Chapter 33

Chapter 33: The Sea of Secrets

They fell.

Selene's scream was swallowed by the wind as she plummeted alongside Valerian into the ocean's gaping mouth. The night above burst with crimson lightning, illuminating the angry shadows of the Crimson Guard circling like vultures. But the sea didn't swallow them whole—it opened for them.

A whisper of ancient magic curled around their bodies as they hit the water, not with bone-shattering force, but with a strange softness—like falling into breath itself. Cold. Silent. Timeless.

Selene gasped for air, but her lungs filled with warmth instead of salt. The ocean had shifted, become something else—not water, not spirit, but memory. She blinked and found herself… standing. The sky was gone. The cliffs, gone. Valerian was beside her, dripping but calm, his dark hair pressed to his skull, eyes burning with something unreadable.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice trembling.

He didn't answer at first. His gaze scanned the strange horizon—a boundless, glowing sea under their feet, reflecting no stars, only echoes.

"We're in the Aetherdepth," he finally said. "The place where blood vows live."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the Crimson Oath is waking."

Suddenly, a flicker in the distance—ghostly figures emerging from the glow. Selene squinted. There were hundreds… no, thousands. Omegas. Vampires. All translucent. All staring. And in the center of them, a woman in a white veil, her presence pulsing like a drumbeat in Selene's head.

"Is that—?"

"My mother," Valerian said grimly.

Selene's blood froze.

The woman lifted her veil. She was beautiful. Terrible. Her fangs shimmered like pearls, and her eyes glowed like embers beneath snow.

"Valerian Draven," she said, her voice echoing through the liquid air. "You broke the chain."

"I shattered it," he replied without flinching. "And I'd do it again."

Selene stepped forward, breath catching. "Why are we here?"

The veiled queen looked at her. "Because you are the end of the curse."

"What curse?"

"The one that has bound our kind for a thousand years. The Crimson Oath was forged in betrayal. A vampire king fell in love with an omega, and his people cursed him for it. Every omega since… has borne the weight. But you, Selene, are the last."

Selene's mark burned.

"I don't understand," she whispered.

Valerian stepped behind her, gripping her arms. "You don't have to. Just choose."

"Choose what?"

"To bind with me, here. Forever. No priest. No ritual. Just blood and truth."

Selene's eyes welled with tears. "And if I don't?"

The veiled woman raised her hand. "The curse remains. Your world will fall."

Selene turned to Valerian. "If I do this… I become yours?"

"No," he said, his voice hoarse. "You become ours. We become something the world has never seen."

A silence stretched.

Then, slowly, Selene lifted her wrist. "Do it."

Valerian bit his own thumb and drew a symbol in the air—an ancient rune that shimmered with blood-light. Then, gently, reverently, he pressed his mouth to her wrist and whispered into her skin:

"By the blood that remembers,

By the bond that burns,

By the night that chose us—

We are one."

Her mark exploded in white light.

The sea howled.

And every ghost in the Aetherdepth bowed.

Selene fell into Valerian's arms, but she wasn't weak—she was radiant. Transformed. The last omega was no longer prey.

She was prophecy fulfilled.