The moment the mirror shattered, the visions ceased. Evelyne fell to her knees, gasping for breath, her heart pounding against her ribs like a drum of war. The cold seeped into her bones, as if the very air around her carried the weight of centuries-old sorrow.
Kael's face flashed in her mind, standing over the body of a woman, blood pooling at his feet.
Her stomach twisted.
The whispers of the cursed brides had warned her, the shadows had tried to show her the truth—but she had refused to see it. Until now.
Kael was the reason for the curse.
She pushed herself up, hands trembling. The chamber around her was suffocating, the walls pulsing like a living entity, the remnants of magic clinging to the shattered glass at her feet.
And then, a voice.
"You see now, don't you?"
Evelyne's blood ran cold.
She turned sharply, only to see the veiled bride—the one who had pointed at her before the floor had collapsed. Unlike the others, she did not lunge. She stood motionless, her presence unnervingly calm.
"Who are you?" Evelyne demanded, her voice sharper than she felt.
The woman lifted a pale hand and removed her veil.
Evelyne's breath hitched.
The woman looked almost exactly like her. Same eyes, same sharp features. But her expression was hollow, her skin unnaturally pale, as if death had kissed her long ago.
"I was the first," the woman whispered. "The first to love him. The first to betray him. The first to die."
Evelyne's heart pounded against her ribs. "You… you were the first bride?"
The woman nodded, stepping closer, her ethereal presence barely making a sound.
"I was chosen, just as you were. But unlike you, I was blinded by love. I did not hold a dagger in my hand that night. I held trust."
The words cut through Evelyne like a blade.
"He killed you," she said, barely above a whisper.
The woman let out a bitter laugh. "Not at first. At first, he tried to fight it. The curse was not his doing, Evelyne. It was placed upon him for something much worse."
Evelyne clenched her fists. "What could be worse than killing your bride?"
The woman tilted her head, eyes filled with a sorrow so deep it could drown the strongest of souls.
"He killed the one who cursed him."
Evelyne frowned. "Who?"
The bride's voice was a whisper of forgotten history. "The priestess of the veil. The woman who wove the magic that bound this castle to its fate. He loved her once, but she saw too much, knew too much. She tried to stop him, and he… silenced her."
A cold dread settled over Evelyne.
The visions had shown her blood—so much blood.
Kael had not just been cursed. He had been condemned.
And now, she was tangled in his fate.
"Why did you bring me here?" Evelyne asked, her voice hollow.
The first bride's gaze softened. "Because you still have a choice. The dagger you hold is the only weapon that can sever the curse. But the question is… who will you use it on?"
Evelyne stared down at the dagger in her hand. The blade gleamed under the dim light, the only thing in this forsaken place that felt real.
"Do I kill him?" she asked.
The first bride hesitated, then shook her head. "Killing him will not free you. It will only bind you to the cycle. The same way it bound me. The same way it bound every woman after me."
Evelyne's pulse quickened. "Then how do I break the curse?"
A long silence stretched between them.
"You find the truth. All of it."
A sudden rush of air blew through the chamber, carrying whispers that clawed at Evelyne's skin. The ground beneath her trembled. The first bride's expression turned urgent.
"He's coming."
Evelyne turned sharply toward the shadows, her instincts screaming.
A familiar presence filled the room.
Kael.
He stepped forward from the darkness, his emerald eyes gleaming in the dim light. His expression was unreadable, but something about him was different.
Darker.
"Evelyne," he said, voice low. "Step away from her."
She didn't move.
The first bride met Kael's gaze, sadness flickering across her face. "You still think you can stop this?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "You should not be here."
Evelyne took a slow step back, eyes darting between the two of them. "What does she mean, Kael?" Her voice was laced with demand, with frustration. "Why does she say you killed the priestess?"
Kael flinched.
For the first time since she met him, Evelyne saw something like fear in his eyes.
"You shouldn't have seen that," he murmured.
The anger inside Evelyne flared. "But I did."
The whispers in the room grew louder, pressing against her skull.
Kael exhaled sharply. "I didn't want this for you."
Evelyne's grip on the dagger tightened. "Then tell me the truth."
He hesitated. And that hesitation was enough.
The first bride's voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"He killed the priestess because she was going to break the curse. She was going to set him free—but he wasn't willing to pay the price."
Evelyne turned to Kael, her breath caught in her throat. "What price?"
Kael's expression darkened. "My soul."
Silence.
The realization slammed into Evelyne like a thunderclap.
Kael had been given a choice. A chance to end the curse centuries ago. But instead, he had chosen himself over every bride that followed.
"You condemned them all," Evelyne whispered, horrified. "You let them die, over and over, just to save yourself?"
Kael clenched his fists. "It wasn't that simple."
Evelyne's chest ached with betrayal. "Then make it simple."
Kael's gaze locked onto hers, something raw and desperate flickering beneath the surface. "If I die, the curse dies with me. But if I live, I can keep it contained. I can stop it from spreading."
Evelyne shook her head. "No. That's not the whole truth, is it?"
Kael hesitated.
The first bride stepped closer, her ghostly form barely flickering. "He fears death, Evelyne. Because he doesn't know what waits for him on the other side."
A painful silence stretched between them.
Evelyne looked at Kael, her heart hammering. "Then what happens if I kill you now?"
Kael didn't answer.
But the look in his eyes told her everything.
He wasn't sure.
And that terrified him more than anything else.
The dagger in Evelyne's hand felt impossibly heavy. She had come here to kill him. To end the curse. But now, faced with the truth, she realized—this wasn't just about Kael.
This was about all of them.
The brides.
The priestess.
The veil of lies that had bound them all for centuries.
And now, she had a choice.
Not just to kill Kael.
But to find another way.
The whispers in the room grew deafening, the walls trembling under the weight of fate itself.
Evelyne took a slow breath.
Then, gripping the dagger tightly, she made her decision.