[Calyxa – Ten Years Ago – The Eclipse Altar]

“Take your fucking hand off my brother or I swear on every star that never shines here I will rip your throat out with my teeth”

The guard’s grip falters for half a heartbeat. Good. I use it. I lunge forward until the iron collar jerks me back, chain singing, skin tearing. My little brother—twelve years old, shaking like a leaf—whimpers behind the executioner’s blade.

Zevryn doesn’t even blink. He just stands there in his prince-fucking-perfect black silks, moonlight hair spilling over shoulders that have never carried anything heavier than cruelty, and smiles like I’m a joke he’s already tired of.

“Sign it, Calyxa,” he says, voice soft as spilled wine. “One year. That’s all I ask.”

“Ask?” I spit blood onto the altar stones. “You murdered my House, burned my mother alive, and now you’re asking? Go fuck yourself with the ashes.”

His eyes—black, endless, beautiful in the way a grave is beautiful—flicker with something that might be amusement. “Your tongue is still sharp. I’ll enjoy dulling it.”

Behind him, the Crimson Ledger waits on its pedestal of flayed werewolf hide, still dripping from whatever poor bastard donated the skin. The quill is a finger bone. The ink is blood. Of course it is.

My brother sobs. “Calyxa, don’t—”

“Shut up, Rion,” I snarl, not looking at him. I can’t. If I look I’ll break and he dies. “This isn’t about you anymore.”

Zevryn steps closer. The chains between my wrists clink like wedding bells.

“One year,” he repeats, almost gentle. “Your body. Your womb. Every moan you will ever make. All of it mine to do with as I please. And your brother walks free the moment the eclipse kisses the ink.”

I laugh. It sounds like breaking glass. “You think I believe you’ll let him live?”

“I don’t need him,” Zevryn says. “I need you screaming my name until the Hollow fills. After that, the boy can rot or rule for all I care.”

The executioner presses the blade tighter against Rion’s throat. A thin line of red beads.

I stop laughing.

“Give me the fucking quill.”

Zevryn’s smile widens, slow and terrible. He lifts the bone quill himself, dips it in the blood bowl, and holds it out like a gift.

“Say it first,” he murmurs. “Say you give yourself willingly.”

I stare at him. At those void eyes that have watched entire bloodlines die for sport. At the mouth that’s never said please in its life.

“I hate you,” I tell him, clear and calm.

“I know,” he answers, almost tender. “Say it anyway.”

I lean forward until the collar bites deep enough to choke.

“I, Calyxa Veyr, last daughter of the fallen House, do willingly bind my body, my blood, my breath, my cunt, and every orgasm I will ever have for the next year to Prince Zevryn Valthor.” My voice doesn’t shake. I won’t let it. “I sign my future screams away so my brother lives. And when the year is done, if I’m still breathing, I will carve your name into your own guts and wear them as a crown.”

The court gasps. Someone drops to their knees. Zevryn only watches me, pupils blown wide like I just kissed him.

“Beautiful,” he whispers.

He presses the quill into my hand. The chains are too short; he has to hold the Ledger up to me himself. Our fingers brush. His skin is cold as starlight.

I sign.

The eclipse above us flares blood-red the instant the bone scratches hide. Thunder cracks without sound. The chains around my wrists heat, sear, brand the words into my flesh: PROPERTY OF THE CROWN.

Zevryn cups my cheek with the same hand that just forced my vow.

“Welcome home, mate,” he says.

I bare my teeth. “This isn’t home. This is a grave with better lighting.”

He laughs—actually laughs—and it’s the most honest sound I’ve ever heard from him.

“Guards,” he calls, never looking away from me. “Take the boy to the border. If a single hair on his head is harmed, I’ll feed you your own cocks.”

The executioner hesitates. “My lord—”

“Do it,” Zevryn snaps, and the temperature drops ten degrees. “She signed. The deal is sealed.”

Rion screams my name as they drag him away. I don’t watch. I keep my eyes on the monster who now owns every inch of me.

Zevryn brushes a thumb over my bleeding lower lip.

“First lesson,” he says softly. “You don’t look away from me ever again. Not unless I allow it.”

I lean in until our mouths almost touch. “First lesson for you, prince,” I whisper. “Everything you take from me, I’ll take back with interest. And I charge in blood.”

His breath catches—just for a second—and something starved flashes behind those empty eyes.

Then he kisses me.

Not gentle. Not kind. He kisses me like he’s trying to crawl inside my skin and live there. Teeth clashing, tongue forcing past my lips, tasting my hatred and swallowing it whole. When he pulls back, my mouth is swollen and his pupils are blown.

“Good,” he says, voice rough. “I’d hate for you to be boring.”

He turns to the court, arm sliding around my waist like I’m a prize already won.

“Behold,” he announces, “my fated mate. The one who will fill the Hollow and crown me king.”

The nobles cheer, delirious, depraved. Some are already fucking in the shadows.

Zevryn leans down to my ear.

“Second lesson,” he murmurs. “Tonight I’m going to strip you bare on this altar, spread you open, and make you come so hard you forget your own name. And you’ll do it looking at me. Only me.”

I smile. It hurts.

“Third lesson,” I breathe back. “I will never say your name when I come. Not once. Not if you rip every orgasm from my body with your teeth. You’ll get my screams, prince. Never my surrender.”

His grip tightens until bones creak.

“We’ll see,” he says.

The eclipse burns above us like an open wound.

He drags me toward the altar.

I don’t fight the chains.

Not yet.

There’s a whole year to plan how I’m going to make him bleed for this.

And when I do…

I’ll still be looking him dead in the eyes.

Just like he wants.