Cassian's POV
Malachai had won, and he knew it.
Thirty Court mages surrounded us, their magic forming a cage of pure force. Our barriers were down. Our defenses shattered. Even with our merged power, we couldn't fight them all.
"Surrender, Cassian," Malachai said calmly. "You've caused enough trouble for one night."
Elara's hand tightened in mine. I could feel her fear through the bond—but also her determination. She wasn't going to give up.
Neither was I.
"You want me to surrender?" I smiled coldly. "Then come and take me, Uncle."
Malachai's expression didn't change. "Kill the girl. Leave my nephew alive."
Twenty mages raised their hands, death spells gathering in their palms.
I pulled Elara behind me and unleashed everything.
Ice exploded from my hands in a massive wave. It crashed into the attacking mages, freezing them mid-spell. But more came behind them, and I was already getting tired.
Then I felt Elara's magic surge through the bond.
Silver light poured from her hands, and the frozen ground beneath our enemies suddenly came alive. Roots erupted upward, grabbing mages and yanking them down. Vines wrapped around arms and legs, stopping spells mid-cast.
Together, we were a storm.
I froze. She grew. I attacked. She defended. Every move perfectly coordinated through our merged consciousness.
"Impossible," Malachai breathed. "A complete fusion. I've never seen—"
"You should have killed me when you had the chance," I snarled.
We pushed forward, breaking through the circle of mages. Elara's wild magic created a path while my Court magic protected us from counterattacks.
"Stop them!" Malachai roared.
But we were already moving, running toward the edge of the property. If we could just reach the boundary, break through—
Pain exploded through my chest.
I looked down and saw a blade of red magic protruding from my ribs. Behind me, one of Malachai's personal guards held the spell, his face expressionless.
Elara screamed.
The world tilted. I fell to my knees, blood soaking through my robes.
"Cassian!" Elara caught me before I hit the ground. "No, no, please—"
"Should have... dodged that," I gasped.
The wound was bad. Really bad. I could feel my magic trying to heal it, but the red blade had corruption magic woven through it. It was eating away at my life force.
Malachai walked over, looking down at us with cold satisfaction. "You fought well, nephew. Better than I expected. But this ends now."
He raised his hand toward Elara.
"Don't!" I grabbed his ankle with the last of my strength. "Take me. Let her go. I'll... I'll do whatever you want. Just spare her."
"Touching." Malachai kicked my hand away. "But unnecessary. The wild magic user dies. You live as my weapon once more. That's how this story ends."
"No," Elara whispered.
Her eyes were glowing silver. Not just glowing—burning with wild magic so intense it made the air shimmer.
"What are you—" Malachai stepped back.
"You want wild magic?" Elara's voice echoed with power. "I'll show you wild magic."
She slammed her hands against the ground.
Everything exploded.
Not just the cottage land—the entire Veil forest responded to her call. Trees that had stood for centuries bent toward us. Plants I'd never seen before erupted from the earth. The ground itself rose up like a wave, throwing Court mages in every direction.
"She's bonding with the Veil!" someone screamed. "She's taking control of the entire forest!"
Elara stood at the center of the chaos, silver light pouring from her like a waterfall. Her wild magic had gone beyond anything I'd thought possible. She wasn't just bonding with the land anymore.
She was becoming part of it.
"Stop her!" Malachai shouted. "Before she—"
Too late.
The Veil forest came alive.
Massive roots burst from the ground, creating walls that separated the Court mages from each other. Ancient trees uprooted themselves and walked, their branches becoming weapons. Even the air filled with glowing spores that made the mages cough and stumble.
Through the bond, I felt Elara's power—wild, vast, and completely out of control.
"Elara!" I shouted. "You have to stop! You're burning yourself out!"
But she couldn't hear me. The wild magic had taken over, using her as a conduit for the Veil's ancient fury.
Malachai tried to counter with his own magic, but wild magic didn't follow the rules of Court magic. It was chaos itself, impossible to predict or control.
I watched as the forest literally swallowed his mages whole, pulling them into the earth where they'd sleep for years, trapped in magical stasis.
Only Malachai managed to teleport away before the Veil could take him.
Then suddenly, it was over.
The forest went quiet. The glowing spores faded. Elara collapsed.
I caught her with the last of my strength, both of us falling to the ground together.
"Did we... win?" she whispered.
"You did." I could barely breathe around the pain in my chest. "You took on thirty Court mages and the High Chancellor. And won."
She smiled weakly. "Guess I'm not powerless anymore."
"Never were."
We lay there in the ruins of the battle, both dying. My wound was killing me slowly. Elara had burned through too much magic—her body was shutting down.
Through the bond, I felt her fading.
"Cassian," she whispered. "I'm sorry. For trapping you. For getting you killed."
"Don't apologize. This month... being here with you..." I struggled to find words. "It was the first time I felt alive instead of just useful."
"I don't want to die," she admitted, tears running down her face.
"Neither do I. Not anymore."
The irony was cruel. We'd finally found something worth living for, and now we were both dying.
That's when I felt it—a pulse of magic from the bond. Not mine. Not hers. Something new.
The soul fusion we'd created was trying to save us.
Our merged magic activated on its own, pulling from both our life forces, trying to heal both our bodies at once. It was desperate. Chaotic. But it was working.
My wound started closing. Elara's breathing steadied.
"What's happening?" she gasped.
"The bond. It's... keeping us alive. Together."
We clung to each other as the magic worked, neither of us strong enough to move.
That's how the sun found us hours later—wrapped in each other's arms, unconscious but breathing, surrounded by the ruins of our impossible victory.
When I finally woke, Elara was still asleep against my chest. Her face was peaceful, beautiful in the morning light.
I should move. Should check the perimeter. Should start planning our next defense because Malachai would be back.
But for just a moment, I let myself hold her. Let myself feel this strange warmth in my chest that had nothing to do with magic.
Elara's eyes fluttered open. She saw me watching her and smiled—that same gentle smile that had confused me before.
Now it didn't confuse me at all.
Now it terrified me.
Because I was starting to care about this woman. Really care. And caring meant weakness. Meant vulnerability.
Meant I had something to lose.
"We should move," I said roughly, releasing her.
Her smile faded. "Right. Of course."
I stood, ignoring how much my body protested. The wound was healed but tender.
"Malachai will return with an army," I said. "We need to leave. Find somewhere safer—"
"We can't leave." Elara pointed at the property boundary.
The soul bond was visible now—a silver cord connecting us, anchored to the cottage land itself.
"The bond changed during the fusion," she said quietly. "It's not just tying you here anymore. It's tying us both to this specific place. We're trapped."
I tested it. Walked to the boundary. The moment I tried to cross, pain flared.
She was right. We couldn't leave.
"Then we dig in," I said. "Fortify. Prepare for—"
A figure stepped out of the Veil forest.
Not Malachai. Someone else. A man I hadn't seen in five years.
Finn Sterling. My former battle partner. The friend I'd thought was dead.
He looked at me, at Elara, at the devastation around us.
Then he smiled.
"Well," Finn said. "This is going to be an interesting conversation."