My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 505

Chapter 505: Chapter 505 ANOTHER WAY

SERAPHINA’S POV

For a single suspended moment, everything else ceased to matter.

Because Kieran was there.

Alive.

And no dream version of him could ever compare to the real, beautiful thing.

Stone dust drifted around him from the shattered doors, catching in the ritual-blue light like fragments of broken sky.

He advanced, boots striking the floor with exacting force, cutting through the chaos more decisively than any power Catherine had wielded so far.

And despite everything—the pressure, the danger, the overwhelming wrongness of the space—I felt relief loosen my chest, so fierce my knees nearly buckled.

Catherine did not share my sentiment.

The darkness around her reacted the moment Kieran stepped into the chamber. It recoiled like it had recognized an intrusion it did not tolerate.

The oppressive aura around her thickened, darkening in hue and heaviness until it felt less like shadow and more like a tangible presence.

Catherine’s head tilted slowly toward Kieran, and that unnerving, sinister smile spread across her lips.

“You,” she said softly.

The word carried something layered beneath it. Recognition in the way a predator recognizes an old prey that once escaped it.

But Kieran barely spared Catherine a glance. His eyes stayed locked on mine, as if I were the only point of stability in the chaos.

When he reached me, he pulled me tightly into his arms. I pressed my face into his chest, inhaling his scent layered underneath dust and blood and smoke.

“Thank the goddess,” he whispered, his hand cradling the back of my head.

I wrapped my arms around him, fisting the fabric of his clothes. I tried to speak, but managed only a choked sound.

Catherine let out a soft, amused sound. “How adorable.”

I tried to pull away to face her, but Kieran held me fast. He shifted his head so his lips were pressed against my ear.

“I know what this is.”

His voice was steady, but beneath it, I heard strain—not fear, exactly, but containment as if he was holding something tightly shut inside himself.

My breath caught. “You do?”

“You trust me?”

“Of course,” I replied without hesitation.

He pressed a hard, fierce kiss to the side of my head before breaking the embrace and moving to my side, his hand finding and gripping mine tightly.

“Malachar,” Kieran called out, his voice hard.

Catherine’s eyebrows arched, and the darkness pulsed, as if answering.

When she spoke, her voice held a layered quality, as if something else was speaking through her.

“He recognizes you, too, you know,” she said, her black eyes glinting. “You’re far more interesting than your ancestors were.”

Kieran’s eyes hardened. “You’ll also find me harder to do away with.”

Catherine threw her head back and let out a chilling cackle. “Oh, it will be my absolute pleasure to snuff out another member of the royal bloodline.”

Those last two words rang through me like a heavy bell.

My eyes snapped toward Kieran.

Royal bloodline.

A part of me had guessed it, but I had refused to focus on it because following that path spelled danger.

But it made sense—his guarded responses when the topic was brought up, the grim way he spoke about the royal family as if it were personal.

Kieran’s gaze shifted to mine and softened at the look on my face. He squeezed my hand and promised, “We’ll talk about it later."

Catherine scoffed. “How arrogant of you to think you will have a ‘later.’”

Kieran’s jaw tightened, but he ignored her. His gaze stayed fixed on me. “I know how to stop him—them.”

My mind stalled. “You...what?”

Even Catherine seemed to pause at that.

He took my hand. “Remember when I spoke about costs?”

‘But you can be sure the price to pay will not be cheap.’

I swallowed hard, pushing back the lump of dread that rose.

“What do we have to do?” I whispered.

“My blood,” he answered. “My blood is the key.”

My eyes widened. “What—”

Catherine cut me off with a short, sharp laugh.

“Oh, this is rich,” she said. “You actually believe your unrecognized lineage gives you authority here?”

Her expression warped, a flicker between amusement and wrath.

“As royal as your blood might be, it has never been formally acknowledged. It carries no jurisdiction over what stands behind me.”

Her eyes flicked to the darkness surrounding her like it was an extension of her own body.

“And even if it did,” she added, “you would bleed out long before you achieved anything meaningful.”

A sharp stab of fear pierced through me, so intense that I had to tighten my grip on Kieran’s hand to keep standing.

But Catherine’s taunts seemed to glance off Kieran, his focus unwaveringly on me.

“Trust me?” he asked quietly.

I didn’t even trust myself to speak, but I nodded. I barely understood what was happening, but if Kieran jumped off a cliff, I would dive after him headfirst without hesitation.

He exhaled slowly, nodding once like I’d given him some sort of permission, and then did something that made the entire chamber feel like it lurched off balance.

He lifted his hand to his mouth and bit down on his palm.

My eyes widened, and a choked sound of surprise escaped me as blood welled immediately, dark and vivid against his hand.

“Oh.” Catherine rolled her eyes. “So dramatic.”

Kieran lowered himself onto one knee in front of me.

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