Samuel's POV
Location: Edenfall Cemetery – Earth, Sector 12B
Time: 7:36 AM
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The sun had risen fully now.
Not that I cared.
The city moved on in the distance—horns, sirens, shallow dreams.
And here I was, surrounded by the silence of stone markers and forgotten names.
Peace.
A strange word for someone like me.
I had just closed my eyes again when—
"Samuel…"
Her voice.
Not from the wind.
Not from memory.
But from inside my mind—curling like silk and venom down my spine.
Roselle.
A low chuckle escaped my lips.
"Of course it's you," I muttered, sitting upright on the cold slab I was using as a makeshift bench. "Can't even take a moment to breathe without your scent showing up like perfume I didn't ask for."
Her mental echo didn't stop.
A pulse of desire. Of demand.
A whispered invitation... no—a command.
Come to me.
And yet—
"No," I whispered, closing my eyes again with a slow sigh. "I think… I'll rest a while longer."
Not because I was tired.
But because for the first time in three lives, I chose not to run, fight, or kneel.
I was simply here.
"Let her wait."
Still… her presence lingered like dusk at the edge of my thoughts.
Insistent. Hungry.
"You want me in your bed, Roselle?" I muttered, leaning back on one hand and staring at the soft gray sky above.
"Then you come here."
A slow grin curved my lips, tired but full of defiance.
"Let's see if the so-called Goddess of Darkness has the spine to descend from her throne for once."
Because despite all her power, her schemes, her obsession—there was one truth she couldn't escape.
She wanted me.
And I...
I was the only one she couldn't control.
I stood, brushing the dust from my cloak.
The grave behind me was quiet now.
But within my chest, the war drums had started again.
And somewhere—far above, far beyond—Roselle would be watching.
Let her.
"You made your move," I whispered into the wind.
"Now… it's my board."
________________________________________
Roselle's POV
Location: Throne Hall – Shadowflame Citadel, Umbra Axis
Time: Moments After Samuel's Refusal
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The mirror dimmed.
But his words still echoed in my mind—calm, deliberate, defiant:
"You want me in your bed, Roselle? Then you come here."
The silence in the throne hall was thick, suffocating even to the divine.
Not a single servant moved.
Kaisel, ever watchful, stood frozen. He knew the signs—knew what came next.
I exhaled, slowly.
And then—I laughed.
Not softly. Not cruelly.
But with the kind of laughter that curled into obsession.
A low, dark, beautiful madness.
"So… you still have that insolence," I whispered, eyes wide, glowing with pulsing crimson light. "You still think you can deny me."
I stood from the throne, bare feet echoing softly against the obsidian tiles as I walked toward the central mirror—my shadow stretching across the floor like it had a mind of its own.
"You always did like to crawl at your own pace," I said, voice laced with a giddy delight. "But you forgot something, Samuel."
The mirror shimmered, flickering between images of him standing in the cemetery… and the moment he smirked at the sky like I was just another gust of wind.
"I'm not a queen who waits."
The entire citadel pulsed, shadows dancing along the walls. The divine map glitched at the edges.
Even the gods knew—Roselle Vasalav was no longer composed of patience.
"You think I won't come for you?"
I whispered, placing my palm flat against the mirror.
"I'll come for you, Samuel. And when I do…"
My eyes burned with lust, hunger, vengeance, love, and a fire that couldn't be named.
> "I won't ask. I won't knock."
"I will tear open your sky. Step through your air. Sit upon your world—"
I leaned closer to the mirror, lips brushing its glassy surface.
"And claim what was always mine. Again… and again… and again."
Behind me, Kaisel dared to speak, barely above a whisper.
"My Lady… is this wise?"
I turned my head slowly, smiling like a storm wrapped in silk.
"He refused me, Kaisel… and that only makes the chase sweeter."
And then I vanished into shadows—not to summon him,
but to descend.
Because he lit the fire.
He smiled back at me.
And now?
He will burn with me.