Leo studied her face, noting details that had become precious over their weeks of working together. The way she worried her lower lip when concentrating. The elegant line of her cheekbone. The intelligence and determination that shone in her pale eyes even when discussing potentially suicidal magical procedures.
"Aerin," he said quietly, "if this goes wrong, if the corruption takes hold, I need you to promise me something."
"What?"
"Promise me you'll do whatever it takes to stop me. Even if it means?—"
"No," Aerin interrupted, her voice fierce with determination. "No, I'm not promising to kill you if the magic doesn't work perfectly. We're going to find a way to make this work without martyrdom or noble sacrifice."
"And if we can't?"
"Then we face the consequences together," Aerin said, moving closer until she was kneeling beside his chair. "Leo, I'm falling in love with you. Not because of magical manipulation or inherited memories or supernatural destiny. Because you're brave and protective and stubborn enough to argue with ancient curses when they threaten people you care about."
The confession hit Leo like a physical blow, making his lion purr with satisfaction even as the curse mark burned with increasing intensity. "Aerin?—"
"I know the timing is terrible," she continued, her hands reaching up to frame his face even if there was dangerous energy crackling around the curse mark. "I know this might be the worst possible moment for emotional declarations. But if we're going to attempt something this dangerous, I want you to know that whatever happens, my feelings are real."
Leo covered her hands with his own, noting the way her touch seemed to calm the worst of the curse mark's burning. "My feelings are real too. That's what makes this so terrifying."
They were leaning toward each other, drawn by attraction and necessity in equal measure, when the inn's magical infrastructure finally succumbed to the strain of containing conflicting energies. Every light in the building flared and died, leaving them in darkness broken only by the silver glow of Leo's curse mark and the soft pulse of magical energy that seemed to emanate from Aerin's skin.
"The primary seal," Aerin said, her enhanced senses detecting changes in the town's magical signature. "It's failing faster than my projections suggested. Leo, we might not have forty-eight hours. We might not have forty-eight minutes."
Through the library windows, they could see lights flickering throughout Mistwhisper Falls as other buildings struggled with magical overload. In the distance, Hush Falls glowed with an eerie phosphorescence that suggested something was stirring in the depths beneath the waterfall.
"Then we make our choice now," Leo said, full of conviction of a person who'd decided that action was preferable to helpless waiting. "We attempt the betrayal sigil activation and hope we're strong enough to cleanse the corruption instead of spreading it."
"Together?"
"Together," Leo confirmed, pulling her closer despite the way proximity made the curse mark flare with dangerous intensity. "Because if we're going to save the world or destroy it, I'd rather do either one with you than face it alone."
As they moved toward each other in the darkness of the library, surrounded by the tools of academic research that had brought them together and the weight of inherited curses that threatened to tear them apart, Aerin felt the last of her scientific detachment crumble in the face of love that was bigger than logic or self-preservation.
Tomorrow they would attempt magic that could save or damn the supernatural world. Tonight, they would choose each other despite every rational reason to maintain distance.
And somewhere beneath Mistwhisper Falls, something ancient and patient began to laugh as the pieces of its centuries-long plan finally started falling into place.
TEN
AERIN
By midnight, the curse mark had spread across Leo's torso like silver fire consuming him from within. Aerin watched helplessly as the corruption traced patterns through his nervous system, each pulse of malevolent energy making him gasp and struggle against invisible restraints. The inn's restored power flickered in rhythm with his pain, and she could feel the building itself responding to the supernatural crisis unfolding in its heart.
"The translations are incomplete," she said, her voice tight with frustration as she rifled through Mordaine's encrypted journals for the third time. "Half the ritual instructions are written in languages that don't exist anymore, and the other half require magical understanding I don't possess."
Leo tried to respond, but another wave of corruption lanced through the curse mark, and his words dissolved into a growl that carried too much of his lion's desperation. The entity beneath the falls was using the mark as a conduit, pouring centuries of accumulated malevolence directly into his magical signature. Soon, there wouldn't be enough of his human consciousness left to fight back.
"Aerin," he managed, his voice rougher than she'd ever heard it. "If this gets worse, if I lose control?—"
"You're not losing anything," Aerin interrupted, abandoning her research to kneel beside the chair where he was trying to contain the worst of the convulsions. "I'm going to figure this out."
"The ritual," Leo gasped, his golden eyes blazing with supernatural intensity as his lion fought to surface. "Maybe we're overthinking it. Maybe the complexity isn't in the magical mechanics."
"What do you mean?"
"Mordaine designed this as a failsafe against corruption," Leo said, his words coming in short bursts between waves of pain. "But corruption isn't defeated by academic knowledge or perfect technique. It's defeated by truth."
Aerin felt something click into place as his words resonated with understanding she'd been missing. "Emotional truth. The betrayal sigil doesn't respond to magical formulas—it responds to authentic feeling."
