Elara's POV
"No!" Asheron's voice cracks. "Elara, you don't understand what you're agreeing to—"
"I understand perfectly." I face Lysandra. "What do I need to do?"
Lysandra pulls out a silver knife. "Blood magic. Ancient. Forbidden. You'll cut your palm. He'll cut his. You join hands and speak the binding words. Your life forces will merge. Your magic will become one. You'll feel everything he feels. Live as long as he lives. Die when he dies."
"And the curse breaks?"
"The curse transforms. Becomes something you can both control instead of something that controls him." She pauses. "But there's a price. There's always a price."
"What price?"
"Pain. The transformation will hurt more than anything you've ever felt. It might kill you if you're not strong enough. And if you survive—" She looks at me with ancient eyes. "You'll never be fully human again."
Asheron grabs my hand. "Please don't do this. I'm not worth it."
I cup his face, forcing him to look at me. "You're wrong. You're worth it. You're worth everything."
Outside, the palace shakes with another explosion. Selene's army is breaking through.
"We're out of time," Lysandra says. "Choose now or lose the chance forever."
I take the knife.
"Elara, no—"
I slice my palm before Asheron can stop me. Blood wells up, hot and red.
"Your turn," I tell him.
He stares at me. Then at the knife. Then back at me.
"If you do this," he whispers, "I'll spend every day of our immortal life making sure you never regret it."
"I'm counting on it."
He takes the knife and cuts his palm.
We join hands. Our blood mingles. Our magic flares—shadow and light spiraling together.
Lysandra begins chanting in a language older than time.
The pain hits immediately.
It feels like my body is being torn apart and rebuilt from the inside. My magic explodes, wild and uncontrolled. I scream.
Asheron screams with me.
Our joined hands glow brighter and brighter until I can't see anything but white light.
Then—darkness.
I'm floating in nothing. No body. No pain. Just consciousness in an endless void.
"Elara." Asheron's voice surrounds me. "I'm here. I've got you."
"Where are we?"
"Between life and death. Between human and something else." His presence wraps around mine. "Hold on to me. Don't let go."
I feel him. Not just his magic but his soul. Three hundred years of memories, emotions, pain crash into me all at once.
The war. The choice. Watching his sister die. The loneliness. The endless years of ruling alone.
And underneath it all—hope. Hope that maybe, someday, he'd find someone who could share this burden.
"I see you," I whisper. "All of you."
"And I see you." His voice is tender. "Your strength. Your courage. Your light."
Our souls merge. Become one. Become something new.
The darkness explodes into light.
I wake up gasping, i kept on gasping looking for a way to get myself back
I'm lying on the palace floor. Asheron is beside me, breathing, breathing very hard. Our hands are still joined together while we were having breathing hard.
But everything feels different.
I can sense him. Not just near me but inside me. I feel his heartbeat like it's my own. His magic pulses through my veins.
"It worked," Lysandra says, satisfaction in her voice.
I sit up slowly. My body feels wrong. Stronger. Faster. More.
When I look down, I see my skin is glowing faintly with silver light.
Asheron sits up too. His curse marks are gone. His eyes are fully silver-blue now—no trace of black.
"How do you feel?" he asks.
"Like I could fight an army." I flex my fingers. Power crackles around them. "Is this what you always feel?"
"This is what we both feel now."
Outside, the battle rages. But something's different. I can sense it through our bond.
The army stopped advancing for a moment
"Selene knows," Lysandra says. "She felt the binding complete. She knows you're powerful enough to face her now."
As if summoned by her name, Selene appears.
She doesn't walk through the door. She materializes from shadow in the center of the room.
Up close, the family resemblance is striking. She could be Asheron's twin.
"Well," she says coldly. "You actually did it. Found someone willing to share your curse." She looks at me with contempt. "Foolish girl. You just condemned yourself to an eternity of suffering."
"Or," I counter, "I just gained the power to stop you."
Selene laughs. "You think binding your life to his makes you my equal? I've had three hundred years to master my power. You've had three minutes."
She raises her hand. Dark magic gathers—enough to level the entire palace.
But I don't flinch.
I raise my hand too. Light magic rises to meet her darkness.
When our powers collide, the world explodes.