Aria's POV
Ethan's blood dripped onto the stone floor.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs. The boy who'd been kind to me—who'd given me coffee and cupcakes and made me feel seen for the first time in my life—was about to die.
Because of me.
"Don't do it, Aria," Kieran said urgently. "He's a spy. He betrayed you. He led you into this trap—"
"He's also nineteen years old and terrified," I shot back. "And he's bleeding."
"He knew what he was getting into when he joined the Conclave—"
"Did he?" I looked at Ethan's pale, crying face. "Or was he just a kid who was told lies, like I was? Like everyone in this whole mess?"
Moira laughed, pressing the knife harder. "How touching. The little princess has a soft heart. Just like her mother." Her eyes gleamed with malice. "And we all know how well that worked out for her."
Rage flooded through me. Hot and bright and powerful.
My hands started glowing silver without me meaning to. Plants erupted from the cracks in the stone floor, vines reaching toward Moira like grasping fingers.
"Let him go," I said, my voice echoing with power I didn't know I had. "Now."
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Moira smirked. "Go ahead, princess. Show everyone what you're really made of. Show them you're just as violent as the rest of us."
The vines wrapped around her ankles, squeezing tighter.
But she didn't flinch. Didn't move the knife away from Ethan's throat.
"One more inch," she warned, "and this boy dies. Then his blood will be on your hands. Your first kill. How does that feel, Your Highness?"
My vines stopped moving.
Because she was right.
I'd never hurt anyone in my life. Never even wanted to. And now I was being forced to choose between becoming a killer or letting the Shadow King destroy everything.
"There's always a third option," a weak voice said.
Everyone turned.
Finn—the gentle healer from the Midnight Court—had somehow broken free from his chains. He was bleeding, barely standing, but his eyes were clear and determined.
"Don't listen to him, Aria—" Kieran started.
"The Gateway seal doesn't need royal blood," Finn interrupted. "It needs pure Luminae essence. Life magic at its strongest." He looked at me. "Which you have. But there's another way to channel it."
"What way?" I demanded.
"A blood bond. Between you and someone you trust completely. Someone who can help you anchor the magic without sacrificing your mortality."
Hope flared in my chest. "So I don't have to give up my life?"
"Not entirely. You'll still be bound to the Gateway as its Guardian. But you won't be alone. Your bonded partner will share the burden. The magic. The immortality." Finn's eyes shifted to Kieran. "The Protector bond is already halfway there. If you complete it—"
"No," Kieran said flatly. "Absolutely not."
I stared at him. "Why not?"
"Because a blood bond is permanent, Aria. Forever. You'd be tied to me for eternity. No freedom. No choice. No chance at a normal life—"
"I stopped having a chance at a normal life the second my powers awakened!" I threw my hands up in frustration. "And honestly? Maybe I don't want normal. Normal was being invisible. Being alone. Being nothing."
"You were never nothing—"
"Then why does it feel like everyone's making choices for me?" My voice broke. "My aunt poisoned me for eighteen years. The Shadow King wants to drain my blood. Moira's using Ethan to control me. And now you're deciding what I can and can't do with my own life?"
Kieran looked like I'd slapped him.
"I'm not trying to control you," he said quietly. "I'm trying to protect you."
"From what? From having someone who actually stays?" Tears were streaming down my face now. "You're the only person who's ever looked at me like I mattered, Kieran. The only one who's been searching for me. Suffering for me. And now you want to walk away?"
"I'm two hundred and forty-seven years old. I'm a killer. I'm consumed by darkness—"
"You're also the person who makes me feel safe!" I stepped closer to him. "So if there's a way we can seal the Gateway together, if there's a way I don't have to do this alone—why wouldn't we try?"
"Because you deserve better than being stuck with someone like me forever."
"Maybe I want to be stuck with you." The words came out soft but certain. "Maybe that's not a punishment. Maybe it's the first good thing that's happened to me."
