Elowen's POV
Magic responds to intent.
That's what Kael said.
But standing in the sacred grove with him, surrounded by pillars carved in a language older than time, it wasn't intent that answered—it was him.
The air was thick with fog and tension. A stillness blanketed the ground, as if the forest itself held its breath.
"You're holding too much here."
Kael stood behind me, his hand hovering just above my shoulder blade. "Let it rise from your center. Not your fists."
My jaw clenched. I hated when he did that—spoke low, close, like he didn't know what his voice did to me.
I took a breath.
Another.
I opened my palm and reached inward.
A flicker of red shimmered in my hand, pulsing like a weak heartbeat. It sputtered and died in an instant.
I groaned. "This isn't working. Again."
Kael circled to face me, eyes calm, unreadable. "Because you're resisting."
"I'm trying."
"No," he said. "You're guarding."
He stepped closer. Too close.
I tilted my chin up defiantly. "From what?"
"From me."
The words landed like a blow. I should've denied it. I didn't.
Because it was true.
I was terrified. Of this bond, of what I felt, of him. The way he looked at me like he knew every piece of me already. And worse—like he wanted all of it, even the broken parts.
"I don't know how," I whispered.
Kael's gaze softened. His hand rose slowly, fingers brushing against my wrist, tracing the edge of the mark still glowing beneath my skin.
"Then let me help."
His touch was light, reverent. Like I was something sacred.
I shivered—not from cold, but from the way he undid me without even trying.
He guided my arm forward, palm open between us. His own hand mirrored mine. Barely touching. But I felt him like he was etched into my skin.
"Feel me," he murmured. "Not with your mind. With your blood."
And I did.
Like a floodgate breaking, warmth surged up my spine, through my ribs, bursting into my chest. Our palms connected—and the bond lit up.
A flash of red and gold fire spiraled around our joined hands. The earth beneath us hummed. Stones cracked. Leaves rustled violently without wind.
I gasped.
Kael's breath hitched.
The energy didn't just connect us. It wrapped us. Wove through our bones. Called something ancient awake.
He stared at me like I was a question he'd been waiting centuries to answer.
And I stared back, trembling, burning, alive.
"Elowen," he said, voice tight, "do you feel it?"
"Yes." My voice was barely a whisper.
The silence stretched. The bond deepened.
Then—he moved.
His hand slid from mine, up my arm, slow and aching, until it cupped the side of my face. His thumb brushed the corner of my mouth.
My lips parted.
He leaned in.
Closer.
Closer.
And in that breath before a kiss, the world held still.
It wasn't just desire. It was recognition. Soul-deep. Bone-deep. As if every life I had ever lived had been reaching toward this one moment.
Then—
Kael flinched.
Hard.
He ripped his hand from my face, stumbling backward, clutching his chest.
"No—" I reached for him. "Kael, what's happening?"
He fell to one knee, gasping.
His veins darkened beneath his skin—black and angry. His eyes flickered gold, then silver, then black.
"The blood—" he choked out. "It's rejecting you."
"No." My heart cracked. "That's not possible. You—You said the bond—"
"I was wrong," he snarled, pain twisting his face. "I should never have touched you."
He was breaking apart.
Right in front of me.
I dropped to my knees, grabbing his hands. "Don't say that. Kael, look at me."
He did.
His eyes—haunted, desperate, hurting.
"I want you, Elowen," he said, voice raw, broken. "But if I take you—if this bond completes—it will destroy you."
"I'm not afraid of pain," I whispered. "I'm afraid of losing you."
He shook his head violently. "You don't understand the curse. It's in my blood. It feeds on love. On desire. The stronger it grows, the more it punishes. That's why I— That's why I never—"
His voice broke.
And suddenly, I saw the truth.
Kael had never let anyone in. Never allowed himself to love. Not because he didn't want to… but because he was terrified it would kill them.
And now here I was, forcing open every locked door inside him.
"Let me choose," I said.
But Kael stood abruptly, tearing his hands from mine.
"I can't," he whispered, stepping back. "If I stay—if I touch you again—Elowen, I won't be able to stop."
And then he turned.
And walked away.
Back into the fog.
Leaving me on my knees.
Heart screaming.
Magic still crackling in the air between us.
---
I stayed there long after he vanished. Long after the grove fell silent.
The fire in my veins still burned. The bond throbbed like a second pulse beneath my skin. Every part of me ached with the almost.
The unspoken.
I touched my lips, remembering how close he'd been.
And I knew—
This wasn't over.
He could run from me.
He could run from the curse.
But he couldn't run from what had already awakened between us.
Not anymore.
The grove felt colder without him.
Kael had vanished into the fog like a ghost, but the weight of him remained—on my skin, in my lungs, pressed into the center of my chest where the bond still throbbed like a brand.
I stood slowly, heart raw, knees aching. The silence was loud now. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig made me turn, hoping it was him.
But it never was.
I pressed my fingers to the mark on my palm.
Still warm. Still glowing faintly.
> He felt it too.
He wanted me too.
But he was afraid of himself—of the darkness inside him that he couldn't cage. And part of me… understood that.
Still, it didn't make the ache any easier.
I turned my face to the sky. The moon had emerged again, bright and full, but it no longer comforted me. It only reminded me of how close he'd been—how close we had been.
> If his lips had found mine, would the curse have taken him?
Would it have taken me?
And would I have cared?
I didn't think so.
Because in that moment—between his touch and his fear—I had felt something I hadn't in years.
Hope.
Not the delicate kind they whispered during ceremonies. No.
This was wild. Feral. Burning. The kind that tasted like forbidden things—blood and want and destiny.
And even if Kael had run, I knew this wasn't the end.
Because no matter what lived in his veins, something in his soul had answered mine. And it had spoken without words:
> You are mine.
---
I found my cloak half-buried near the base of a tree, forgotten in the magic and chaos. I wrapped it around myself as the wind picked up, carrying with it a whisper I couldn't place.
I closed my eyes and let myself remember the shape of his hand.
The way he had trembled before touching me—like my skin might burn him.
The look in his eyes when I said "Let me choose."
Gods, I had meant it.
I still did.
I would choose him again. Even if it meant ruin.
Even if it meant bleeding beside him.
Because he saw me. Not as cursed. Not as dangerous. But as something he couldn't bear to lose.
And isn't that what we all want?
To be chosen by someone who's afraid of what it might cost?
---
The forest eventually darkened. Mist crept through the roots again. Somewhere, an owl called low and long.
But I didn't move.
I stayed until my body went numb and my throat ached from swallowing tears I didn't let fall.
Then, just before I turned to leave—
> I felt it again.
A pulse in the bond.
Small.
Tentative.
Like a heartbeat trying to find rhythm through distance.
Him.
Kael.
Even now, even after he left, he was still there.
Feeling me.
Fighting it.
And failing.
My lips curled—not quite a smile, but something close. Something aching.
"You'll come back," I whispered into the dark.
Not a question.
A promise.
Because this bond?
It wasn't unspoken anymore.