Elara's POV
We fall through darkness for what feels like forever.
I scream, arms flailing, waiting to hit bottom and die. But Kaelen's shadows catch us, cushioning our landing in the Chamber of Souls.
We hit the ground hard but alive. I groan, rolling onto my back.
What is this place? My voice echoes in the vast space.
Kaelen stands slowly, his face grim. Somewhere we should never have fallen. The chamber where the light priestesses performed the curse ritual five hundred years ago.
I sit up and gasp.
The chamber is massive, carved from black stone. Ancient symbols cover every surface the same symbols now marked on our arms. In the center stands an altar stained with old blood.
And surrounding us, floating in the air like trapped fireflies, are thousands of glowing souls.
Are those...?
The priestesses who sacrificed themselves to create the curse. Kaelen's voice is hollow. They're trapped here, bound to the magic they created. Forever watching. Forever judging.
One soul drifts closer, taking the shape of a woman. She looks at me with eyes full of recognition.
The last daughter, she whispers. You've finally come.
Stay back! Kaelen steps between us, protective despite his earlier coldness.
The soul laughs softly. We cannot harm her, Dark King. She is our legacy. Our final hope.
Or our final vengeance, another soul adds darkly.
Before I can ask what they mean, the chamber begins collapsing. Stone falls from the ceiling, and Kaelen grabs my hand.
Run!
We race through crumbling passages, souls screaming behind us, until Kaelen's shadows lift us back up to the citadel proper.
We collapse in the training grounds an open courtyard I've never seen before.
Kaelen turns to me, breathing hard, his silver eyes blazing.
That's it. No more waiting. No more avoiding. If you're going to survive this course, you need to learn to control your power. Now.
Kaelen's POV
The training begins at dawn the next day.
I push Elara hard harder than I've pushed anyone. She needs to master her light magic before it consumes her from the inside. Or before the curse finds a way to use it against her.
Again! I command as her light flickers and dies. Call it forth. Control it.
I'm trying! Elara gasps, sweat dripping down her face. We've been at this for hours.
Try harder. Uncontrolled magic will burn you alive from the inside out.
She glares at me, exhausted and furious. Maybe if you actually taught me instead of just yelling, I'd learn faster!
I am teaching you.
No, you're punishing me because you're scared!
The words hit too close to truth. I am scared. Terrified that she'll lose control, that the power will overwhelm her, that I'll watch her die like everyone else.
But I can't admit that.
Again, I say coldly.
Elara's hands shake as she calls her light. This time, it blazes brighter, almost too bright. I step forward instinctively, ready to contain it if it goes wild.
Her legs give out from exhaustion.
I catch her before she hits the ground, my arms wrapping around her automatically.
The moment we touch, the binding marks glow warm on our skin. The light she was struggling to control stabilizes instantly, flowing smoothly instead of erratically.
We freeze, both feeling it.
Our magic works better together.
Elara looks up at me, and we're too close. I can see gold flecks in her eyes I never noticed before.
I release her quickly and step back. That's enough for today.
Kaelen
I said enough. I turn away before she can see how much that moment affected me.
Elara's POV
The training continues for days. Brutal, exhausting, relentless.
But small moments happen that crack Kaelen's cold exterior.
When I trip over my own feet, he catches me. When I make sarcastic comments about his teaching methods, his lips twitch like he's fighting a smile. When our hands accidentally touch, the binding marks glow and we both feel the connection deepen.
He's trying so hard to stay distant. But I feel his emotions through the bond worry, fear, and something else he won't name.
Between training sessions, Seris teaches me history in the library.
Your ancestors were powerful, the old scholar explains, showing me ancient texts. The light priestesses wielded magic that could heal or destroy. Five hundred years ago, when dark entities invaded this realm, they made a desperate choice.
They created Kaelen's curse.
They created a weapon. Kaelen was a mortal prince, a brilliant warrior. The priestesses asked him to accept a curse that would make him immortal and powerful enough to destroy the darkness. But curses always demand a price.
Everyone he loved died.
Everyone, Seris confirms sadly. The curse consumed his entire kingdom. His family. His friends. Everything. And the priestesses who created it sacrificed themselves to fuel the magic, trapping their souls in the Chamber of Souls forever.
Why didn't they tell him the full price?
They did. He accepted it anyway to save his people. Seris looks at me intently. That's who Kaelen really is, Elara. A man who would sacrifice everything for those he loves. Even his own humanity.
The words stay with me.
Day Six of Training
I'm stronger now. My light responds faster, burns brighter. I can create shields, blast targets, even heal small wounds.
But Kaelen pushes harder.
You're holding back, he says during a particularly intense session.
I'm exhausted!
The curse won't care if you're tired when it attacks! He creates shadow warriors figures made of darkness that charge at me. Defend yourself!
I blast them with light, destroying them one by one. But they keep coming, and Kaelen makes them faster, stronger.
Stop! I scream when I can't keep up.
The curse won't stop!
I hate you! The words burst out.
For a split second, pain flashes in Kaelen's eyes. Then his mask returns.
Good. Hate keeps you alive.
But through the bond, I feel his real emotions. He's not angry. He's terrified he'll lose me.
Finally, I collapse. Why do you push so hard? What are you so afraid of?
Kaelen dismisses the shadow warriors and walks to where I'm sitting on the ground. For a long moment, he just looks at me.
Then he crouches down to my level, and his walls drop.
Because you're the first person in five hundred years I want to save, he says quietly, raw honesty in every word. And I don't know how.
My breath catches. Through the bond, I feel his desperation, his hope, his fear of losing me.
Then stop treating me like I'm already dead, I whisper. Help me fight to live.
Something shifts in his expression. He reaches out slowly and takes my hand.
The binding marks glow brighter than ever, and power flows between us not just magic, but understanding.
Tomorrow, he says, we try something different. We train together instead of you training alone.
Together?
Our magic is stronger when combined. It's time we stopped fighting that and started using it.
I smile, exhausted but hopeful. Finally. A real plan.
Kaelen almost smiles back. Almost.
That Night
I'm reading in my tower room when a shadow moves wrong.
Not Kaelen's shadows. Something else.
A figure materializes from the darkness a woman in ancient robes, glowing with the same light as the trapped souls in the Chamber.
Elara Thorne, she says in a voice like wind through bones. Last daughter of the light priestesses. Your time approaches.
Who are you?
I am Lyanna, High Priestess of the order that cursed the Dark King. I led the ritual that bound him. Her ghostly face is sad. And I must warn you the prophecy is not what you think. There is a third option. But it requires the ultimate sacrifice.
What sacrifice?
Your soul for his freedom. If you willingly give yourself to the curse, accepting its full power, you can break it. Kaelen will live. He'll be free. But you will take his place trapped for eternity as the new guardian of the boundary between light and dark.
My blood runs cold. Another curse. Just transferred to me.
Yes. But Kaelen would be free. After five hundred years, he could finally rest.
Does he know about this option?
No. And you must not tell him. Lyanna's eyes bore into mine. If he knows, he'll never let you sacrifice yourself. He'll choose to die himself rather than watch you suffer. The choice must be yours alone.
Why are you telling me this?
Because the time is coming when you must choose: break the curse and trap yourself, complete it and kill you both, or find another way that may not exist. She starts fading. Choose wisely, last daughter. Choose with love, not fear.
She vanishes, leaving me alone with a terrible secret.
Three options now, not two.
And if I choose to save Kaelen, I doom myself to the same hell he's endured.
Forever.