SERAPHINA'S POV
I watch Artemis pace back and forth quietly in our little room. The beautiful face of the boy I love contorts with countless emotions, fluctuating between confusion, anger, frustration, and more in a constant rhythm.
He does this for a while, seemingly forgetting that Olivia could walk in at any moment, or that we have school in a few hours. I don't rush him though.
It's been two days since I last saw him, too long for me to hurry anything. So, even if this moment takes hours, or forever, I decide to wait for him to form the words.
Finally, he stops with a heavy sigh and falls onto Olivia's bed opposite mine. He rubs his temples with his thumb, looking beyond worried.
I can't help but mirror his emotion.
"Artemis? Is everything okay?" I ask gently.
He sighs again, deeper and heavier, then finally looks up at me.
"You probably wouldn't believe me, even if I somehow manage to find the right words to tell you this."
"You can try me."
He hesitates again, doubtfully, but then leans in, throwing caution to the wind, and speaks.
"This whole engagement thing-no, the mate bond thing-it was all a lie. Fabricated by my father and some old guys to save our family's bloodline and the Wolfdom, to save their necks. They did something unholy with innocent children-"
"Wait, slow down. I don't understand," I cut in, shaking my head to make sure I heard him correctly.
He looks me dead in the eye, his expression brimming with seriousness.
"Kamila isn't my mate. She never was. It makes so much sense now why I couldn't be with her, no matter how much I tried. It always felt defective for such a long time."
"She's... she's not your mate?" I echo, stunned.
He jumps to his feet again, pacing back and forth like before, this time talking and flailing his hands in the air.
"Apparently, my father did it with the help of black magic, belonging to some coven of old witches that were long eradicated, and my mother's health was the price to pay for it all," he frowns and snarls at the thought, barely holding himself back from smashing anything in the room.
I'm grateful he doesn't, regardless.
"What... I thought you said he cherished your mother. Why would he-"
"He claimed it was a mistake he didn't foresee. There was a price, and he thought he'd be the only one paying for it, but he was wrong. And all for some dumb prophecy that possibly isn't true," he throws out casually.
There's an ominous feeling that hits my chest at the word.
"Prophecy?" It leaves my mouth under a hushed breath, unconsciously, and he finally stops pacing.
He purses his lips slowly and faces me again, his expression puzzled, as if he wants to doubt it yet can't deny how foreboding it sounds.
"There's a prophecy, something about the end of my family's bloodline by a witch... an Astria witch."
I suck in a sharp breath, growing as still as a statue instinctively, feeling as though if I move an inch, I would be caught instantly.
There's suddenly nothing more chilling than to hear the word 'Astria' from his lips, especially regarding his own downfall.
I'm thrown back into a flashback of my dream, the memory of standing over his corpse with blood-stained hands, wailing with all the strength I could muster.
I had killed him, with my bare hands - I, the child of Astria.
A sharp pain shoots through my head, and I wince silently.
"...but it's preposterous, their existence was wiped centuries ago, my ancestor Cyrus made sure of that with his own hand," he continues, muttering about the prophecy and its improbability.
'Cyrus,' a harsh, dead whisper echoes in the back of my mind, sending cold shivers down my spine instantly.
I feel a cold, dead emotion curling around my heart like wicked vines, and my actual physical heart begins to throb painfully. I clutch my chest.
"I can't believe he ruined his own family over something that has a high possibility of being complete and utter bullshit-"
"Ugh!" I yell out in agony from the pain in my chest, falling to the floor.
Finally, he turns to look at me, rushing to my side with lightning speed.
"Sera?" His hands run over my forehead, feeling the beads of sweat gathering on my skin.
Everywhere he touches, I feel a bit of relief, until his hands shift and the pain returns; the deep feeling of resentful hate burning deeper in my chest.
"Are you okay?" he questions, searching every square inch of my face with worry and fear.
Yet all that stares back at me are lifeless eyes. I pull away, flinching, adding more distance between us with shaking hands that I hide behind myself.
"I'm fine, I-I just felt chilly for a moment," I lie.
He looks at me, his brows furrowed, clearly not buying the lie. His lips part to question me further, but then the door pops open, and Olivia walks in with her towel.
Our attention shifts to her in unison, and she spots him simultaneously.
"Oh shit," he swears, just before the storm begins.
Olivia screams, throwing the mood between Artemis and me off instantly. He instantly falls back, covering his eyes, probably to save her from embarrassment.
Then she starts chucking anything she can get her hands on at him, one by one, until he scurries off his spot like a clumsy teenager, rushing for an exit.
"I'll come find you again, Sera," he says, pausing by the balcony door to look at me with longing eyes and a mix of disappointment that our meeting couldn't have lasted longer.
"Get out, get out of here right now!" she continues to scream, searching for more projectiles, while he chuckles nervously and retreats through the door he came through.
Once he leaves, Olivia actually calms down and takes a breather, slipping back into her shoes she had flung off.
"That boy needs to learn when to sneak into the girls' dorm," she comments casually, moving to her side of the room to start getting dressed while humming a song to herself.
I should be laughing at the situation right now, joking about how he saw nothing and she's fully covered, but I don't. I only nod absentmindedly, half-focused on the new information that's unwillingly reached me.
Only on this new prophecy, possibly about me that I've never heard of, not the fact that Kamila was never Artemis's mate to begin with or the crimes of his father.
I'm relieved about the false mate thing; I feel less worried and guilty, yes, but what does that mean for Artemis and me?
The dream I had, plus a possible fate that he and I are not meant to be lovers but... enemies.