May didn't sleep.
She tried—God knows she tried—but every time she shut her eyes, flashes of the night returned:
Nathel's face inches from hers.
His breath trembling.
His control slipping.
Her name on his lips like a prayer he wanted to swallow and a curse he wanted to forget.
Now morning light leaks weakly through her curtains, but her chest feels darker than last night.
She sits on the edge of her bed, fingers tangled in her blanket, replaying every second.
He came to me.
He almost… confessed something.
And then he just walked away.
A quiet ache twists beneath her ribs.
It's not the soul-bond hum.
It's the human one.
Down the street, in his apartment, Nathel stands under a cold shower, water hitting him so hard his skin stings.
But it's nothing compared to the pain in him.
Why did I go to her?
Why did the bond pull me that strongly?
And why… why did it feel like dying to leave?
He shuts off the water, breath trembling. The mirror fogs, blurs—and a second reflection appears behind him.
Not human.
Eyes like black fire.
"You're slipping," the shadow murmurs. "She weakens you."
Nathel closes his eyes.
"I warned you," the shadow whispers. "Break the bond… or it will break you."
He meets its gaze through the mirror.
"I can't," he says quietly.
The shadow smiles—slow, cruel.
"Then you will lose everything."
At May's house
She's stirring tea she hasn't tasted when a vibration stings her palm.
Her phone.
Her heart jerks.
A message.
One name.
Nathel.
Her fingers shake as she taps it open.
Nathel:We need to talk. Now.
Her breath catches.
She replies with trembling thumbs.
May:Come.
But before she can blink—
A rap sounds at her door.
Her heart almost stops.
She opens it—
And there he is.
Eyes guarded. Jaw tight. Energy crackling around him like a storm barely contained.
"May," he says, voice low. "Something's happening. With the bond. With us. With… everything."
She steps back to let him in, but his hand shoots out, gently catching her wrist.
"Wait."
His voice cracks.
She freezes.
His eyes search hers, raw and unshielded.
"The bond surged last night," he whispers. "It's getting stronger. Too strong. I can feel every emotion you try to hide. Every fear. Every—"
He shuts his eyes.
"Every feeling you still have for me."
Her breath leaves her in one painful exhale.
The air between them tightens.
Dangerously.
Beautifully.
Inevitably.
"Nathel…" she whispers.
He shakes his head.
"You don't understand," he says. "The stronger it gets, the easier it is for him to track us."
Her blood chills.
"Him?"
Nathel swallows hard.
"The one who broke the bond before," he murmurs. "The one who drove us apart. The one who erased everything we once were."
Her lips part.
"You mean… the villain? The shadow I keep seeing?"
His eyes flick to hers sharply.
"You've seen him?"
Her voice trembles.
"Twice."
Nathel's body goes rigid.
"May," he says, stepping closer, voice tight with dread, "if he's already watching you… then we're running out of time."
She barely breathes.
"What does he want?"
Nathel meets her eyes… and the truth there terrifies her more than any shadow.
"You," he whispers.
"He wants you.
And he wants the bond broken—permanently."
She goes cold.
"But why me?"
Nathel's throat works.
His voice drops—soft, broken, confessional.
"Because you're the only thing in this world capable of ruining him."
Silence swallows the room whole.
Then—
A sound.
Low. Wrong. Echoing through the walls like a breath pressed against the house.
Nathel spins.
"May—get behind me."
The lights flicker.
The bond pulses—
once, violently—
And the air tears open with a whisper:
"Found you."
May's heart plummets.
Nathel's power explodes.
And Chapter Twenty-One ends on the edge of everything breaking.