ELARA'S POV
Riven leads me through endless corridors.
He hasn't said a word since we left the throne room. Just walks ahead of me, his boots silent on the black stone floor.
I can still feel Kaelen through the bond. His presence sits in the back of my mind like a constant weight. His emotions are muted now, but they're there.
Confusion. Surprise. And something that feels like fear.
The Dark King is afraid of me?
That doesn't make sense. I'm nobody. Just a girl from a disgraced family who volunteered to die.
"Here," Riven says suddenly, stopping at a door.
He pushes it open and I step inside.
My breath catches.
The room is beautiful. A massive bed with silk sheets. Windows that show the twilight sky. Furniture that looks like it costs more than everything I've ever owned combined.
"This is where I'm staying?" I ask.
"The king's orders." Riven finally looks at me. Really looks at me. "You're the first tribute he's ever bonded with."
"He said he tried before."
"He tried. The magic rejected them all. Killed them faster than the curse would have." Riven crosses his arms. "But you... the bond worked. Which means you're not fully human."
"Everyone keeps saying that! I am human!"
"Then explain how you survived a soul bond with a cursed immortal."
I can't. I have no explanation.
Riven studies me for another moment, then says, "Get some rest. You'll need it."
"Why? What happens tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow you meet the court. They're going to want to know what you are. And if you can't give them a good answer..." He doesn't finish the sentence.
He doesn't have to.
The door closes behind him and I'm alone.
I sink onto the bed, my whole body shaking.
What am I?
Varen said I had something in my blood. Something ancient. Something that would either break Kaelen's curse or destroy him.
But what?
I lie back and close my eyes, trying to think. Trying to remember anything from my family history that might explain this.
My grandfather was accused of conspiring with the Shadowlands. My mother used to hum songs I shouldn't know. Songs from a time before I was born.
And I have magic. Just a little. A healing gift I've kept secret my whole life.
The pieces don't fit together. Not yet.
Through the bond, I feel Kaelen's emotions shift. The fear is gone, replaced by something darker.
Guilt.
Why does he feel guilty?
I sit up, focusing on the bond. Trying to understand what I'm sensing.
And then I feel it.
A thought. Not mine.
To break my curse, she would have to die.
Ice floods through my veins.
That's why he feels guilty. Because the bond showed him the truth.
Saving him means killing me.
I should have known. Nothing in my life has ever been easy. Why would this be different?
But wait.
Varen wanted me here specifically. Wanted me to either break the curse or destroy Kaelen.
If breaking the curse requires my death, then Varen knew. He sent me here to die on purpose.
Not as a tribute. As a sacrifice.
The real kind.
Anger burns away the fear. Hot and fierce and familiar.
I'm so tired of being used. Tired of people treating me like I'm disposable.
Marcus used me for connections. Thalia used me to climb higher. Varen used me as a weapon.
Even Kaelen just used me to try to save himself, not caring that it might kill me.
I stand up, fury making my hands shake.
The door opens.
I spin around, ready to scream at whoever it is.
Kaelen stands in the doorway.
"Get out," I snap.
He doesn't move. "You felt it. Through the bond. You know what breaking the curse requires."
"You knew! You knew it would kill me and you bonded us anyway!"
"I didn't know!" His voice rises to match mine. "I've tried the bonding ritual a hundred times. It never worked. I thought maybe this time—" He stops, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't know the bond would actually take. I swear."
"But now you know. Now you know saving you means I die."
"Yes."
At least he's honest.
"So what happens now?" I demand. "You drain my life force through the bond until there's nothing left? Use me up and throw me away like everyone else?"
Something flashes in his eyes. Pain.
"No," he says quietly. "Now I break the bond."
I freeze. "What?"
"I can break it. Sever the connection. You'll be free to leave the Shadowlands. Go back to your brother. Live your life."
"And you?"
"I stay cursed. Like I have for three hundred years." He says it like it doesn't matter. Like he's already dead inside.
Through the bond, I feel the truth. Feel how much it costs him to offer this. How desperately he wants to be free, but he won't buy his freedom with my life.
"The curse will kill me eventually anyway," Kaelen continues. "With or without you. At least this way, one of us survives."
He starts to speak the words to break the bond.
Ancient syllables that make the air shimmer.
And I realize something.
This man—this supposedly evil Dark King—is willing to die alone to save a stranger.
That's not a monster.
That's a hero.
"Stop," I say.
He pauses. "Elara—"
"I said stop." I walk toward him. "You're not breaking the bond."
"You'll die!"
"Maybe. Or maybe there's another way." I stop right in front of him. "You spent three hundred years alone, convinced there's no hope. But you never had someone who could actually help you. Someone with magic in their blood. Someone the bond accepted."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying we figure this out together. We find a way to break the curse without killing me. And if we can't..." I take a breath. "Then I'll decide if saving you is worth the price."
"Why would you do that? You don't even know me."
"Because nobody deserves to suffer for three hundred years. Not even you."
We stare at each other.
Through the bond, his emotions crash into me. Hope and fear and something else. Something that makes my heart race.
"You're insane," he whispers.
"Probably. But I'm also right."
His hand rises slowly, like he's going to touch my face. I hold perfectly still, barely breathing.
Then he drops his hand and steps back.
"Get some sleep," he says roughly. "Tomorrow you meet the court. They're not going to like you."
"People never do."
The corner of his mouth twitches. Almost a smile.
He turns to leave.
"Kaelen?"
He stops but doesn't look back.
"Thank you. For offering to break the bond. For caring whether I live or die."
"Don't thank me yet," he says quietly. "You might not survive tomorrow."
Then he's gone.
I stand there for a long moment, my hand pressed to my chest where the bond sits warm and golden.
What have I gotten myself into?
I climb into bed, but sleep won't come. Every time I close my eyes, I feel Kaelen through the bond. Feel him somewhere in this massive palace, alone.
Has he been alone for three hundred years?
The thought breaks my heart.
Finally, exhaustion drags me under.
I dream of shadows and blood and a young man screaming as his family dies around him.
I wake up g
asping.
And realize the dream wasn't mine.
It was Kaelen's memory.
Bleeding through the bond while he sleeps.