Ember's POV
"This is insane," Dante says, leading me through the shadow tunnels beneath the castle. "You just got thrown out a window and now you want to break into the most heavily guarded prison in the Dark Realm?"
"Yes." I follow him through the darkness, my fire magic lighting the way. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"Several, actually." Dante glances back at me. He's tall and lean, with silver hair and eyes that see too much. "Starting with the fact that Kaelan will kill me if I let you get hurt."
"Kaelan is currently possessed and trying to kill me himself. I think we're past worrying about his feelings."
Dante almost smiles. "Fair point." He stops at a junction where three tunnels meet. "The dungeons are through there. But Ember, you need to understand—they WANT you to try this. It's a trap."
"I know it's a trap." I summon fire in both palms. "That's why we're going to spring it. On our terms."
"You're as crazy as he said you were."
"He talks about me?"
"Constantly. For three hundred years." Dante starts moving again. "Do you know what it's like listening to someone pine for a person who might not even exist? It was exhausting."
Something warm blooms in my chest. "He really waited that long?"
"Every. Single. Day." Dante's voice is bitter. "Meanwhile, some of us were right here the whole time, but did he notice? No. He was too busy dreaming about his prophecy girl."
I stop walking. "You're in love with him."
Dante freezes. "That's not—I don't—" He sighs. "It doesn't matter. He's your soulmate. The bond chose you."
"I'm sorry," I say quietly, and I mean it.
"Don't be. Just don't waste it." He looks at me with raw honesty. "Don't complete the bond because you have to. If you're going to take him from me, at least do it because you actually love him."
"I barely know him."
"Then get to know him. Fast." Dante pulls open a hidden door. "We're here. The dungeons. Your mother is in cell thirteen. There are guards everywhere, magical barriers on every door, and the Consortium has set up detection spells specifically for your fire signature."
"Good thing I'm not just using fire anymore." I let shadow magic swirl around my hands alongside the flames. "Kaelan taught me something during our kiss. How to blend elements."
Dante's eyes widen. "You kissed him? Already?"
"He kissed me. Right before the Consortium took control again." The memory makes my heart ache. "It was... intense."
"Great. So the bond is strengthening." Dante runs a hand through his hair. "That means we have even less time than we thought. Every moment you're near each other, every touch, every feeling—it all feeds the bond. Whether you want it to or not."
That's not comforting.
We slip into the dungeon corridor. Guards patrol in pairs, their armor clinking. I wait for Dante's signal.
He holds up three fingers. Two. One.
I strike.
Fire and shadow explode from my hands, hitting the guards before they can raise an alarm. They drop, unconscious.
"Cell thirteen," Dante whispers, picking the lock. "Hurry."
The door swings open.
Mother sits in the corner, her hands bound with magic-suppressing chains. She looks up and her eyes go wide.
"Ember! What are you doing here?"
"Saving you." I melt the chains with concentrated fire. "Can you walk?"
"Yes, but this is a trap—"
"I know. Let's go."
We run back into the corridor. Too easy. This is way too easy.
Then all the doors slam shut at once.
Magic barriers spring up, trapping us in the hallway. Guards pour in from both ends—but these aren't regular guards. They're wearing Consortium robes.
And in the center of them stands Celeste.
"Hello again, cousin." She smiles. "You're so predictable, Ember. Love makes people stupid."
"I don't love him," I snap back. "I just met him."
"But you will." Celeste walks closer, her footsteps echoing. "That's what the bond does. It forces love, whether it's real or not. And when you complete it out of obligation, out of desperation to save him..." She laughs. "Both realms will burn."
"Not if I kill you first."
I throw everything I have at her—fire, shadow, raw magic. The blast should vaporize her.
Instead, she catches it with one hand.
"Did you really think I came here unprepared?" She crushes my magic like it's nothing. "I've been absorbing Consortium power for years. I'm beyond you now, little cousin."
She flicks her wrist, and pain explodes through my body. I drop to my knees, screaming.
"Stop it!" Mother throws herself at Celeste, but a barrier blocks her.
"Seraphina. Always so dramatic." Celeste yawns. "Your daughter is going to complete the bond. Tonight. With Kaelan under our complete control. And you're going to watch."
"Never," I gasp through the pain.
"We'll see." Celeste snaps her fingers.
The wall behind her explodes inward.
Kaelan—still possessed, still controlled—steps through. His black eyes lock onto me.
"Hello, soulmate," the Consortium says through his mouth. "Ready for our wedding night?"
The soul bond screams in my chest. Kaelan's real self is still trapped inside, fighting, begging me to run.
But I can't run. Not with Mother here. Not with Dante trapped beside me.
"If we complete the bond like this, the bad prophecy comes true," I say desperately. "Everyone dies. Including you!"
"We're counting on it." Celeste grins. "In the chaos, we'll seize control. Rebuild both realms from the ashes. With us as gods."
She's insane. They're all insane.
Kaelan's body moves toward me, his hand outstretched. Through the bond, I feel his horror, his rage at being used like this.
"I'm sorry," I whisper to him, not knowing if he can hear. "I'm so sorry."
His hand touches my face. The bond surges, pulling us together with irresistible force.
I have seconds to decide. Complete the bond and doom both worlds. Resist and die along with everyone I care about.
Then I feel it—a pulse through the bond. Kaelan is trying to tell me something.
A single word, fighting through the Consortium's control: "Trust."
Trust what? Trust him? Trust the bond?
His lips move closer to mine. The Consortium is using his body to force the completion.
Three inches away. Two inches.
Through the bond, I suddenly understand. Kaelan isn't fighting to stop this. He's fighting to do something else entirely.
Something the Consortium doesn't expect.
One inch away.
I make my choice.
I kiss him back.
The world explodes in light.
But it's not the bond completing—it's the bond BREAKING.
Kaelan is shattering it from the inside, using the Consortium's own power against them. Using the moment of forced contact to reject the prophecy entirely.
We're choosing the third option. Mutual destruction.
"NO!" Celeste screams. "What are you doing?!"
The castle starts to shake. Cracks spread through the walls. The bond between Kaelan and me is unraveling, taking both our lives with it.
But as we die, we're taking the Consortium's curse with us.
Kaelan's real voice breaks through, clear and strong: "Ember. Jump."
"What?"
"JUMP!"
I don't understand, but I trust him.
I push away from Kaelan and leap backward—straight through the stone wall that shouldn't break but somehow does.
I fall into darkness.
And I hear Kaelan's final words through the dying bond: "Find the Moon Temple. The real prophecy is there. This was all a lie."
Then the connection cuts completely.
I'm falling through empty space, my heart torn in two.
Kaelan is dying above me.
And I just learned that everything—every single thing we've been told—was a lie.