ELARA'S POV
The sword was made of fire and light, and it was pointed at my heart.
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The woman—Aurelia—stood between me and the shattered window, beautiful and terrible like a nightmare carved from starlight.
"Move away from the girl, Kaelen," Aurelia said, her voice cold as winter. "This doesn't concern you anymore. I'm only here to execute the summoner and take you back to your prison."
"Over my dead body," Kaelen growled.
Aurelia smiled. "That can be arranged."
She moved faster than my eyes could track. One second she stood by the window, the next her burning sword slashed toward my throat.
I screamed.
Kaelen appeared in front of me, his own shadows forming a blade that met hers with a sound like thunder. The impact threw me backward. I hit the wall hard, stars exploding across my vision.
Through the soul bond, I felt Kaelen's pain. The curse weakening him. Every movement costing him strength he didn't have.
He was dying, and he was fighting anyway. For me.
"Run!" he shouted without looking back. "Now!"
But my legs wouldn't work. I was frozen, watching him battle this angel-warrior with nothing but shadows and sheer will.
Aurelia's blade cut through his defenses, slicing across his chest. Dark blood sprayed. Kaelen staggered but didn't fall.
"You're weak," Aurelia said, circling him like a predator. "The curse has eaten you from inside. You can barely stand. Just surrender, Kaelen. Let me end this quickly."
"Never." He spat blood. "You murdered her. Selene. You led the attack that killed her."
"She was corrupted by shadow," Aurelia said simply. "I saved her soul from your darkness."
"You killed her because you loved her!" Kaelen's voice cracked with rage. "Because she chose me instead of your holy crusade!"
Aurelia's perfect face twisted. "She made the wrong choice. I tried to save her. She refused." Her eyes found me, and something dark flickered in them. "Just like this one will refuse. They always do. Shadow corrupts everything it touches."
"Then why hesitate?" Kaelen challenged. "If you truly believe that, kill her now."
Aurelia raised her sword.
I closed my eyes, waiting for death.
It didn't come.
When I opened my eyes, Aurelia stood frozen, staring at me with an expression I couldn't read. Horror? Recognition? Something else?
"Impossible," she whispered. "Your eyes. You have Selene's eyes."
The soul mark on my chest burned suddenly, so hot I cried out. Through the bond, I felt Kaelen's shock.
"She's not just shadow-bonded," Aurelia said slowly, her sword lowering slightly. "She's the reincarnation. Selene's soul returned."
"Yes," Kaelen said. "And you can't kill her without breaking laws even the Seraphim respect. The soul tether is sacred magic. Recognized by every realm. Killing a tethered soul is—"
"Murder of the highest order," Aurelia finished. Her hand trembled on her sword. "Punishable by eternal void imprisonment."
Hope flickered in my chest. Maybe she'd let us go. Maybe—
"But that only applies if the bond is complete," Aurelia said. "And yours isn't. I can feel it. Barely formed. Still fragile." She looked at Kaelen. "She hasn't accepted you fully yet. Which means killing her now would only be regular execution of a criminal summoner."
My hope died.
"You have one chance," Aurelia said to me. "Renounce him. Break the forming bond before it solidifies. I'll spare your life and return you to your normal existence. Powerless, but alive."
"She can't break it," Kaelen said. "It's already too far along."
"Actually," Aurelia smiled coldly, "she can. The bond isn't complete. It requires willing acceptance from both souls. If she refuses to proceed with the bonding ritual, the tether will weaken over time. Eventually, it will fade. You'll die from the curse, and she'll be free."
She turned to me. "Choose, girl. Die now by my blade, or let him die slowly and live your ordinary human life."
I looked at Kaelen. Blood dripped from his wounds. His wings trembled with exhaustion. The curse was eating him alive, and he was still standing between me and death.
For six months, I'd been invisible. Powerless. Used and discarded.
For the first time in my life, I'd felt real power. And someone—even if it was a terrifying Shadow King—was fighting to protect me.
"I—" I started.
The archive doors exploded inward for the second time that night.
But this time, it wasn't Marcus.
Dozens of mages poured through, led by a woman in dark robes. Beautiful, elegant, with silver hair and eyes like black ice. Power radiated from her in waves that made my new shadow-sense scream warnings.
"Well, well," the woman said, her voice smooth as silk. "An archangel, a dying Shadow King, and the girl who just became the most valuable commodity in Lunaris. What a delightful surprise."
Kaelen cursed in a language I didn't understand.
"Ravenna Nightshade," Aurelia said, her sword shifting to point at the newcomers. "This is Seraphim business. Leave now or face judgment."
Ravenna laughed. "I don't take orders from feather-dusters." She gestured to her mages. "Capture the girl. Kill anyone who tries to stop you."
The mages raised their hands, magic crackling between their fingers.
Aurelia's sword blazed brighter. "The girl is under Seraphim jurisdiction. Stand down or—"
"Or what?" Ravenna's smile was deadly. "You'll fight me and my entire guild while protecting two criminals? You're outnumbered, angel. And you know it."
The two forces faced each other. Aurelia's Radiant Guard materialized through the windows, surrounding us in white armor and holy fire. Ravenna's mages spread out, dark magic swirling.
I was trapped in the middle of a war I didn't understand.
Kaelen grabbed my hand. Through the touch, through the bond, I felt his desperation.
"When I say run," he whispered, "you run. Don't look back. Don't stop."
"I can't just leave you—"
"You can and you will. I didn't survive six hundred years of torture to die protecting an ungrateful scholar who won't even—"
Pain exploded through the bond. So intense I screamed.
Kaelen collapsed to his knees, clutching his chest. The curse. It was flaring, triggered by the stress and combat.
He was dying. Right now. In front of me.
"Kaelen!" I dropped beside him, my hands hovering uselessly. "What do I do? How do I help?"
He looked up at me, amber eyes dimming. "The bond. Complete it. It's the only way to break the curse. But you have to... choose it... willingly."
"I don't know how!"
"Yes, you do." He pressed my hand against the mark on his chest. "Just... accept me. All of me. The monster. The killer. The broken thing that wants revenge. Accept it and... claim me."
Heat built under my palm. The mark glowed brighter.
Around us, Ravenna and Aurelia's forces began attacking each other. Magic flew. Steel clashed. The archive burned.
"Decide, little forsaken one," Kaelen gasped. "Live as nothing, or become everything. But decide now."
The mark on my chest blazed like a star about to explode.
I felt it. The choice. The bond waiting for my answer. Accept him and gain power beyond imagination—but lose any chance of a normal life. Reject him and watch him die—then probably die myself.
My hand trembled on his chest.
"I—"
The floor beneath us shattered.
We fell through darkness, through stone and earth, plummeting into depths that shouldn't exist beneath the archive.
Kaelen's arms wrapped around me as we fell.
And the last thing I saw before the shadows swallowed us completely was Ravenna's face above, smiling as she whispered something that sounded like a spell.
Then everything went black.
When I woke, we wer
e somewhere else entirely.
Somewhere cold. Dark.
And absolutely terrifying.