Sera's POV
Guards were dragging me through the Citadel's stone corridors when the pain hit again.
Not my pain. His pain.
The stranger I was bonded to—he was close. Very close. And he was feeling something intense. Confusion. Anger. And underneath it all, curiosity.
About me.
"Move faster," a guard barked, shoving me forward.
I stumbled, my hands still chained. Somewhere ahead, I heard Finn shouting my name. They'd separated us the moment we arrived at the Citadel.
"Where are you taking me?" I demanded.
"Investigation cells. The Reaper's orders."
The Reaper.
My blood went cold. The empire's most feared executioner wanted to question me personally. The man whose blade had touched Finn's neck. The man who'd stopped the execution.
The man I was bonded to.
Because it had to be him. I'd felt the connection the moment our eyes met in the plaza. That impossible pull, like my soul recognized his even though we'd never met.
The ritual hadn't connected me to Finn.
It had connected me to the executioner who was supposed to kill him.
The guards threw me into a cell and slammed the door. I hit the stone floor hard, my chains rattling. Through the bars, I could see another cell across the corridor.
Finn was in it.
"Sera!" He pressed against the bars, his face desperate. "Are you hurt? What did they do to you?"
"I'm fine." I crawled to my own bars so we could be closer. "Finn, I'm so sorry. I tried to save you. I tried the ritual but—"
"What ritual?" His eyes widened. "Sera, what did you do?"
Before I could answer, footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Heavy. Measured. Coming closer.
The guards straightened, their faces going pale.
"Out," a man's voice commanded. Cold. Rough from lack of use.
The guards practically ran.
A figure stepped into view, and my breath caught.
The Reaper.
He was taller than I'd realized, broad-shouldered, dressed all in black. But it was his face that froze me in place. Hard angles, pale skin, dark hair falling across his forehead. And those eyes—winter gray, like storm clouds.
Dead eyes. Empty.
Except they weren't empty right now. They were locked on me with an intensity that made my heart race.
He stopped in front of my cell, studying me like I was a puzzle he couldn't solve.
"You," he said quietly. "What did you do to us?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The lie sounded weak even to me.
His jaw tightened. He held up his left hand, showing me his palm.
The black chain mark glowed faintly in the torchlight.
Identical to mine.
"Don't lie to me," he said. "I can feel you. Your fear. Your guilt. They're inside my head like you climbed in there and made yourself at home."
I wrapped my arms around myself. "It was an accident."
"An accident." His laugh was bitter. "You accidentally performed blood magic? You accidentally bound us together?"
"I was trying to save my brother!" The words burst out of me. "The ritual was supposed to swap our fates, let me take his place at the execution. But something went wrong and it connected to you instead and—"
I stopped, my throat closing up. Saying it out loud made it real. Made it terrible.
"You tried to trade your life for his," Kael said slowly. Something flickered in those dead eyes. "And the magic found me instead."
"I'm sorry." Tears burned my eyes. "I didn't mean to trap you. I didn't mean to curse you with this bond. I just wanted to save Finn."
For a long moment, he just stared at me. Then he unlocked my cell door and stepped inside.
I scrambled backward until my back hit the wall.
"Don't," I whispered. "Please don't hurt me."
He crouched down so we were at eye level. Up close, I could see the shadows under his eyes, the exhaustion carved into his face. This man didn't sleep well. Maybe he never slept at all.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said quietly. "But we need to understand what you've done to us. This bond—" He touched his marked palm. "—it's not just emotions. When I tried to execute your brother, you bled. I felt phantom pain at my throat. What you feel, I feel. What happens to me—"
"Happens to me," I finished, showing him my own scarred palm. "I know. I read about blood-bonds in my mother's journal. They can't be broken. If one of us dies—"
"We both die."
The words hung between us like a death sentence.
"So you see my problem," Kael said. "I'm an executioner. Death is my job. Every day, I'm one mistake away from getting killed by a prisoner, a guard, an assassin. And now if I die—"
"I die too." My voice came out as a whisper.
"And if you die," he continued, "maybe from that execution your uncle has planned for you, then I die. A stranger dies because of your family problems."
The words stung because they were true.
"I'll fix this," I said desperately. "I'll find a way to break the bond. My mother's journal has to have answers. Just give me time to—"
"Time?" His laugh was sharp. "Your brother's execution was supposed to be today. I stopped it, but that won't hold forever. The Emperor will demand an explanation. When he finds out about our bond, about the blood magic you used—" He stood abruptly. "They'll execute both of you. And me along with you."
"Then help me!" I grabbed the bars between us. "Help me find a way to break this bond. Save yourself and save us."
He looked at me for a long moment. "Why would I help you? You're the one who cursed me."
"Because you felt it too." The words came out before I could stop them. "When our eyes met in the plaza. You felt the connection. The pull. Like you knew me even though we'd never met."
His expression didn't change, but through the bond, I felt his reaction. Recognition. Understanding.
Fear.
"That doesn't mean anything," he said coldly.
"It means we're stuck together whether we like it or not. So we can either work together to fix this, or we can both die when the Emperor finds out."
Kael was silent, his gray eyes searching my face. Then he pulled something from his pocket—a key.
He unlocked my chains.
"What are you doing?" I rubbed my sore wrists.
"Getting your brother released into protective custody. Buying us time." He turned toward the door. "And you're staying here. In the Citadel. Close to me."
"What? No! I can't—"
"You can and you will." He looked back at me. "We can't be far apart. The bond pulls us together. If you try to run, you'll be in agony within a mile. And so will I."
He was right. I could already feel the pull—that constant awareness of where he was, how he was feeling.
We were trapped together.
"How long?" I asked. "How long do I have to stay here?"
"Until we figure out how to break this bond. Or until it kills us both." He started walking away. "Someone will bring you food and clean clothes. Don't try to escape. It won't work."
"Wait!" I called after him. "What's your name? I can't keep calling you The Reaper in my head."
He paused at the corridor's entrance, his back to me.
"Kael," he said quietly. "My name is Kael Vireth."
Then he was gone, leaving me alone in the cell with his name echoing in my mind and his emotions bleeding through the bond.
Guilt. So much guilt it nearly crushed me.
This man had been killing people for years, and he remembered every single one. I could feel the weight of his dead pressing down on him like a physical thing.
The Reaper wasn't a monster.
He was a man drowning in ghosts.
And now I was drowning with him.
I looked at the chain mark on my palm, glowing softly in the darkness.
Somewhere in this massive fortress, Kael was doing the same thing. Looking at his mark. Feeling my presence in his mind.
Two strangers bound by blood magic neither of us wanted.
Two people whose lives were now hopelessly tangled together.
And the worst part?
I could feel through the bond that he was already planning something. Something dangerous.
Something that might save us—or destroy us both.