Kira's POV
"I need your help."
The words hang in the air between us like poison. Lucian Daybreak—the man who's hunted me across three kingdoms, who's nearly killed me twice, who hates me more than anyone alive—needs my help.
I laugh. It comes out harsh and broken. "You're insane."
"Probably." He sheathes his sword, which surprises me more than anything. "But I'm also desperate. And so are you."
My hand goes to the wound on my shoulder. It's already healing—shadow magic speeds up my body's natural processes. But I can feel the curse underneath, eating away at me cell by cell.
Twenty-five days left. Maybe less after that attack.
"Why would I help you?" I push myself to my feet using the wall. Everything hurts. "You've spent three years trying to kill me."
"Because the alternative is we both die. Along with everyone else in both Courts." He takes a step closer, and I tense. But he stops, hands raised. "The Void is real, Nightshade. I've seen it consume entire villages. Watched people I know—people I loved—erased from existence."
Through the blood and ash coating the alley, I study his face. Really look at him for the first time in three years of running. He's thinner than I remember. Harder. There are scars on his hands that weren't there before.
He looks like someone who hasn't slept in months.
"Even if I believed you about this Void," I say carefully, "why do you think I can help? I'm cursed. Dying. Barely holding onto my magic."
"Because shadow magic is the only thing that can seal the Void. Light magic makes it stronger—I've tried." His voice drops. "You're the most powerful shadow wielder I've ever encountered. If anyone can stop this, it's you."
"I'm flattered. Truly." I spit blood onto the stones. "But I'm not interested in saving the world that destroyed mine. The Light Court killed my family. Your people burned my village to ash when I was eight years old."
Pain flashes across his face—and I hate that I notice. Hate that some part of me still sees him as human.
"I know," he says quietly. "I was there."
The words hit me like a blade to the gut. "What?"
"The raid on Shadowfen Village. Fifteen years ago." He won't meet my eyes. "I was fourteen. My first real mission. My father commanded it." His hands clench into fists. "I've regretted it every day since."
I can't breathe. Can't think. All I see is fire. My mother screaming. My father's body in the doorway, trying to protect us until the very end.
"You—" My voice shakes with rage. "You helped kill them?"
"No. I refused to fight. My father beat me bloody for it afterward." He finally looks at me, and I see genuine anguish in those cold blue eyes. "But I didn't stop it either. I just stood there and watched your world burn. I'm sorry, Kira. I'm so, so sorry."
He used my real name. Not Nightshade. Not Wraith. Kira.
Nobody's called me that in years.
"Your apology means nothing," I snarl, even as tears burn behind my eyes. I won't cry. Not in front of him. "It doesn't bring them back."
"I know. Nothing can." He takes a shaky breath. "But maybe we can stop it from happening again. The Void doesn't care about Courts or kingdoms or old grudges. It consumes everything equally. If we don't stop it, there won't be anyone left to hate anyone."
I want to tell him no. Want to walk away and let the world burn like my village burned.
But then I remember Zephyr. My best friend who stayed loyal when everyone else abandoned me. Who risks his life every day helping me hide.
If the Void is real, it'll kill him too.
"What's your plan?" I hear myself ask.
Hope flickers across Lucian's face. "There's an ancient temple in the Deep Threshold. According to the old texts, shadow and light magic were bound there once before to seal a Void breach. If we can reach it—"
"Wait." I hold up a hand. "Shadow and light magic can't work together. They destroy each other on contact."
"Usually, yes. But the texts mention something called a soulbond. When shadow and light—" He stops suddenly, his eyes going wide. "No. That's not possible."
"What's not possible?"
Before he can answer, the curse attacks again.
This time it's worse. So much worse. Shadows erupt from every pore, wrapping around me like chains. I fall to my knees, screaming through gritted teeth. My vision goes dark. My magic is trying to drag me into the shadow realm permanently—to trap me there until I die.
"Nightshade!" Lucian's voice sounds distant. "Fight it!"
I try. Gods, I try. But I'm so tired. So weak. Maybe it would be easier to just let go. To stop fighting and let the darkness take me.
Warm hands grab my shoulders. Light blazes through my body, bright and burning and alive. It should hurt—light touching shadow always hurts. But instead, it feels like coming home after a long journey.
The shadows retreat, hissing and writhing. The curse settles back into its slow burn instead of its killing frenzy.
I gasp for air, blinking away darkness. Lucian kneels in front of me, his hands still on my shoulders. His light magic flows into me, warm and steady.
Our eyes meet.
And something impossible happens.
A thread appears between us. Golden-black, shimmering with power that makes my skin tingle. It connects from his chest to mine, pulsing like a heartbeat.
"What—" I start.
Then his emotions slam into me like a wave. Grief. Rage. Guilt. Hope. Loneliness so deep it makes me want to cry. And underneath it all, a desperate, aching need to make things right.
Through the bond—because that's what this is, a soulbond—I know with absolute certainty that Lucian Daybreak is telling the truth about everything. The Void. The temple. His regret over my village.
And more: he's starting to believe I didn't kill his brother.
"You feel it too," he whispers, his voice rough. Through the bond, I sense his shock matching mine. "The connection. Shadow and light, bound together."
I try to pull away, but the thread holds firm. "This shouldn't be possible."
"No. It shouldn't." He lets go of my shoulders and sits back, staring at the golden-black thread only we can see. "Soulbonds require compatible magics. Shadow and light are opposites. Natural enemies."
"Then why—"
The ground shakes. A crack appears in the alley wall, spreading like lightning across stone. And through that crack, I see it.
Darkness. But not shadow magic darkness. This is something ancient. Hungry. Wrong.
The Void has found us.
"Run," Lucian says, grabbing my hand. His touch doesn't burn anymore. The soulbond has changed something fundamental between us.
We run as reality tears open behind us, and I realize with horrible clarity that nothing will ever be the same again.