ELARA
"Absolutely not."
Kaelix looked at me across the breakfast table like I was being unreasonable. "It's the only way to protect you."
"You want to brand me. Like cattle."
"It's not like that..."
"Then what is it like?" I stood, fury making my hands shake. "You bought me at auction. Tried to kill me. Bound me with magic I can't break. Now you want to literally mark me as yours?"
"To protect you!"
"By taking away the last shred of agency I have left!"
We glared at each other. The bond between us crackled with our combined anger.
Lysander cleared his throat from the doorway.
"Perhaps I should explain."
"Please do," I snapped.
He entered, carrying his ever-present books. "A mate mark is a magical brand that declares you belong to Lord Shadowthorne. It tells every Fae in all realms that touching you means death."
"So I become his property."
"No." Kaelix's voice was hard. "You become untouchable. Protected. Every court will know that harming you means war with me."
"I don't want to be anyone's property ever again!"
"I'm not asking you to be..." He stopped. Took a breath. "You're not property, Elara. But you are hunted. Every court wants you dead or controlled. The mark is the only thing that will make them think twice."
"Why would they fear your mark?"
His smile was cold. "Because I've spent three hundred years teaching the realms what happens when someone crosses the Shadow Lord. Fear is a powerful protector."
"But it's still a brand. Still a mark of ownership."
"Not ownership. Partnership." Lysander spoke gently. "The mark is traditionally exchanged between mates. It's a declaration that you fight together. Protect each other."
"Except I didn't choose to be his mate," I said bitterly. "He forced that on me with the bond."
Kaelix flinched. "You're right. I did. And I can't undo it. But I can give you this choice. Say no, and I won't force the mark."
I stared at him. "Really?"
"Really. The contract compels you to obey in some things. But this? This you get to choose."
The fact that he was offering me a choice when he could simply force me made something in my chest loosen.
"And if I say no?" I asked. "What happens?"
"We find another way to protect you. Though I don't know what that would be."
"She'll die within a week," Lysander said bluntly. "Every court wants her. The Light Court wants to use her against the Wild Court. The Wild Court wants to use her as leverage. Others want her dead simply to prevent anyone else from having her. Without the mark..."
"Without the mark, I'm a target," I finished.
"Yes."
I sat down heavily. "This isn't fair."
"No," Kaelix agreed quietly. "It's not."
We sat in silence. The bond pulsed between us, carrying his guilt and my frustration.
"I need time to think," I said finally.
"Of course." Kaelix stood. "Take all the time you..."
The door burst open.
Mira stumbled in, gasping. Her face was gray.
She collapsed.
"Mira!" I ran to her.
Kaelix was there instantly, checking her pulse.
"Poison. She's been poisoned."
"What? How?"
He looked at the breakfast tray Mira had been carrying. My breakfast. The food I would have eaten if we hadn't been arguing.
"She tested it," he said grimly. "Like she's supposed to. And the poison was meant for you."
Horror flooded through me. "No. No, Mira, stay with me!"
Her eyes fluttered open. "My lady... I'm sorry... I tried to warn you..."
"Lysander, get a healer!" Kaelix commanded. "Now!"
Lysander ran.
I held Mira's hand. She was so cold. "Don't you dare die. Do you hear me? Don't you dare."
"Poison... was in the tea..." She coughed. Blood flecked her lips. "Someone in the kitchen... a spy..."
"Save your strength," I begged.
"Wanted you to know... you have friends here... people who care..."
"I know. I know. Just hold on."
The healers arrived. They whisked her away. Kaelix had to physically pull me back to let them work.
I stood there, shaking. Mira's blood on my hands.
"This is my fault," I whispered.
"No. It's the fault of whoever sent the assassin."
"She nearly died because of me. Because I'm here. Because everyone around me is in danger."
"Elara..."
"How many more?" I turned to face him. "How many more people have to almost die before I accept reality? I'm not just a target. I'm a weapon being used against you. Against everyone who tries to protect me."
"That's not..."
"Do it," I interrupted.
"What?"
"The mark. Do it. Now."
He stared at me. "Are you sure?"
"No. But I'm not letting anyone else get hurt because I'm too stubborn to accept protection." I met his eyes. "But I have conditions."
"Name them."
"You teach me to fight. Properly. And you teach me to control my magic. I won't hide behind your protection forever. I'll learn to protect myself."
He studied my face. Then nodded slowly.
"Agreed."
"When do we do this?"
"Now, if you're ready."
I wasn't. But I nodded anyway.
He led me to his chambers. Lysander stayed behind to coordinate the search for the spy.
The room felt different now. Intimate. Charged.
"How does this work?" I asked, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"The mark goes somewhere intimate. Somewhere only a mate would see." His voice was carefully neutral. "Inner thigh is most common."
Heat flooded my face. "Oh."
"I can place it elsewhere if you prefer. But the more intimate the placement, the stronger the magic."
"Inner thigh is fine." I sounded steadier than I felt.
He gestured to the bed. "Sit."
I did. My hands twisted in my lap.
Kaelix knelt in front of me. His silver eyes met mine.
"This will hurt," he warned. "I'm burning the mark into your skin with magic. I can't make it painless."
"I've survived worse this week."
"True." His lips almost curved into a smile.
"Kaelix?"
"Yes?"
"Why does it have to be intimate? The placement?"
"Mate marks are declarations. The placement shows trust. Intimacy. Vulnerability." His hand rested on my knee. "It says 'this person has seen all of me, and I've chosen them anyway.'"