Kieran stared at me like he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.
The Shadow King started laughing. "How sweet. Young love. Too bad you're all about to die."
He raised his hands, gathering dark energy for a massive attack.
"Enough talking," Moira snarled. "Make your choice, princess. The boy or the world. Now."
My mind raced.
If I sealed the Gateway alone, Ethan died.
If I gave the Shadow King my blood, everyone died.
If I did the blood bond with Kieran—
"Aria, there's something you should know," Finn said urgently. "The blood bond ritual—it only works if both people willingly accept it. And it requires—"
He never finished the sentence.
Because that's when Ethan did something I never expected.
He grabbed Moira's knife hand and yanked it away from his own throat, cutting his palm deep in the process.
"I'm sorry," he gasped, looking at me with tears streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry for everything. But I won't let them use me to hurt you anymore."
He slammed his bleeding hand onto the ritual circle.
And started chanting in the old language.
"NO!" Moira screamed. "You fool! You don't know what you're doing!"
But Ethan kept chanting. And the ritual circle blazed to life.
Not with the dark magic the Shadow King wanted.
But with something else. Something in between.
Finn's face went white. "He's trying to seal the Gateway himself. With half-blood. It won't work—it'll kill him and destabilize the Veil completely!"
The entire chamber started shaking. Cracks appeared in the walls. The Gateway—wherever it was—was being torn apart from the inside.
"Stop him!" I shouted. "Someone stop him!"
Kieran lunged forward, but shadow chains erupted from the floor and wrapped around him.
The Shadow King's doing.
"Let the boy destroy himself," Malachar laughed. "When the Veil collapses, I'll be free anyway. And all of you will die in the chaos."
Ethan's chanting got louder. More desperate. His body was starting to glow—but not with silver light like mine.
With red light. The color of blood and fire and dying things.
"Aria!" Obsidian grabbed my arm. "You have to choose! Right now! Either complete the blood bond with Kieran and seal the Gateway properly, or everyone in this room dies!"
I looked at Kieran, trapped in shadow chains.
Looked at Ethan, sacrificing himself to fix his mistakes.
Looked at the Shadow King, moments away from freedom.
"How do I do it?" I asked Finn. "The blood bond. How do I complete it?"
"A willing exchange of blood. A vow of protection. And—" Finn hesitated. "A kiss of acceptance."
My face went hot. "A what?"
"It's a bonding ritual, Aria. It requires—"
The chamber shook harder. Part of the ceiling collapsed.
"Fine!" I ran to Kieran, my hands already glowing. "Do you accept this bond? Do you accept me?"
Kieran's eyes were wide. Desperate. "Aria, you don't have to—"
"Do you accept me?" I screamed over the roar of collapsing magic.
"Yes," he breathed. "Always. Yes."
I grabbed his face and kissed him.
The moment our lips touched, everything exploded.
Silver and shadow mixed together. Light and dark becoming something new. Something balanced.
Through the bond, I felt everything Kieran felt. Eighteen years of searching. Of pain. Of loneliness. Of hope that he'd find me. Of fear that I'd reject him.
And underneath it all—love.
He loved me.
Had loved me from the moment he found me again.
The realization made my magic surge stronger.
Our combined power poured into the Gateway ritual, drowning out Ethan's failing attempt.
The red light turned silver. The shaking stopped.
And the Gateway began to seal.
But as the magic completed, I saw something that made my blood run cold.
The ritual required a sacrifice.
And Ethan—who'd started it, who'd given his blood first—was being pulled into the Gateway itself.
"No!" I reached for him.
But he was already fading. Being absorbed into the seal.
"Tell my parents I'm sorry," he whispered.
Then he was gone.
And the Gateway sealed shut with a sound like the universe sighing.
The ritual chamber went silent.
I stood there, bonded to Kieran forever, staring at the spot where Ethan had disappeared.
He'd saved us all.
And it had cost him everything.