The Tyrant's Tether

Footsteps echoed through the fog-drenched canals of Xarishan, driving me and my little brother deeper into the labyrinth. I fled Otharys the night before the Emperor was supposed to offer my heart to the obsidian altars, thinking I had defied the novel’s tragic end. I was wrong. No one mentioned the ancient blood-pact tethering my soul to his aura. Now, every day I spend across the border, my skin turns slightly more translucent, a creeping death counting down to zero. Worse, Emperor Targan has crossed the sea to hunt me himself. The constant near-misses in this eerie city are agonizing. I disguised my face and masked my scent, yet during this very chase, I accidentally rubbed my thumb against my pulse point - a ridiculous, subconscious habit from my past life. Through the gloom, his golden eyes locked onto me, flashing with a terrifying, obsessive hunger. He knows. But if he catches me, I die on the sacrificial altar. If I keep running, my soul rots to ash. How can I survive when my fated murderer is also my only cure?