Seventeen Times He Killed Me

My fiancé has tried to kill me seventeen times.

Everyone says I'm cursed by the Moon Goddess. Five years, seventeen mating ceremonies—all ending in blood.

An eagle's talons through my spine. Poisoned wine that stopped my heart. Ritual flames that charred my skin. Each time, I survived. Each time, Kael Silverblade held my hand and swore it was fate's cruelty, not his.

I believed him.

Until the seventeenth time.

Blood moon. Three assassins. Nine bone blades cutting precise lines across my body—missing every vital organ, maximizing the pain. I writhed on the sacred stones, screaming until my voice broke.

Three days later, still wrapped in bandages, I heard him talking to his lieutenant outside the healing den.

"Lord Silverblade, she almost died this time. Maybe we should—"

"No." Kael's voice was ice. "Her brother saved my life. My grandfather swore a blood debt—a mating bond to repay it. But goddammit, I love Vira. I've always loved Vira. Not her."

Silence.

"Keep the accidents coming," he said. "As long as she won't let go, we keep going. She'll break eventually. She has to."

I pressed against the wall, tears streaming down my face.

Seventeen times. Not curses. Not fate.

Him.

The male I'd loved since I was sixteen.

But here's what Kael doesn't know—this time, he finally wins.

I won't survive the next full moon.

Aria's POV

I pressed against the cold stone wall, Kael's words looping through my head: until she crawls out of my life herself.

My chest felt ripped open. Every breath hurt.

Three days ago, Harrison the healer had pulled me aside. "Aria, you've got bloodrot. It's in deep. One full moon left. Maybe."

Thirty days.

I'd asked if he could fix it. He'd shaken his head. I didn't cry. I laughed. Kael wanted me dead—the disease would just finish the job.

When I'd walked out, the sunset was blood-red. I'd stood at the cliff's edge staring at Silvermoon fortress in the distance. Five years suddenly felt like a joke.

I'd thought if I held on long enough, he'd see my worth.

Now I got it. He'd seen it all along. He'd just been figuring out how to make me disappear.

"Aria?"

Kael's voice snapped me back. He stood in front of me, frowning.

"You look like shit." He sounded irritated. "Your wounds still aren't healed?"

The man trying to kill me, asking why I wasn't healing faster.

"I'm fine." I looked away.

"About the mating ceremony—I'll schedule the next one soon—"

"Whenever." I cut him off. "I don't care."

Kael froze.

Five years. Every time a ceremony got "accidentally" interrupted, I'd cried and begged him for the next date. First time I'd ever said I didn't care.

He looked stunned. Then a soft voice interrupted.

"Kael~ I feel awful..."

Vira Darkthorn—Kael's first love, perpetually "sick"—appeared, leaning against the wall. She wore an expensive leather dress, face pale, deep purple eyes filled with fragility.

"Sick again?" Kael immediately moved to support her. "I told you to stay in bed."

"I know... but I missed you..." Vira leaned into him, eyes flicking past his shoulder to me. "Oh, Aria's here. The seventeenth ceremony—you got hurt pretty bad, didn't you?"

"I'm fine." My voice was flat.

"That's good." Vira turned back to Kael, voice softer. "Kael, tonight's the Moon Festival. I wanted to wear that white leather gown... but it's still at the washing pools in Barren Valley." She paused. "Can Aria go get it? I need it before dark..."

Barren Valley was at the border. Four hours round trip. Full of predators, worse after dark.

And I'd barely survived the seventeenth "accident." My wounds weren't even fully closed.

"Aria, go to Barren Valley." Kael looked at me like it was already decided.

"No."

Silence.

"What?" Kael's eyes narrowed.

"I said no."

"Got something more important to do?" His expression darkened as he stepped toward me. "Still throwing tantrums?"

"No."

"Then go." He stopped in front of me, looking down. "Vira's weak. You can't even fetch her a dress?"

"Kael, don't force her..." Vira cut in right on cue. "Maybe Aria really does have something urgent..."

"She doesn't." Kael stared at me coldly. "She'll go."

"Why?" I didn't back down. "Because I live here, I have to obey you?"

"Aria Ashborne!" His voice turned dangerous. "You use everything Silvermoon provides. You FOLLOW the rules."

"And if I don't?" I laughed bitterly. "You'll throw me out? Or... arrange another 'accident'?"

Kael's pupils contracted.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what."

"ARIA!" His voice rose. "You don't go, you don't get another THING from me!"

I stopped. I still needed money for painkillers. The bloodrot flared daily now. The herbs were expensive, but they dulled the worst of it.

"You're threatening me?" I turned slowly.

"It's a fact." His face was stone. "Want to stay in Silvermoon? Then listen. Or get out."

He stepped closer, voice dropping to ice:

"Don't forget, Aria—without Silvermoon, you're NOTHING."

I looked at him quietly. Ten years. This was the man I'd loved for ten years.

"Fine." I turned. "I'll go."

Barren Valley looked like hell in the fading light.

It took two hours to drag my half-healed body to the washing pools. The white leather gown hung from a stone rack, swaying in the wind.

I grabbed it. Then pain exploded through my skull. The agony dropped me to my knees, vision blurring. The bloodrot was flaring.

I forced myself up, clutching the dress. Had to get back before dark.

But on the way back, night fell fast. Beast howls rose from every direction. I quickened my pace. My wounds tore open. Blood soaked through my clothes.

By the time I reached the clan grounds, it was deep into the night.

I dragged myself toward the fortress, passing the Moon Festival square. It blazed with light.

I glanced over—then froze.

Center square, Kael stood on the platform with Vira in his arms. She wore a different gown now—gorgeous purple leather that caught the firelight.

Kael bent down and kissed her forehead.

The clan erupted in cheers.

They looked perfect together. Happy.

I stood in the shadows, staring at the dress in my arms—covered in mud and blood.

She'd never needed this. She just wanted to torture me. The thing I'd nearly died retrieving wasn't even worth a joke to them.

I stood there and laughed. Laughed until tears came.

Ten years. Since my brother died saving Kael's life, I'd loved this man.

I'd thought if I held on, he'd love me back eventually.

I'd thought surviving seventeen ceremonies meant the Moon Goddess was testing us.

Now I understood. To him, I was never a mate. I was a burden. A chain. An obstacle he desperately wanted gone.

And I'd been a fool, crawling back every time saying I still loved him.

I let go. The white dress dropped into the mud.

I turned and walked away.

Rain started falling. Hard.

I stood there, pulling out my bone talisman and channeling spirit energy.

"Aria? Child, it's so late—what's wrong?" Lord Thorne—Kael's grandfather, voice ancient and commanding.

He'd been stationed at the border for three years. When my brother saved Kael's life, Lord Thorne swore Kael would take me as his mate. He didn't know that promise had become my nightmare.

I took a breath.

"Lord Thorne, about the mating ceremony between Kael and me..."

Thunder cracked.

I closed my eyes, rain washing over my face.

"Cancel it. All of it."