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Chapter 77: The Crown That Burned
The temple roared like a beast dying. Stone cracked. Fire spat from the ground. And between it all, Selene held the Abyss Crown in her trembling hands — no longer a relic of power, but a living thing. It pulsed with dark rhythm, mirroring her heartbeat, her bond with Valerian, and the fate neither of them had asked for.
The crown whispered to her.
Not in words, but in memories.
It showed her an omega queen lost in time, screaming as her people were torn from her. A vampire prince dragged through centuries of war. Prophecies written in stardust and sealed with blood.
And then—her own face, reflected in the molten gold.
"You are the end of me," it whispered in a voice older than death. "And still… I love you."
Selene's breath hitched. The magic tried to seduce her — to crown her. But she had seen too much. Lost too much. And she wasn't that girl anymore.
Valerian stood behind her, sword drawn but unmoving. He would never take the choice from her. Not even now.
"I won't be your puppet," Selene growled, lifting the burning crown above her head. "I won't become your queen of shadows."
The crown shrieked.
Magic lashed out, slicing open her palms, her memories, her deepest doubts. It wanted her to break. But instead, Selene burned. Not with power — with love. The kind that bled, that ached, that chose over and over again.
Valerian took a step forward, voice rough. "If you fall, I fall with you."
"Then hold me up," she said through gritted teeth, "because I'm not falling today."
Together, they hurled the crown into the heart of the flame.
The ground split.
Time stopped.
For one impossible second, the world held its breath — and then exploded in light.
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Selene awoke in silence.
Soft moss beneath her. A sky inked in lavender above. The ruins of the temple gone, replaced with a meadow blooming under moonlight.
Valerian lay beside her, still as marble.
"No," she whispered, crawling to him, heart cracking open. "Valerian—wake up."
His chest wasn't rising.
Her vision blurred with tears. "You promised. You promised we'd end this together."
And then—fingers curled around hers.
His hand. Warm. Alive.
Selene gasped, and Valerian's eyes fluttered open. The red glow was gone. What stared back at her now were the silver-streaked eyes of a man reborn.
"The crown?" he rasped.
"Gone," she said. "We broke the curse."
Valerian sat up slowly, muscles aching. "And you? Are you…"
She placed his hand on her heart. "Still me. Still yours."
The wind picked up, brushing through the meadow like a sigh of relief.
They had survived.
But something had changed. Not just in them — in the world.
Selene looked at the horizon and saw distant mountains glowing with ancient runes, skies that shimmered with stars no one remembered, and a path ahead that felt heavier than fate.
"We destroyed the crown," Valerian said.
Selene nodded.
"But something else was set free."