Updated Mar 10, 2026 • ~9 min read
The next few days are different.
Damien stops hiding.
Not completely. He still wears the mask around the servants. Still keeps distance when Marcus is present.
But with Sera? The walls are crumbling.
They start taking meals together.
Not in the dining room—too formal, too exposed.
In the library.
Their neutral ground.
Small dinners by the fire. Quiet conversations. Learning each other.
“Tell me about before,” Sera says one evening. “Before the curse. Who were you?”
Damien considers.
“Arrogant. Entitled. Convinced the world existed for my pleasure.”
“Sounds insufferable.”
A ghost of a smile.
“I was. My parents spoiled me. Only son. Heir to the estate. I could do no wrong in their eyes.”
“What changed?”
“Isolde.” His expression darkens. “I met her at a ball. Beautiful. Sophisticated. From an old family with… connections.”
“To magic?”
“I didn’t know that at the time. I just knew she was captivating. We courted for six months. I proposed. She accepted.”
“What happened?”
“I discovered the truth. She practiced dark magic. Manipulated people. There were rumors she’d killed her first husband to inherit his fortune. I confronted her. She denied everything. But I saw through the lies.”
Damien stares into the fire.
“I called off the engagement publicly. At a ball. In front of society. I was cruel about it. Called her a witch. A fraud. Humiliated her.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
“I was being vindictive. I wanted to destroy her reputation like she’d almost destroyed mine. I succeeded. She was shunned. Exiled from polite society.”
“So she cursed you.”
“On my twenty-first birthday. Showed up at the manor. Everyone thought she’d come to apologize. Instead, she cursed me in front of fifty witnesses. Most of them thought it was theatrics. Until the first transformation.”
He looks at Sera.
“I ruined her life. She ruined mine. We’re both monsters. Just different kinds.”
“You’re not a monster.”
“We’ve established I disagree.”
“Then I’ll keep saying it until you believe me.”
Damien shakes his head.
But he’s almost smiling.
Another evening.
Sera asks: “Tell me about Catherine.”
Damien tenses.
“You don’t want to hear about that.”
“I do. If we’re going to face this curse together, I need to understand all of it. Even the painful parts.”
He’s quiet for a long time.
Then: “She was sixteen. Beautiful. Kind. Everything I wasn’t.”
“Did she know about the curse?”
“Of course. She was there when Isolde cast it. Saw my first transformation. She was terrified of me after that. Avoided me for years. Wouldn’t be alone with me.”
“That must have hurt.”
“I deserved it. I was dangerous.”
“You were her brother.”
“I was a beast.”
Sera lets the silence sit.
Then Damien continues.
“Five years after the curse, I thought I had it under control. The transformations were manageable. The locks held. I convinced myself it was safe for Catherine to visit. To try to reconcile.”
His voice breaks.
“She came during a full moon. I didn’t know. Didn’t realize. The transformation started early. I broke free. Found her in the garden.”
He can’t continue.
Sera reaches for his hand.
He grips it like a lifeline.
“I killed her. Tore her apart. When I woke the next morning, Marcus had already buried her. Couldn’t even let me say goodbye. Couldn’t stomach seeing what I’d done.”
Tears stream down his face.
The first time Sera has seen him cry.
“My parents never forgave me. They died two years later. I like to think the grief killed them. Easier than imagining they died still hating their son.”
Sera pulls him close.
He resists at first.
Then collapses into her.
Sobbing.
Ten years of guilt and pain pouring out.
She holds him.
Doesn’t offer platitudes. Doesn’t say it wasn’t his fault.
Just holds him while he breaks.
After that night, something shifts.
Damien opens up more.
Talks about his childhood. His parents. The estate before it became a tomb.
“We used to have parties,” he says wistfully. “Balls. Garden parties. The manor was alive. Full of music and laughter and light.”
“What happened to the forest?” Sera asks. “Why is everything dead?”
“The curse. It spreads. Corrupts the land. Everything within a mile of the estate withers. Dies. The groundskeeper tried to fight it for years. Replanted. Tended. But nothing grows anymore.”
“The curse affects the land too?”
“The curse affects everything. It’s not just my transformation. It’s a blight. A cancer. Spreading slowly but inevitably.”
Sera looks out the window at the skeletal trees.
“What happens if it keeps spreading?”
“Eventually, the entire region becomes uninhabitable. Dead. Just like me.”
“You’re not dead.”
“Might as well be.”
Sera turns to him.
“Stop. Stop talking like you’re already gone. You’re here. You’re alive. You’re fighting.”
“For how long? How many more transformations before I lose myself completely? Before the beast takes over permanently?”
“We’ll break the curse before that happens.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Then I’ll believe it for both of us.”
Damien looks at her.
Really looks.
“Why do you care so much? What’s in this for you?”
Sera considers.
“Maybe I’m tired of feeling powerless. My whole life, men have made decisions for me. My father. You. Society. I’ve never had agency. Never had control.”
