Kieran's POV
Aldric's voice echoes across the wasteland, and through the bond, I feel Celeste's heart skip a beat. Terror floods through her—and into me.
We have to run, I tell her urgently.
I can't, she thinks back, her mental voice shaking. My legs won't move.
She's frozen. Literally paralyzed by fear and exhaustion. Her body is shutting down.
The hunters are getting closer. I can sense their electrical signatures—eight people, all armed with magic. And Aldric's heartbeat burns brightest, pulsing with power that makes my lightning crackle in response.
Celeste, I say more gently. I need you to trust me.
No.
They will capture us both. They'll put me back in the storms. They'll kill you slowly.
Through the bond, I feel her weighing the options. Every instinct screams at her not to let me control her body. But survival instincts scream louder.
Just... don't hurt me, she finally thinks.
Never.
I take control.
It's strange, puppeting someone else's body. Her limbs feel different from mine—smaller, lighter, but also weaker. Her broken ribs send pain shooting through our shared chest with every breath.
But her body has something mine never did—my power flowing through it.
I make her run.
We move faster than any human should, lightning crackling under her feet with each step. The ash explodes behind us in small bursts as electricity arcs from her heels.
This feels wrong! Celeste screams in my mind.
Would you rather be captured?
Behind us, I hear Aldric shout orders. "There! Moving fast toward the eastern ridge! Cut them off!"
I push her body harder, weaving between broken spires and collapsed buildings. The Cinderfalls is a maze of ruins, and I use every twist and turn to lose them.
But they're gaining ground.
They have tracking spells, Celeste realizes through our connection. They can follow our magical signature.
She's right. I can feel the hunting magic locking onto us—specifically onto the bond connecting our souls. We're like a beacon in the darkness.
Then we give them something else to track, I say.
I release a massive burst of lightning into the sky. It splits into a dozen different directions, each bolt carrying a fragment of our magical signature.
The hunters hesitate, confused by the sudden multiplication of targets.
We use those precious seconds to dive into an abandoned building. I finally release control of Celeste's body, and she immediately collapses against a crumbling wall, gasping for air.
"Don't... ever... do that again," she pants out loud.
"You're welcome for saving our lives," I shoot back, manifesting beside her.
Through the bond, I feel her anger warring with grudging gratitude. She hates that I controlled her. But she knows I'm right—we'd be captured or dead without it.
Outside, we hear the hunters spreading out, chasing the false lightning trails.
"This way!" someone shouts. "I've got a signal!"
"No, over here! There's another one!"
Celeste looks at me with wide eyes. "How long before they figure out the trick?"
"Not long enough." I listen to their heartbeats through the electrical currents in the air. "They'll regroup soon and do a systematic search. We need to keep moving."
"I can barely walk."
"Then let me—"
"NO." Her voice is firm despite her exhaustion. "My body. My choice. I'll walk on my own."
Stubborn girl. But through the bond, I feel why she's fighting so hard for this. It's not just about control—it's about dignity. Everything else has been stripped from her. This is all she has left.
"Fine," I say. "But if you collapse, I'm taking over."
"If I collapse, we're both dead anyway."
She has a point.
We move through the ruins slowly, carefully. Every shadow could hide a hunter. Every sound could be a trap. Celeste's breathing is ragged, and through the bond, I feel her pain intensifying with each step.
You need medical attention, I tell her.
Not until we're safe.
You might not make it that far.
Then I'll die free. Better than being captured.
Her determination is fierce, burning through the bond like fire. Despite everything—betrayal, torture, powerlessness—she refuses to give up.
You remind me of my sister, I think before I can stop myself.
Through the bond, Celeste catches the thought and the memory attached to it. Elena, laughing as she practiced lightning-calling in the palace gardens. Elena, standing up to our father when he wanted to execute a thief. Elena, dying with a sword through her chest, her last words: "Don't let them win."
I'm sorry, Celeste thinks softly. I'm sorry they took her from you.
