SERAPHINA'S POV
I feel like I'm floating, suspended in air, with a sense of calmness around me. I open my eyes to find myself in a place that can't be real.
A world where everything is white, an endless space with no walls or ceiling, and I can't discern where the floor starts or ends.
"Where am I?" I ask myself out loud, looking around at the endless white expanse.
"You're in your subconscious mind," a voice echoes behind me, and I turn to meet her again, hovering like an angel as always.
My mood dampens seeing her here.
"Of course you'd be here. You're always here."
"I am your guide. I have nowhere else to be."
I decide not to comment on the creepiness of that statement, shifting to what's important right now.
"Why am I here?" I ask.
I try to remember the last thing that happened before waking up here, jogging my memory that has numerous gaps right now. With enough concentration, everything begins to play out in my mind.
The engagement party, the reveal, and Artemis running after me to talk. We argued, and then he bit me like some feral animal. It felt good at first, so good, but then it hurt.
It felt like my skin was on fire, melting me from the inside. Like I was burning in hell for being a witch.
It hurt, and then I couldn't breathe, and I felt myself fall before waking up here.
"What he did was called a wolf's marking. It is something shared between two wolf mates where their energies are mixed, and their mind, body, and souls are entangled together so that they might only be sustained by the other," she explained, addressing the unasked question in my mind.
"I don't understand."
So many questions flood my mind. Like why he'd do something like that to me - why he didn't tell me he was going to do it in the first place.
"I'm not a wolf, so..."
"Yes, you're not. You're something different that's never existed before. You're the first Astria witch to be mated to a wolf kind."
"What are you talking about?"
She stares at me, waiting for me to put it all together and figure it out.
I had thought the two tribes were so different, that their mere existence conflicted with each other, and that it would be impossible for something like this to happen.
A part of me silently hoped that if Kamila wasn't his real mate, he didn't have another one hiding off somewhere, but this...
This explains so much; the force of attraction I've felt towards Artemis that feels overwhelming, incredible, yet terrifying.
Had it always been this, the whole time? Solely because we were destined to fall in love? Did he know?
"So what you're saying is... I am his original mate?"
"Yes. It has always been your destiny to meet him, your destiny to fall in love, and your destiny to be marked by him."
It feels like I'm caught in a sick, twisted game meant to torture me.
"What about the prophecy... What about me ending his life?"
"That is a part of the destiny you must fulfill as well. Everything is falling into place one by one."
"No! Where's my say in all of this?"
"He took that away when he marked you without your consent. Forcing his energy into your body, mixing what should not be mixed and causing you immense pain. Now, you can't be without him; you cannot run from him. You are bound to him as long as both of you live."
I shake my head at her statement.
There's no way Artemis would know this and force it on me without asking me.
There's no way that this is it.
"No, I refuse. There has to be a way to unbind me; there has to be a way."
"There isn't, this is simply a sign that you cannot fight what will be. Fate, Seraphina, is an unavoidable thing," she says to me sternly, just before she begins to fade away.
"No, you're not leaving me here to figure this out!" I yell at her while she disappears.
"You're waking up," her voice echoes faintly before my soul is thrown back into my body, and I wake up with a start, jumping upright on a large bed.
"Sera!" Artemis exclaims right beside me.
"Artemis..." I look at him for a moment, happy that I'm back and that he's the first face I see.
Suddenly, a flood of thoughts and unfamiliar emotions crash into my mind, overwhelming me with their intensity.
It's like a dam of foreign feelings and information that I can't shut out, causing a piercing pain in my head. I grasp my head, trying to make sense of this sudden onslaught.
Artemis is by my side in an instant, his hands reaching out to comfort me. It's more than just seeing his concern; I can feel it coursing through me.
His worry, his guilt gnawing at him, his desperate need to keep me close, and a faint hint of satisfaction that I might not leave him - all these emotions I know aren't mine, but solely his.
