The chill of the shadow lingered long after it disappeared.
Selene sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the place where the veil of darkness had formed. Her fingers twitched as if she could still feel its cold tendrils brushing her skin. Something had been there. Watching. Testing.
And it had recognized her.
Kieran stood by the open balcony doors, scanning the skies. His shirt was back on now, though the energy around him crackled with tension, warrior instincts on full alert.
"It didn't try to attack," she said softly.
"No," Kieran replied without turning. "It didn't need to. That was a warning. Or a greeting."
Selene's brow furrowed. "From what?"
He finally turned, eyes glowing faintly in the low light. "Whatever's bound to this mark."
She glanced down at her wrist again. The glowing sigil had dimmed, but the heat beneath her skin still burned—a reminder that the bond wasn't just emotional. It was magical. Elemental.
Fated or not, something had altered the path of their lives.
"Kieran," she said carefully, "do you think this… whatever it is… could have been created?"
He crossed the room in two strides, kneeling before her. "You're thinking of your sister's bond."
Selene nodded, her voice thick. "She was supposed to be your mate. That's what the prophecy said. The stars, the bloodlines, all of it."
His jaw clenched. "And yet I never felt anything for her. Not like I do for you."
"You didn't even mark her," she whispered. "You rejected the mate bond… and then this formed between us."
They stared at each other, the truth rising like a tide between them.
"What if this bond wasn't random?" she said, her voice barely audible. "What if it was chosen—not by fate, but by something else? Something older than prophecy?"
Kieran didn't flinch. "Then we're not just bonded lovers." He rose to his feet, gaze dark and calculating. "We're weapons."
A long silence stretched between them, broken only by the distant hum of the city's energy.
Selene stood, wrapping a shawl over her shoulders. "If this thing—whatever it is—marked us, it did it for a reason."
Kieran nodded slowly. "Then we need to find out what it wants."
She looked up at him, the unease in her gut sharpening into resolve. "Because if we don't…"
Kieran met her gaze with fire. "It'll use us to destroy everything."
And that was something neither of them could allow.
Not even for love.
Not even for obsession.