Chapter 67 – The Bite That Binds
"Not all hunger is monstrous. Some of it is sacred."
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The ruins of the Temple of Echoes still smoldered behind them, the magic gone—but the bond?
It pulsed louder than ever.
Selene couldn't breathe without feeling Valerian. Couldn't move without sensing his heat, his pulse, his longing. Her skin still buzzed where the altar's symbols had touched her—yet none of that was as fierce as the hunger she felt now.
The breaking of the curse had awakened something primal.
Something ancient.
And it was starving.
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Valerian's cloak was torn, his eyes shadow-dark, his jaw tight with restraint. "Selene…"
She turned to face him beneath the shattered moonlight. "You feel it too."
His gaze dropped to her throat, lingered. "It's stronger than before. Deeper."
"Then don't hold back."
He flinched. "If I bite you now… there's no going back."
"I don't want to go back," she whispered. "I want the bond to be complete."
"Not because fate says so," he said roughly. "But because you choose me."
She stepped closer, chest pressed to his. "I've chosen you every time. Even before I knew your name."
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The first touch was fire.
His hand in her hair, hers on his chest.
The second was thunder.
His lips on hers, urgent and wild.
But the third—
The third was surrender.
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Valerian kissed down the line of her neck, breath shaky. "If I take you now, I take everything."
Selene tilted her head, offering her throat. "Then take it."
He growled. Not feral—reverent.
Then he sank his fangs into her.
The bite wasn't pain. It was fusion.
She felt the bond snap into place like a celestial lock—two souls crashing into one. Every memory, every lifetime, every echo of her bloodline surged through her, and into him. Their powers aligned. Their hearts aligned. Their fate sealed not by prophecy anymore—but by desire.
Selene cried out—part pleasure, part raw magic—and dug her fingers into his back as his blood surged into her veins in return.
A shared offering.
A sacred hunger.
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When it ended, they collapsed to the ground together, panting, limbs tangled, magic curling around them like soft embers.
Valerian rested his forehead against hers. "You're mine now."
"No," she said with a breathless smile. "We're each other's."
He chuckled low in his throat. "That's dangerously romantic."
"Good," she whispered. "Because we're about to start a war."
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And far above them, in a tower of black glass and shadowed thrones, someone watched.
A woman with pale eyes and a crown made of bone.
She smiled without warmth.
"Let them come. Let them rise. The Abyss Crown still awaits."
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End of Chapter 67 – Next: Chapter 68, "The Throne of Thorns"