This deep, maddening connection, this bond that I can't understand, it sucks me in, flooding me with a depth into Artemis that I've never had before.
"Are you okay?" he holds my face up to meet his searching eyes, his calculative blue eyes, and slowly, they settle at my neck where he bit me.
My hand moves there, feeling the thick bandage around my neck.
Rage takes over everything once I learn of his betrayal, and I slap his hand away from me.
"Why?" I say, feeling tears brimming in my eyes.
His face constricts with hurt once the first tear slides down my cheek, and he reaches to hold me, but I pull away my arm from him.
"I told you to let me go; I needed you to trust that I needed to leave for your safety and everyone else's."
"Sera..."
"But you marked me... you couldn't trust me."
My chest hurts, with every tear falling from my eyes; it feels like betrayal, what he did, what he took away from me.
"Why did you do it, without asking me, without confirming with me if I wanted any of this? I told you what would happen. I told you, and yet your answer was to tie us together forever?"
"I couldn't let you go; I couldn't stand there and let you leave me."
"What about what I want, what about what I need!"
He frowns, knowing he's done bad; he feels guilty, yet I don't feel the remorse either.
I close my eyes, hating this new feeling I wasn't prepared for, the thoughts pouring in while he looks at me with a pained expression; trying to figure out which of them are his and which of them are mine.
"I know that the only reason you want to run is because you think there's no way to fix this, but there is, we can figure it out together, we can win this," he offers reassuring words, things I want to believe so desperately.
But I've seen way too much to be so hopeful.
"You have no idea what this is about, what is actually going on. You have no idea how dangerous I am, and now I know you don't care about what I want either. What would happen if you die, Artemis? Do you think I'd be able to live with myself if I kill you? I'd rather die than let that happen."
He takes a step back, looking away from me and biting his lips.
He can't stop thinking about how I hate him, but I don't; I'm just angry, so angry that I could burst a nerve right now.
"You hate me right now, and you can hate me for as long as you need to for what I did. You can hurt me as many times as you need to, but I don't regret it. I'd do it again."
I don't hate him; I couldn't, even if I wanted to. I stare at him for seconds that turn into minutes, unable to put what I feel into words, wondering if arguing about this is worth it, if it would change anything at all.
He's already done it; I'm already stuck here with him, setting off the requirements for the prophecy to take place. I'm so angry, and yet I understand why he'd do it - I understand because I imagine that I would the same too if the roles were ever reversed.
The door opens while we're locked in the moment of silence, and my eyes shift towards the door.
"Good to see you're awake, Seraphina Hawthrone," Alpha King Silvan says, standing by the door with a pleased smile plastered on his face.
He seems way too happy for someone whose wedding just got ruined, for someone who had his plan expertly ruined by his 'incompetent' son.
Artemis tenses instantly, moving closer to my side, entering a protective stance.
I can feel his emotions before he can say anything, faintly hear the thoughts scurrying around in his mind: 'Don't let him come close to her.'
"I want to extend my sincere apologies for your current state, seeing as it was an offspring of mine that made you like that," he says. Yet, I feel no sincerity.
"I'm grateful for the visit, but you don't have to do that," I say, unable to hold back the bite in my voice.
Suddenly, laying on this bed feels too uncomfortable, and I want to leave.
"I do, because my visit is of importance. Now that you're fully mated to my son, what comes next, right? For that reason, I believe there's an important discussion meant to be had between you and I."
"I'm not leaving her alone with you," Artemis butts in, now stepping to block my view of his father.
I can feel his rage and apprehension mixing around to form this ugly emotion that clouds his judgment.
I hold onto the hem of his shirt, holding him back because he's right, even if I hate the fact that he is.
"We do have to talk," I say to him, sensing his reluctance.
He's holding my hand, not wanting to let go. I meet his eyes, assuring him that I will be fine, and he sighs, finally letting me go.
Once the door shuts, my face turns serious, facing the man in front of me again.
"What do you want to talk about?"