Elara's POV
"We have to kill Vex."
The words hang in the air like a death sentence.
I look at Nessa, black veins spreading across her skin like poison ivy. She's crying silently, terrified but trying to be brave.
"How long does she have?" My voice sounds dead even to my own ears.
Caspian examines the curse carefully. "With the failsafe active? Days. Maybe a week." He meets my eyes. "But I can buy her more time with the ritual. Keep the curse dormant while we hunt Vex."
"The month-long ritual you mentioned before?"
"Yes. But it requires a life anchor." He stands slowly, still recovering from his own curse breaking. "Someone who stays connected to Nessa, sharing their life force to keep her stable while I work."
"I'll do it."
"Elara, you just broke two death curses. You're exhausted—"
"I'll do it," I repeat firmly. "She's my sister. There's no decision to make."
Nessa grabs my hand. "You don't have to—"
"Yes, I do." I squeeze her fingers. "You're everything to me, Nessa. I'm not losing you. Not to Vex. Not to anyone."
Caspian watches this exchange with an unreadable expression. "The life anchor bond is dangerous. You'll be exposed to death magic constantly. It could corrupt your healing abilities. Change you permanently."
"I don't care what happens to me."
"You should."
"Well, I don't." I stand to face him. "So tell me what I need to do."
He studies me for a long moment. Then he nods slowly. "The ritual creates a three-way bond. You, Nessa, and me. Connected through magic. I'll feel your emotions. You'll sense mine. Nessa will be aware of both of us, even unconscious." He pauses. "It's intimate in ways most people can't handle."
"I can handle it."
"Can you?" He steps closer. "Because once the bond forms, you'll see everything. My memories. My worst moments. The night I killed my family. Every dark thing I've ever done." His voice drops. "And you'll be stuck here with me for weeks, maybe months. No leaving. No running. Are you sure you can trust me that completely?"
I think about how he saved Nessa. How he fought Vex to protect me. How he looked when he thought I was going to die—like his world was ending.
"Yes," I say without hesitation. "I trust you."
Something flickers in his eyes. Relief? Fear? Hope?
"Then we start now." He moves to a cabinet, pulling out stones carved with symbols I don't recognize. "But first, I need to test something."
"Test what?"
He removes one glove, then the other. His hands are pale and marked with silver scars that look like lightning strikes frozen in skin.
"Everyone says my touch brings death," he says quietly. "That I drain life from anything I contact. But you're a Life Weaver. You might be immune." He holds out his bare hand. "If I'm right, this won't hurt you. If I'm wrong..."
"I die?"
"Possibly."
I look at his outstretched hand. At the scars marking his skin. At the fear and longing mixed in his expression—like he desperately wants to touch someone but is terrified of what might happen.
How long has it been since he touched another person without gloves? Years? Decades?
"Well," I say, reaching out. "Let's find out."
Our palms meet.
Magic explodes between us.
Not painful—shocking. Like lightning and sunlight colliding. Silver and gold light spirals up our joined hands, brilliant and beautiful.
His skin is cool but not cold. Smooth despite the scars. And instead of feeling drained, I feel energized. Complete. Like I've been missing half of myself my whole life and just found it.
"Impossible," Caspian breathes. His grip tightens on my hand. "You're not just immune. You're compatible."
"What does that mean?"
"It means your life magic and my death magic don't fight each other. They balance. Complement." He stares at our joined hands like he's seeing a miracle. "For the first time in fifteen years, I can touch someone without killing them."
The weight of those words hits me. Fifteen years alone. Fifteen years believing he was too dangerous to touch. Too cursed to hold.
"How did it happen?" I ask softly. "The curse that made you this way?"
His jaw tightens. "You'll see it anyway once we bond. I might as well tell you now." He releases my hand slowly, like it hurts to let go. "I was sixteen. Studying advanced magic at the Royal Academy. I thought I was brilliant. Invincible." His voice turns bitter. "I was wrong."
"What happened?"
"I attempted a spell I wasn't ready for. A spell that could resurrect the dead—not as mindless zombies, but as themselves. Fully conscious. Fully alive." He looks away. "The spell backfired. It killed my parents and younger brother instantly. Then it brought them back."
Horror floods through me. "Caspian—"
"They were aware. Trapped in dead bodies. Unable to rest. My mother begged me to let her go. My brother screamed for three days straight." His hands clench into fists. "It took me seventy-two hours to figure out how to release them. Seventy-two hours of watching my family suffer because of my arrogance."
Tears burn my eyes. "You were just a kid. It was an accident—"
"An accident that destroyed three lives." He finally looks at me. "The trauma awakened my necromancy fully. Made me into this. The Church declared me an abomination. My extended family disowned me. So I came here. To the one place no one would follow."
"You've been alone for fifteen years?"
"It's safer that way."
