The thorned vine slithered from the cracked grave like a serpent waking from slumber. It coiled at Seraphina's feet, pulsing faintly with a dark red glow, as though it were alive—watching her. Tasting her.
She didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Because she knew—this was no ordinary vine.
It was a remnant of the first bond.
A tether to her first death.
A warning… or an invitation.
She knelt slowly, careful not to touch it. The stone beneath her knees felt warmer than before, as if it had begun to remember her weight.
The ground wanted her back.
And the grave, no longer silent, was singing again.
Lucien found her minutes later.
He didn't ask why she was kneeling at her own grave. He didn't scold or question.
He simply knelt beside her.
"Has this ever happened before?" she asked.
"No," he said. "The grave has never opened. Not in this life. Not in the others."
"So why now?"
Lucien's eyes moved to the vine, coiled like a dark rose snake around the cracked slab. "Because your soul is waking faster this time. And the curse is no longer patient."
She swallowed hard. "What happens if it fully breaks free?"
Lucien hesitated.
Then: "Either you'll destroy the house… or it will consume you again."
She looked at him, voice trembling. "And what will you do, Lucien?"
His gaze didn't waver.
"I'll follow you. Wherever that leads."
Back inside Nightspire, the air had shifted. The servants moved slower, their gazes lingering longer. The silence between the halls felt heavier, as though the castle itself had begun to lean inward, toward her.
Seraphina stood in front of her mirror that night, holding Evelyne's journal in one hand, the black rose pendant Lucien gave her in the other.
The fire flickered behind her, shadows dancing.
She had questions.
Too many.
And no one left to answer them—except the reflection she no longer trusted.
That night, she dreamed not of flames, but of blood.
A woman—her—stood at the altar in the chapel.
Wearing a bridal crown woven from thorns.
Lucien stood beside her, solemn. Bound in black.
A priest whispered ancient vows in a tongue neither of them recognized.
"In life, in death, in remembrance… bound to flame and stone, to house and heart…"
The final words echoed, twisted by time.
"Until memory is burned clean."
And then—
The mirror cracked.
Seraphina woke up choking on smoke that didn't exist.
Mira burst into the room, eyes wide. "My lady! The east wing—"
"What?" Seraphina bolted upright.
"There's been a fire."
They ran through the halls together.
By the time Seraphina reached the east wing, the fire had been smothered—but not by water.
The flames had vanished on their own, disappearing the moment they reached the mirrors.
The walls were scorched. Paintings charred. But the ancient mirror at the end of the hallway remained untouched.
Lucien was already there, sleeves rolled up, soot on his cheek.
He turned to her, eyes sharp. "You dreamed again, didn't you?"
She nodded. "A wedding. A vow. In the chapel."
Lucien exhaled slowly. "That dream… it's a memory."
"Of what?"
He stared at the mirror. "Of the day you cursed this house."
Back in the library, he explained.
"In your first life, you weren't just a woman who loved a cursed Duke. You were a witch, born from bloodlines forgotten by the Empire. You tried to undo Nightspire's bindings by tethering yourself to it permanently—through a forbidden wedding rite."
"But I died."
Lucien nodded. "Because you didn't finish the ritual. Someone—something—interfered."
"And now?"
"The ritual wants to finish itself," he said. "Through you. Through this version of you. But the question is…"
He stepped close.
"Will it free you—or trap you again?"
That night, Seraphina stood before the chapel.
The door creaked open before she touched it.
Inside, the candles had already been lit.
And the mirror?
It was no longer silent.
She stepped closer, the ruby at her throat pulsing like a second heartbeat.
Her reflection was waiting.
But this time, it wasn't smiling.
It was crying.
Blood ran down its cheeks, but the eyes never blinked.
And then—
It whispered one word:
"Run."
.....................
The mirror had shown many things.But never fear.Not until now.