This is the fourth time I’ve worn a white dress.

The first three times, it was for love.

For the reckless hope that maybe, just maybe, I could carve out a different ending for myself. Each time, I ran—chasing the promise of a love that could change my fate, believing that I could outrun destiny.

I was wrong.

Every time, I died before my thirtieth birthday.

This time, I wear white not for love, but for survival.

This time, I am listening.

Listening to my father as he bargains me away to a man I don’t know. A man I don’t care for.

Kieran Stormbane.

Alpha. Warrior. Executioner.

A stranger who will wake up beside me every morning, unaware that the woman in his bed is a monster hidden behind silk and secrets.

I keep my face blank as my father speaks, his voice steady, his words carefully measured. He tells me that this is the best option.

That this marriage will keep me safe. That Kieran Stormbane is strong, powerful—unshakable in the face of danger. That as his mate, I will be untouchable.

I want to laugh.

I want to scream.

Because I have heard these words before. In other lives, in other moments where I stood on the precipice of fate, because this was the best option for me, because love wasn't important.

Because love wasn’t important.

Because love had only ever led to my death.

In every life, I had reached for it. Clung to it like a fool, believing it could save me. But love had never been a shield—it had been the knife in my back, the poison on my lips, the whispered lie before the fall.

This time, I would not make the same mistake.

I stood still as my father continued his speech, his voice a steady hum in the background. Words of duty, honor, alliance. Words meant to convince me.

As if I had a choice.

4 times was enough to make me think that love was not meant for someone like me. And for the first time, I wanted to think that his words were true. That he knew something I didn't. Something that I missed in my other lives searching for true love.

I knew the man that I was marrying today. A man of honor, a true warrior, strong and beautiful... Someone who only loved one woman in all of 4 lives. And today I'm taking him away from her. Because I'm scared... Because I want to live. I want to survive my own destiny..

And above all I want revenge.

Even though today I'm marrying the man who's gonna hate me.

Because I'm taking him away from her.

The woman he was always meant to love. The woman he would have chosen, if not for me.

I shouldn’t feel guilty. I shouldn’t feel anything.

But I do.

Because today, I am taking him away from her.

Because today, I am selfish.

Because today, I am choosing survival over fate, even if it means breaking two hearts to keep my own beating.

A cold hand touches my own, grounding me back to the present. My mother, standing beside me, her expression unreadable. Her fingers tighten ever so slightly, a silent reminder.

I glance at her, but she doesn’t speak. She doesn’t have to.

We both know why I must do this.

I close my eyes for the briefest moment, drawing in a slow breath. When I open them again, I am no longer Asha, the girl who longed for love.

I am Asha Stormbane, the woman who will live.

Asha Stormbane will live her 5th life.