"Even though we didn't choose each other."
"No. But we're choosing this. Now. Together."
Something about the way he said it made my heart skip.
I pulled up my dress, exposing my leg. Felt painfully vulnerable.
His eyes darkened as he looked at me. Not with lust exactly. Something deeper. Possessiveness maybe. Or protection.
"Ready?" he asked.
"No. But do it anyway."
Shadow magic gathered around his hand, dark and swirling. He placed his palm against my inner thigh.
Pain exploded through me.
I bit back a scream, gripping his shoulders for support.
It felt like fire burning through my skin. Like brands being pressed into flesh. Agony unlike anything I'd felt.
"Breathe," he murmured. "Just breathe."
His free hand found mine. Squeezed. Grounding me.
The pain intensified. I couldn't stop the sob that escaped.
"Almost done," he whispered. "You're doing so well. So brave."
His shadows caressed my skin where they weren't burning me. Surprisingly gentle.
Soothing even.
I could feel the mark forming. Curves and lines being etched into my flesh. His magic claiming me.
But then something changed.
My Wild magic responded.
Green light erupted from where his hand touched me. Not fighting his magic. Joining it.
Kaelix's eyes widened. "Elara, what..."
"I don't know!"
The pain shifted. Became something else. Not quite pain anymore. Something intense and overwhelming and intimate.
His shadows and my wild magic twined together. Merging. Creating something new.
I gasped.
So did he.
The magic pulsed between us. Hot and electric and alive. It felt like more than just a mark. It felt like our souls touching.
"This isn't... this shouldn't..." Kaelix tried to pull his hand away.
He couldn't.
The magic held us locked together. Shadow and wild. Dark and green. His power and mine becoming one.
The sensation was overwhelming. Intimate beyond anything physical. I could feel him. Not just through the bond. Deeper. I could feel his fear, his desire, his desperate need to protect me mixing with my own terror and trust and something else I didn't want to name.
"Kaelix!" I gasped.
"I know. I feel it too. Just... just hold on."
The magic built. Higher. Stronger. Until it felt like we'd both explode from it.
Then it released.
I cried out. He groaned.
The light died.
We stayed frozen, both breathing hard. His hand still on my thigh. My hands still gripping his shoulders.
Slowly, he pulled away.
On my inner thigh, burned into the skin in silver-black lines, was an intricate mark. A shadow thorned rose intertwined with wild vines. His court and mine. United.
It was beautiful.
And permanent.
I touched it gently. It was warm, almost alive. I could feel magic pulsing in it.
"That's not normal," I said shakily.
"No. It's not." Kaelix held up his wrist.
I gasped.
On his wrist, the mirror image of my mark. Green vines wrapped around black thorns.
"What does this mean?" I whispered.
"It means the marking wasn't one-sided. It bound us both." He stood abruptly, backing away. "It means we're true mates now. Not just bound by the failed ritual. Chosen by the magic itself."
"I don't understand."
"Mate marks are supposed to be one-sided. One partner marks the other. But when the magic recognizes true mates, when it senses equal partnership, perfect compatibility..." He gestured at our matching marks. "It marks both."
"So we're... married?"
"Mated. It's deeper than marriage. Soul-deep. Permanent." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Death is the only release."
I stared at my mark. At his.
I should have been angry. Should have raged at fate for trapping me again.
But all I felt was... right.
The mark felt right. The bond felt right. Him standing there, covered in my magic, bound to me forever, it felt right.
"Can we break it?" I asked.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. True mate bonds are unbreakable. They're..." He stopped. Looked at me. "They're rare. One in a thousand Fae ever find their true mate. Most settle for political matches or chosen partners. But true mates? Actual soul bonds recognized by magic itself?"
"How rare?"
"Maybe a dozen pairs in all the realms right now."
Oh.
"So we're stuck together," I said.
"Yes."
"If you die, I die."
"Well." I stood, legs shaky. "At least we're equally screwed now."
He laughed. Bitter and broken. "That's one way to look at it."
"Is there another way?"
"We could choose to see it as..." He trailed off.
"As what?"
"As fate giving us something neither of us knew we needed."
The words hung between us.
My heart was racing. The mark on my thigh burned pleasantly. I could feel his mark on his wrist through the bond. Could feel his confusion matching mine.
"I should go," he said. "Let you rest."
"It's your room."
"Then I'll find somewhere else..."
"Don't." The word came out before I could stop it. "Don't go."
He froze. "Elara."
"We're mates now, apparently. Might as well act like it." I climbed into the bed, too exhausted to care about propriety. "Just stay on your side."
After a long moment, he joined me.
The bed was huge. Miles between us.
But I could feel him through the bond. Feel his heart racing. Feel his confusion and desire and something tender he wouldn't name.
"Kaelix?" I whispered into the darkness.
"Yes?"
"Thank you for giving me a choice. About the mark. For not forcing me."
"You shouldn't have to thank me for basic decency."
"Maybe not. But I do anyway."
Silence. Then:
"You're welcome."
I closed my eyes. Felt the mark on my thigh pulse in time with my heartbeat.
True mates.
Soul bonded.
Bound forever.
The monster who bought me had become something else entirely.
And I didn't know whether to be terrified or grateful.
Maybe both.
Outside, war was coming.
But in here, in the darkness, with our matching marks binding us together...
We had each other.
And somehow, impossibly, that felt like enough.