The square was screaming.
Elowen hit the ground hard, her knees buckling as the world pitched violently to one side. Stone cracked beneath her palms. Magic tore through her body like a living thing, clawing its way through veins that had never held power before.
People scattered. Guards shouted. The gallows groaned as the runes carved into its beams shattered one by one, bursting apart in sparks of white light.
She could not breathe.
Pain coiled tight in her chest, sharp enough to make her cry out. Every heartbeat dragged fire through her ribs. She tasted blood and ash and something metallic that did not belong in her mouth.
"Elowen."
Her name cut through the chaos like a blade.
She lifted her head.
Kael Morren was no longer kneeling.
The chains around his wrists glowed red-hot, the iron warping, screaming as it bent outward. His face was pale beneath the bruises, his eyes fixed on her with terrifying intensity.
"You did this," he said.
It was not an accusation.
It was recognition.
A surge of fear clawed up her throat. "I did not," she gasped, though even as she said it, the magic inside her flared again, violent and untrained.
The ground split wider.
A wave of force exploded outward from the center of the square, hurling guards through the air like broken dolls. Stone shattered. Wood splintered. The crowd dissolved into pure panic.
Kael broke free.
The last of the chains snapped apart as fire roared up his arms, wild and furious. He staggered once, then steadied, flames licking at his skin without leaving a mark.
For a heartbeat, he only stared at Elowen.
Then he moved.
He crossed the space between them with terrifying speed, grabbing her wrist and yanking her upright. His grip was iron, burning hot even through her sleeve.
"We are leaving," he said.
She barely had time to shake her head before he pulled her after him.
"No," she choked. "You cannot just take me."
Kael laughed, harsh and breathless. "I already did."
They ran.
The square dissolved behind them into noise and fire as they tore through narrow alleys, Kael leading without hesitation. Elowen struggled to keep her footing, her legs shaking violently beneath her. Every step sent pain lancing through her body, magic misfiring like shattered glass inside her veins.
"You need to stop," she gasped.
He did not slow.
"You are killing me," she said, desperation creeping into her voice.
Kael skidded to a halt so suddenly she slammed into his chest.
For a moment, they were pressed together, breath mingling, heat radiating off his skin. His hands tightened around her arms, not gently.
"You think I do not know that?" he snapped. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"
"I did not ask for this," she shot back, anger burning through the fear. "I did not even know magic could do that."
His eyes darkened.
"That," he said slowly, "is the problem."
Shouts echoed from behind them. Torches flared at the mouth of the alley.
Kael cursed under his breath and dragged her forward again, ducking through a half-collapsed doorway and down a flight of stone steps hidden beneath loose debris. Darkness swallowed them as he slammed the door shut behind them.
Silence rushed in, broken only by their breathing.
Elowen sagged against the wall, her legs finally giving out. She slid down the cold stone, clutching her chest as the pain flared again, brighter and sharper.
Kael turned on her.
"What are you," he demanded.
She laughed weakly, hysteria threading through the sound. "If I knew, do you think I would be sitting here?"
The magic surged again, reacting violently to his proximity. Elowen cried out, fingers digging into her skin as heat burned through her sternum.
Kael stiffened.
He felt it too.
The air between them tightened, humming with something dangerous and intimate. His jaw clenched as he took an involuntary step closer.
"Do not move," he said.
"I am not," she hissed.
"You are calling it," he said, voice low and strained. "Whatever this is. It responds to you."
"I cannot control it."
His mouth twisted. "Neither can I."
That admission hung between them, heavy and loaded.
Slowly, cautiously, Kael knelt in front of her. The movement seemed to cost him something. His hands hovered near her ribs, not touching.
"Where does it hurt," he asked, quieter now.
She swallowed. "Everywhere."
A muscle jumped in his jaw.
"This bond," he said, choosing the word carefully, "it was not meant to awaken like this. It was supposed to be dormant until blood was spilled willingly."
Her stomach dropped. "Blood was spilled."
His gaze flicked to the dried blood at her mouth.
"Not enough," he said.
The implication settled between them, sharp and unsettling.
Before she could respond, boots thundered above them.
Kael moved instantly.
He grabbed her again, hauling her against him as he pressed a hand to the stone wall. Fire surged outward, not bright this time but dark and consuming. The stone melted inward, opening a narrow passage that swallowed them whole.
They fell through together.
Elowen hit the ground hard, Kael landing over her, his body shielding hers by instinct. For a breathless moment, they lay tangled together in the dark, his weight pinning her down, his heat overwhelming.
Her pulse went wild.
So did the magic.
It surged violently between them, sparked by proximity, by contact, by something dangerously close to desire. Kael froze, his breath stuttering.
"Get off me," she whispered.
He did not move.
His eyes searched her face, pupils blown wide. His hand slid slightly against her waist, fingers flexing as if fighting an urge.
"If I let go," he said roughly, "this thing between us might tear the tunnel apart."
Her breath caught.
"And if you do not?"
His voice dropped, thick with something she did not want to name.
"Then we survive."
The silence stretched, taut and intimate.
Outside, the kingdom hunted them.
Inside the darkness, something ancient and terrible had chosen them both.
And neither of them knew how to stop it.