Her sympathy wraps around my thoughts like a gentle hand, and something in my chest—or what would be my chest if I were fully solid—aches in a way that has nothing to do with physical pain.
I've felt nothing but agony for a thousand years. But this? This small moment of understanding? It's the first thing that's felt almost... good.
We're nearly to the edge of the ruins when Celeste suddenly freezes.
"What—" I start to ask.
Heartbeat, she interrupts, catching my thought before I finish. There's someone ahead. Hiding.
She's right. Through our connection, I sense it too—a single person concealed behind a collapsed wall, their heartbeat deliberately slowed to avoid detection.
An ambush.
Back up slowly, I instruct.
But before we can move, a figure steps out from the shadows.
It's not a hunter.
It's a girl—maybe sixteen years old, with wild silver hair and eyes that glow faintly in the darkness. She's wearing rags, but there's something otherworldly about her. Something ancient.
"Hello, Lightning Prince," she says, her voice like wind chimes. "I've been waiting for you."
Celeste tenses. "Who are you?"
The girl smiles. "My name is Lyric. I'm a Memory Keeper. And I'm here to tell you that your bond isn't an accident."
"What do you mean?" I demand.
"The seal that trapped you wasn't designed to be broken by just anyone." Lyric's glowing eyes focus on Celeste. "It required specific blood. Lightning-Blessed blood mixed with Storm-Caller magic. Your blood, Celeste Thorne."
Through the bond, I feel Celeste's confusion. "But I'm just a Storm-Caller. I don't have Lightning-Blessed—"
"Your great-great-grandmother was Elena Stormborne's daughter," Lyric interrupts. "She survived the massacre by hiding her abilities. Your family has carried Lightning-Blessed blood for generations. Diluted, yes. Hidden, yes. But there."
I stare at Celeste with new understanding. That's why the seal recognized her. Why her blood could break it. Why our souls could bond.
She's my descendant.
"That's impossible," Celeste whispers.
"Nothing about you two is possible," Lyric says cheerfully. "Yet here you are. Two souls, one heartbeat. It's beautiful, really. And absolutely doomed."
"Doomed?" I echo.
Lyric's smile fades. "Souls aren't meant to share space. Eventually, one will consume the other. You have maybe six months before one of you ceases to exist."
The words hit like lightning.
Through the bond, Celeste and I share one horrified thought: We're going to kill each other.
"But that's not your immediate problem," Lyric continues, glancing over her shoulder. "Your immediate problem is the army surrounding this building right now."
"What?" Celeste gasps.
Suddenly, the ruins explode with light. Dozens of hunter-mages appear from nowhere, all converging on our position. And in the center, Prince Aldric stands with a cruel smile on his perfect face.
"Found you," he says.
Magical chains shoot toward us from every direction. I try to manifest fully to fight back, but I'm still too weak. The chains wrap around Celeste's wrists and ankles, glowing with binding runes specifically designed to seal Lightning-Blessed power.
Through the bond, I feel the magic cutting through our connection. Separating us. Tearing my soul away from her heartbeat.
NO! I scream mentally.
Kieran! Celeste's voice is pure panic.
The separation feels like being ripped in half. I can feel myself starting to fragment again, my soul breaking apart without her heartbeat to anchor it.
But just before we're completely torn apart, Lyric touches Celeste's forehead.
"The exile camp," she whispers urgently. "Riven Ashmark. He can help. Find him. Trust him."
Then she's gone, vanishing like smoke.
Aldric steps closer to Celeste, his eyes gleaming with triumph. "Did you really think you could hide from me? You're mine, Celeste. You've always been mine. And this time, I'm never letting you go."
Through our fragmenting bond, I feel Celeste's absolute terror.
And I feel my own soul shattering, breaking apart into lightning once more.
Celeste, I manage to think through the pain. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect—
The bond snaps completely.
And I'm falling, fragmenting, screaming silently as consciousness scatters across a thousand different directions.
The last thing I feel through our connection is Celeste's heartbeat—and then nothing.