"Safer for who?"
The question hangs between us.
"For everyone," he says quietly.
I step closer. "You saved my sister. You fought Vex to protect me. You've been nothing but gentle and kind." I place my hand over his heart. "You're not an abomination, Caspian. You're just a man who made a terrible mistake and has been punishing himself for it ever since."
His hand covers mine. "You don't know what you're saying."
"I know exactly what I'm saying." I meet his eyes. "And when we form this bond, when you show me your worst memories, I'm not going to run. I'm going to stay. Because that's what trust means."
For a moment, he just stares at me. Then he pulls me into a sudden, fierce hug.
I freeze, surprised. But then I feel him shaking slightly, and I realize—this might be the first hug he's had in fifteen years.
I wrap my arms around him and hold tight.
"Thank you," he whispers against my hair.
We stand like that for a long moment. Then Nessa moans in pain, and we break apart.
"Right." Caspian clears his throat, all business again. "The ritual. We need to start now before the curse spreads further."
He arranges the carved stones in a circle around Nessa. I help, following his instructions exactly. He lights candles at specific points and draws symbols on the floor with silver dust.
"Okay." He positions me on one side of Nessa, himself on the other. "Place your hand over her heart. I'll do the same. When the magic activates, don't fight it. Let it flow through you."
"What will it feel like?"
"Like drowning and flying at the same time." He gives me a small, sad smile. "Don't panic. I'll anchor you."
I nod and place my hand over Nessa's chest. Caspian mirrors the motion.
"Ready?" he asks.
"Ready."
He begins chanting in that ancient language. The symbols on the floor start to glow. The candles flare brighter.
Magic rises around us like a tide. Silver and gold, death and life, swirling together faster and faster.
Then it crashes over me.
Suddenly I'm not just in my own mind. I'm in Caspian's too. I see flashes of his memories—a young boy laughing with his brother, a teenager bent over books, the moment the spell went wrong, his mother's dead eyes opening, the screaming that never stopped—
And he's in my mind too. Seeing my memories—Nessa as a baby, my first day at the Sanctum, Davrien's proposal, Mira's betrayal, the trial—
We're connected. Completely. No shields. No secrets.
It's terrifying and intimate and overwhelming.
But through it all, I feel Caspian's presence wrapping around mine like a protective shield, keeping me grounded, keeping me safe.
The magic settles. The bond locks into place.
I open my eyes. Caspian is staring at me with wonder.
"I can feel you," he whispers. "Your emotions. Your determination. Your love for Nessa. It's..." He swallows hard. "Beautiful."
"I can feel you too." And I can. His loneliness. His guilt. But also his fierce protectiveness and his growing feelings for—
Our eyes lock.
Then Nessa screams.
We both look down. The black veins are spreading again, but this time they're different. They're forming words across her skin.
Words that make my blood run cold.
I'M COMING FOR YOU. ALL THREE OF YOU. AND THIS TIME, I WON'T FAIL. - V
Caspian's face goes pale. "Vex can communicate through the curse. She knows we bonded."
"How is that possible?"
"Because she's not just a regular necromancer." He stands quickly. "She's a Void Weaver. Someone who's absorbed so much death magic that they've become something else. Something worse."
"What does that mean?"
He meets my eyes with pure fear.
"It means she's not going to attack us here. She's going to attack everyone I've ever helped. Everyone who might come to our aid." His voice shakes. "She's going to slaughter innocents until we surrender."
Before I can respond, a bird crashes through the window. It's bleeding, dying, with a message tied to its leg.
Caspian grabs the note. His face goes white as he reads.
"What is it?" I demand.
He looks at me with devastation.
"She's already started. She attacked a village at the base of the mountain. Forty-three people dead." His hand crumples the paper. "And she's left a message. She'll kill one village a day until I come face her alone."
"You can't go alone! She'll kill you!"
"If I don't go, she kills innocents." He looks torn apart. "What choice do I have?"
I grab his arm. "We fight her together. You, me, and—"
Nessa sits up suddenly, her eyes glowing silver. When she speaks, it's not her voice.
It's Vex's.
"Hello, children. I'll be waiting at the capital. Three days. Come alone, Death Keeper, or I burn the world to find you."
Then Nessa collapses, unconscious again.
Caspian and I stare at each other in horror.
"She possessed Nessa," I whisper. "She can control her through the curse."
"Which means she can use Nessa to hurt us anytime she wants." Caspian's jaw clenches. "We have to end this. Now."
"How? We're not strong enough to—"
"Yes, we are." He takes both my hands. "Together. Life and death balanced. We're the only thing Vex fears."
"Then we go to the capital. We end this."
"In three days." He squeezes my hands. "We use that time to prepare. To train. To become unstoppable."
I nod, determination flooding through me.
Vex wanted a war?
She's about to get one.