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Because somewhere in there, buried under centuries of fear and corruption, there was still a woman who had made one terrified choice a long, long time ago.

She saw me the instant she crossed through, and she froze.

"You should be dead."

"I’ve been getting that a lot tonight."

Then she attacked.

I understood something else in that moment, something the instructions had never spelled out but that felt true in my bones the second she came at me. I wasn't supposed to win. I couldn't win, not against whatever centuries Below had made of her.

I just had to stand between her and my Mate.

She reached for Martha. I blocked her.

She threw me clear across the chamber, hard enough to crack stone under my shoulder.

I got up.

She threw me again.

I got up again.

"You fall," she said, almost curious, like she genuinely couldn't understand why I kept doing this.

I wiped blood off my mouth. "Yeah. We've established that."

And I got back up.

Zelda's Magic slammed into her from the side. It wasn’t wrapped around the doorway this time, but around the woman herself. Silver and black corruption reacted violently, hissing where Zelda's binding took hold.

The One Below, formerly known as Swamp Barbie, screamed. A sound that cracked through the whole chamber. I watched the mark on Zelda's arm start to reverse, black and silver retreating down toward her wrist.

It was working.

But not fast enough.

Behind her, the Door was still opening wider. Martha still held the crown against the seal, gold light straining against something that refused to give.

That's when the One Below played her last card.

She looked past me, straight at Martha, and said, "He will die."

I felt Martha's fear spike through the Mating Bond like a physical blow.

"Close the Door and lose him."

A false choice. The same lie she'd believed centuries ago when she'd faced the crown herself. The same lie she'd fed Martha, dressed up in swamp water and silence and a wedding pushed back a full year.

I was still fighting to stay on my feet. Blood filled my mouth. Every muscle screamed. I looked at Martha.

I didn't tell her what to choose. I wanted to– Great Goddess, I wanted to– but that wasn't mine to give her. Not anymore.

Martha looked at Zelda. At me. At the crown glowing gold under her hands. At the woman wearing her family's face.

"You still don't understand."

The One Below snarled.