The temple’s ancient halls echoed with hurried footsteps.
Aria pushed past the guards, barefoot, breathless, wrapped in nothing but a thin shawl. The chill of the night didn’t matter. Nothing did, except the sense of wrongness threading through her soul.
She had tried to deny it—tried to focus on Axel, the bond, the blessing of the Moon Goddess… but her heart kept twisting toward the one who wasn’t there.
Toward Aiden.
The one who kissed her like he was drowning.
The one she pulled back from the underworld with her bare hands, her tears soaked in the sacred soil of the Luna Temple.
She had saved him.
But she hadn’t chosen him.
Not with her lips. Not with her heart.
And now he was gone.
---
In the heart of the forest, near the cursed ruins...
Aiden stood before the altar again,
