Pain had stopped being something Aelin feared.
It was something she wore.
The underground chamber pulsed with dark light as the mark on her wrist burned, veins of shadow spreading like a living map beneath her skin. Her scream echoed against stone walls carved with ancient sigils, her body jerking as power was dragged out of her slowly, deliberately.
Mark stood a few steps away, hands clasped behind his back.
"Again," he said calmly.
Aelin collapsed to her knees, breath ragged, fingers clawing at the floor. Blood dripped from her chin, splattering against the stone. Her vision blurred, but the fire in her wrist only intensified.
"I've given you enough," she whispered hoarsely.
Mark crouched before her, his presence suffocating. He tilted her face up, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"No," he said softly. "You've given me restraint. And restraint is useless."
The sigils flared.
Pain ripped through her again, sharper this time, reaching deeper into something ancient, something she had spent her life burying. Shadows erupted from her back like torn wings, slamming into the walls. The chamber shook.
Mark laughed under his breath.
"There," he murmured. "That reaction. That pull. You feel it, don't you?"
Her chest tightened.
Kael.
His name didn't need to be spoken. It burned through her mind, vivid and unbearable his bloodied face, his unbroken stare, the promise in his voice.
I will find you.
The mark flared violently.
Mark straightened, eyes gleaming. "There it is. Your weakness."
"No," Aelin snarled, forcing herself to stand despite the pain tearing through her limbs. "He's my anchor."
Mark's smile faded, just slightly.
"We'll see how long anchors hold in storms."
Kael's world was iron and blood.
Chains bit into his wrists as he hung suspended in the council's dungeon, every breath scraping raw through his chest. His body screamed for rest, but his mind refused to surrender.
A guard passed by earlier.
Thirteen hours.
That was all he'd said.
Thirteen hours until dawn. Until the platform. Until death.
Kael lifted his head slowly, pain flaring behind his eyes. They wanted her to feel it. They wanted her to come for him.
And that terrified them more than it terrified him.
The cell door creaked open.
Lira slipped inside like a shadow, her expression tight.
"They moved it forward," she whispered. "Execution at first light."
Kael exhaled slowly. "Because of Mark."
She nodded. "The council thinks killing you will draw her out."
A humorless smile tugged at his lips. "Then they've already lost."
Lira worked quickly at the lock. It clicked.
Hope flared
Then alarms screamed.
Red light flooded the corridor. Magic crackled. Footsteps thundered.
"Run," Kael barked.
Too late.
Guards poured in. Kael ripped free, fighting on instinct alone. A blade sank into his side. He barely felt it. He fought until his knees buckled, blood soaking the stone beneath him.
A voice cut through the chaos.
"That's enough."
The guards froze.
A councilman stepped forward, robes pristine, eyes cold.
"Return him to his cell," the man ordered. "Alive."
Kael met his gaze, bloodied and smiling.
"You're afraid," Kael rasped. "Good."
The man didn't reply.
The moment the order was given, Aelin felt it.
The mark ignited like fire pressed to fresh flesh. She screamed, collapsing as raw power tore free from her core, uncontrollable now.
Mark staggered back, barely raising his shields as the chamber cracked, stone splitting under the pressure.
"Yes," he breathed. "That's it."
Aelin rose slowly, her movements unnaturally calm.
Her eyes were no longer human.
"What did you do?" she asked quietly.
Mark smiled. "Confirmed your future."
Shadows screamed outward, ripping through the sigils, shattering restraints. Aelin stood at the center of the destruction, bloodied, shaking but unbroken.
"You trained me to endure," she said, her voice layered with something ancient. "Now you'll see what survives."
Mark's smile widened.
"The bond has awakened," he said. "The mark isn't just a curse, Aelin. It's a beacon."
Her chest tightened.
Kael.
"If he dies," she whispered, shadows rising like a storm around her, "there will be nothing left to stop me."
Mark's eyes gleamed with triumph.
"That," he said softly, "is exactly what I've been waiting for."
And as dawn crept closer, fate tightened its grip.