“And fighting an unbreakable curse gives you control?”
“No. But choosing to fight? Choosing to try? That’s mine. No one can take that from me.”
Damien’s expression softens.
“You’re remarkable. You know that?”
“I’m stubborn.”
“Same thing.”
They sit in comfortable silence.
Then Damien speaks.
“I haven’t told you everything about the curse.”
“What do you mean?”
“The transformation. The beast. That’s obvious. But there are… other aspects.”
“Like?”
“I can hear everything. Even in human form, my senses are enhanced. I can hear your heartbeat from across the room. Smell what you ate for breakfast. See in near-total darkness.”
“That sounds useful.”
“It’s intrusive. I know when you’re afraid. When you’re lying. When you’re…” He trails off.
“When I’m what?”
He looks away.
“When you’re attracted to me.”
Sera’s cheeks burn.
“You can tell that?”
“Heartbeat. Breathing. Pheromones. I can tell.”
“That’s mortifying.”
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed. It’s… it’s good to know I’m not alone in feeling…”
He doesn’t finish.
Doesn’t have to.
Sera’s heart pounds.
She knows he can hear it.
Knows he knows exactly what she’s feeling right now.
“Damien—”
“We can’t,” he says quickly. “Whatever this is. We can’t act on it.”
“Why not?”
“Because the curse will punish it. Any affection. Any intimacy. It makes the transformations worse.”
“How much worse?”
“With Lilith, after we kissed, the next transformation was violent. I almost killed Marcus. Almost killed her. I can’t risk that with you.”
“So what? We just… ignore it?”
“We keep our distance. Stay friends. Partners. But nothing more.”
Sera wants to argue.
But she sees the fear in his eyes.
He’s not rejecting her because he doesn’t care.
He’s rejecting her because he cares too much.
“Okay,” she says. “Friends. Partners. Nothing more.”
“Thank you.”
But neither of them believes it.
The tension between them is undeniable.
Growing stronger every day.
And the next full moon is three weeks away.
They fall into a routine.
Mornings: Sera reads in the library. Damien handles estate business.
Afternoons: They explore the manor together. Cataloging the decay. Planning repairs that may never happen.
Evenings: Dinner by the fire. Conversations that stretch late into the night.
It’s domestic. Comfortable.
Almost normal.
Except for the curse hanging over everything.
One afternoon, Sera finds Marcus in the hallway.
“You look happy, my lady.”
“Do I?”
“Happier than when you arrived. Lord Corvus too.”
“He’s been more open.”
“I’ve noticed. It’s… good to see. He hasn’t been this alive in years.”
Marcus hesitates.
“But?”
“But be careful. The curse will notice. And when it does, it will retaliate.”
“We’re prepared.”
“Are you? Lilith thought she was prepared too.”
“I’m not Lilith.”
“No. You’re braver. Or more foolish. Still haven’t decided.” Marcus gives her a sad smile. “Just… don’t break his heart. If you’re going to leave, do it now. Before he’s in too deep.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“That’s what worries me.”
He walks away.
Leaving Sera with an uncomfortable truth.
She’s in too deep too.
Falling for a cursed man she barely knows.
Risking everything for a chance at breaking the unbreakable.
And the next full moon is coming.
Ready or not.
That night, Sera can’t sleep.
She lies in bed, thinking about Damien.
About the way he looks at her when he thinks she’s not watching.
The way his voice softens when he says her name.
The way he’s slowly, carefully letting her in.
She’s falling for him.
Against all logic. Against all reason.
She’s falling.
And the curse is waiting.
Ready to punish them both for daring to hope.
A knock at her door.
She gets up. Opens it.
Damien stands there.
No mask. Face vulnerable in the candlelight.
“I can’t sleep,” he says.
“Neither can I.”
“Can I come in?”
“You probably shouldn’t.”
“I know.”
But Sera steps aside.
And he enters.
They sit by her fireplace.
Not touching. But close enough.
“What are we doing?” Damien asks quietly.
“I don’t know.”
“This is dangerous.”
“Everything about this is dangerous.”
“We should stop. Before it’s too late.”
“It’s already too late.”
Damien looks at her.
And Sera sees it clearly.
He’s falling too.
Just as hard. Just as fast.
Just as terrified.
“Three weeks until the full moon,” he says.
“I know.”
“If this gets worse—if the transformation is more violent because of… this—I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Then we’ll be careful. We’ll keep our distance.”
“Can you do that? Knowing what you know?”
Sera considers.
Honestly?
No.
She can’t keep her distance anymore.
Can’t pretend this is just a business arrangement.
Can’t ignore the fact that she’s falling in love with the monster in the east wing.
“I’ll try,” she lies.
Damien nods.
But he doesn’t leave.
They sit together until dawn.
Not touching. Not speaking.
Just being.
Together.
And that feels more dangerous than any transformation ever could.
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