward the obsidian throne in the center of the hollow chamber, its surface carved with ancient runes that shimmer faintly beneath the weight of his smile.
"You're place," he says softly, almost reverent. "All you have to do is take it, and everything else will fall away."
I step forward.
But the cracks widen beneath my feet.
The whispers follow.
Not loud.
Not angry.
Just…..him.
Justin's voice.
Sarah…..please.
I blink, my breath catching in my throat.
But when I glance back, there's nothing there.
Just shadows.
Just lies.
I keep walking.
I tell myself the bond is dead.
I tell myself this is what I chose.
But the realm hums beneath me, soft, warning, as if it knows better.
As if it's reminding me the choice might not have been mine after all.
*******
I wake gasping.
The stone beneath me is cold, but I barely feel it—-my skin damp with sweat, my heart pounding like I ran through the forest in the dark again, chased by something I couldn't see.
My dreams are bleeding into reality.
Or maybe the realm doesn't let them stay seperate.
I try to stand, but my legs shake beneath me. I press a hand to my chest, willing the quiet to return.
But it doesn't.
Because I still hear him.
Not his voice this time—-
His breath.
His heartbeat.
The way he said my name when he thought I wasn't listening.
Justin.
I curl my hands into fists.
This is what Freyr warned me about.
Residuals.
Echoes.
Weakness.
But it doesn't feel like an echo.
It feels like a presence.
I look toward the far wall. There's no door—-but the surface ripples, faintly glowing. And then I see it:
Him.
Not as he was.
As he is now.
Broken.
Cold.
His eyes are full of hate.
But it's not anger he throws at me.
It's betrayal.
"You left me," the vision says, his voice low, bitter.
I stumble back, shaking my head. "You're not real."
"You knew what it meant," he growls, "And you still turned away."
The shadows twist around him, reshaping the vision—-his mouth stained red, his chest drawn open, the bond unraveling from his skin like thread ripped from a wound.
"Stop it," I whisper.
But the vision steps closer. "You killed us."
No.
"I set you free," I breathed.
"You lied."
No.
"You loved me."
I press my hands over my ears. "You're not real."
But I feel him.
The weight of his gaze.
The truth in his voice.
And the ache in my chest that hasn't stopped since the door closed behind him.
The vision vanishes.
But the pain doesn't.
Freyr finds me minutes later, sitting against the wall, shaking, trying to pretend I haven't been crying.
He kneels beside me like a parent indulging a frightened child.
"Nightmares are natural," he says smoothly. "You severed something deep. That kind of wound always tries to claw its way back."
I say nothing.
He lifts a strand of hair from my cheek, his touch featherlight.
"This is the last part of the purge," he tells me. "Don't let it deceive you. The bond was a lie, Sarah. And lies always scream the loudest when they're dying."
I nod.
Because it's easier than arguing.
But when he leaves me alone again….
I reach for the place where the bond should be.
And for one heartbeat—--
I swear I feel it pulse.
Not strong.
Not real.
But there.
And it terrifies me more than any lie ever could.
********
The ritual chamber pulses with quiet magic—-thick, ancient, coiling through the air like it knows what's coming.
Freyr stands beside me on the obsidian platform, calm, composed, every emotion precis. At his feet, the runes begin to glow.
"You've done well," he says, voice gentle, almost proud. "Now that the bond is gone, the last thing keeping you tethered to your human side is finished."
I blink. "Human side?"
Freyr tilts his head, his expression almost pitying. "Your connection to the boy. It was a mating bond—-though neither of you recognized it Common among the fae. Uncommon across bloodlines."
The world stutters.
Mating Bond.
The words land like a stone in my chest.
It wasn't just a connection.
It wasn't imagined.
It was real.
And I severed it…..
Freyr steps closer. "He was holding you back. But now, you can finally embrace what you are. Fully. The ritual will anchor your fae heritage. You'll become who you were always meant to be."
My hand tremble at my side.
Mating bond.
The way I could feel him without seeing him.
The way it burned when I left him.
The way it still aches.
He didn't know.
I don't know.
And Freyr used it.
Twisted it.
Used my fear to make me destroy the one thing that ever felt like mine.
Grief coils in my stomach, sharp and sudden.
I think of Justin's face when I lied.
Of the silence that followed.
My knees nearly buckle.
Freyr's voice cuts through the haze. "Sarah, step into the center."
I move, but the ground beneath me shifts, pulses.
The runes flare to life, forming a perfect circle around me——binding lines of silver light wrapping up my arms, around my chest.
But something is wrong.
I feel it in my blood.
In my bones.
In the bond I thought was gone.
Memories flood in:
Justin reaching for me in the Spires.
His hand around mine at the gate.
His voice breaking when he said "You made your choice."
My eyes sting.
I press my hands to my chest——
And the bond flares.
Freyr jerks back as the magic ripples out of me like a shockwave.
The runes stutter.
"Sarah," he snaps. "Focus!"
But I'm not listening to him anymore.
The light surrounding me begins to shift—-not Freyr's magic. Something older. Wilder. Untamed.
It burns gold.
And then, like fire breaking through the dark, a flash explodes outward.
I scream.
Not from pain.
From recognition.
Because there——over my heart——a mark blooms to life. Faint, glowing, shaped like entwined threads pulling together, pulsing in time with my breath.
A mating bond mark.
Freyr stares at it like it's a curse.
"No," he breathes. "No——this isn't possible."
The runes around me collapse.
The magic he wove shatters.
And I stand, gasping, still trembling, but no longer under his command.
The mark glows bright once——then settles, like it's waiting.
Freyr's eyes narrow, fury bleeding into disbelief.
"The fates interfered," he says, voice tight. "They didn't let me finish."
I step back.
Not because I'm afraid.
Because I finally understand.
He never freed me.
He never gave me power.
He tried to rewrite me.
And now?
He can't touch me.
Not anymore.