Kael woke to the sound of breathing that wasn't his.
Slow. Uneven. Too close.
He opened his eyes to see Lira lying beside him, her hair a dark spill across the cold obsidian floor. A faint red glow traced the veins along her neck — the remnants of the ritual. The same glow thrummed under Kael's skin, synchronizing with hers in gentle pulses, like two hearts trying to find the same rhythm.
For a moment, he forgot the world outside. The Council. The oath. The danger.
It was just her.
His hand twitched toward her before he caught himself.
Don't.
But the bond didn't care about restraint. A warmth pulsed through his chest — not his emotion, but hers: confusion, exhaustion, fear, and something else, quiet and delicate, like a budding thread of trust.
Her eyes fluttered open. She stared at him, disoriented.
"You're close," she whispered.
"You're the one who shifted toward me," Kael murmured.
Lira blinked, cheeks flushing faintly. "I didn't—"
"You did."
He shouldn't have let the smirk slip, but it was the first moment of lightness he'd felt since returning to the city.
She pushed herself up carefully, wincing. "How long were we out?"
"A few hours," Kael said, rising beside her. "Long enough for the hunters to catch our scent."
Lira inhaled deeply. "I can feel it."
He turned to her sharply. "Feel what?"
She pressed a hand against her chest. "The city. Its anger. Fear. It's like everything around us became… louder."
Kael's brows drew together. "The bond heightened your senses."
"Not just senses," she whispered. "Emotions. Thoughts. Yours…"
Her eyes lifted to his.
"I heard you thinking."
Kael stepped back. "That's impossible."
Lira's voice was soft but steady. "You thought I looked peaceful. Sleeping."
His heart stuttered. He didn't move. Didn't breathe.
"Lira. That wasn't—"
"It wasn't your voice," she said quickly, "more like your feeling. A memory of a thought." She shook her head. "I don't know how this works."
Kael exhaled slowly, tension knotting the space between them. "The bond wasn't supposed to do that."
"Then what was it supposed to do?"
"Keep us alive," he said. "Not bind our minds."
She looked at him, and for the first time since they met, he saw fear that wasn't aimed at the world — but at what they were becoming.
---
The leader of the Forgotten didn't return.
Instead, they were given a sparse, dimly lit chamber within the sanctum — a place of crystal and shadow, where the walls hummed with ancient magic.
Lira traced a line on the glass floor. "Can we talk about what she said? About me being a vessel."
Kael leaned against a pillar, arms crossed. "Talking won't change what you are."
"Then tell me what that is," she said, stepping closer. "Tell me why I have half a soul that belonged to your mother."
He looked away. "Because she split her power into two to survive her war with my father. One half in me. One half hidden — in you."
Lira swallowed hard. "So I'm… incomplete?"
Kael's gaze snapped to hers, sharp and fierce. "No. You're the only reason I'm not a monster right now."
Silence stretched between them.
She stepped closer. "Is that you talking? Or the bond?"
He didn't answer — because he didn't know.
And her closeness made it impossible to think clearly.
The shadows at his feet stirred, restless, reacting to her heartbeat. She felt it too — her breath hitched, and her pulse quickened.
"We should keep distance," she whispered.
"We should," he agreed.
Neither of them moved.
The bond pressed gently, insistently, like two minds leaning closer. A quiet pull.
A fragile need.
Kael's voice dropped. "You're afraid of me."
Lira shook her head. "No. I'm afraid of losing myself in you."
Something in him cracked — soft, wounded.
"You won't," he said. "I won't let you."
He didn't reach for her, but he wanted to. The bond made wanting dangerous.
He clenched his fists to stop himself.
---
Later, Lira sat alone near one of the glowing glass pillars. The hum of captured memories soothed her, though some whispered warnings she didn't understand.
Kael watched her from a distance — he didn't mean to, but the bond made his attention drift toward her like gravity. Every time she exhaled, he felt the echo in his ribs.
She sensed him and lifted her gaze. "If you're going to stare, at least sit down."
Kael stiffened. "I wasn't—"
"You were," she said, faint smile pulling at her lips. "Your emotions get loud."
He sat beside her, not touching, leaving a narrow, electric gap. The kind of distance that felt like a held breath.
Lira bit her lip. "Can I ask something personal?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No," she said, smiling faintly.
He sighed. "Ask."
"When your mother appeared… part of you wanted to go to her."
Kael's jaw tightened. "She's the last piece of my childhood. The only part of me that wasn't shaped by fear."
Lira studied him. "What do you want now?"
His voice was barely audible. "Something I can't have."
Lira's breath tangled. "And what's that?"
Kael turned his head slowly, eyes meeting hers — a storm of shadow and longing.
"You," he said.
Her heart flipped — the bond responding instantly, pulsing heat into her cheeks.
She pressed a hand over her chest. "Kael… this connection isn't real. It's magic confusing us."
His expression didn't change. "Magic doesn't invent desire. It only reveals what's buried."
Her breath caught. She looked away, the truth too sharp. "I don't know what's yours and what's the bond."
He whispered, "Then let me show you the difference."
He leaned in — not touching, not crossing the line. Just close enough that she felt the heat of him, smelled the faint trace of smoke on his skin.
Close enough that the bond thrummed between them like a living thing.
"You can feel my magic," he murmured. "My fear. My anger. But not this. Want is mine alone."
Lira's pulse stumbled. The bond vibrated softly, like a warning.
"Kael," she whispered, "if we give in to this—"
"We won't," he said, pulling back an inch. "Not until you're sure it's you choosing. Not fate."
The restraint — the care — made the moment ache.
Before she could answer, a crystal resonance rippled through the chamber, shattering the silence.
Kael stiffened. "Someone just broke the outer wards."
Lira stood instantly. "The Council?"
"No."
Kael drew a blade of shadow from his palm.
"It's someone inside the Forgotten."
A whisper echoed through the sanctum — panicked, trembling:
"They found you. Run."
Lira reached for Kael's hand without thinking.
He clasped hers instantly — not because of the bond.
Because he wanted to.
Their palms pressed together. Shadows flared around them.
For the first time, Kael didn't fight them.
"Stay with me," he said quietly.
Lira gripped his hand tighter. "Always."
And together, they ran into the dark as betrayal cracked the sanctum open.