Aria's POV
I can't stay in this bed anymore.
The sun rose hours ago, painting the black glass walls with streaks of gold, but Kael hasn't returned. Through our Soul Bond, I feel him somewhere in the tower—awake, tense, deliberately keeping his distance.
Fine. If he won't come to me, I'll figure this out myself.
I stand and immediately stumble. My legs feel like water after yesterday's magical explosion. The elements inside me pulse weakly, like they're sleeping but could wake up at any moment.
The bedroom is enormous—bigger than my entire family home back in Terravale. I walk slowly, testing each step, exploring my pretty cage. Books line the shelves, but they're all about Spirit magic and shadow manipulation. Nothing about Pentaelementals. Nothing that could help me understand what I am.
I try the door again. Same magical barrier, same painful shock when I touch it.
"Okay," I mutter to myself. "If I can't walk through it, maybe I can break it."
I close my eyes and reach for the fire element. It comes easier this time—a warm presence in my chest that flows down my arm and into my palm. A small flame appears, dancing across my fingers.
I did that. Me. After nineteen years of nothing, I created fire with just a thought.
The flame grows larger, responding to my excitement. I push more power into it, watching it shift from red to orange to white-hot blue.
"Break the barrier," I whisper, and throw the fireball at the door.
It doesn't break the barrier.
It explodes.
Flames erupt across the door, spreading faster than I expected. They jump to the curtains, hungry and wild. Within seconds, half the room is on fire, and I'm standing in the middle of it with absolutely no idea how to stop it.
"No, no, no!" I try to pull the fire back, but it won't listen. It just grows bigger, feeding on the expensive fabric and wood.
Smoke fills my lungs. I cough, backing away from the spreading flames. This is bad. This is really, really bad.
The door explodes inward. Kael appears in a blast of shadow magic, his violet eyes wide with shock. He takes in the burning room in one glance, then raises both hands.
Shadows pour from his body like living darkness, smothering the flames. Where his magic touches fire, the fire dies—not gradually, but instantly, like it never existed. Within seconds, the entire room is dark and silent again.
Only then does he turn to me.
"What were you thinking?" he roars. "You could have burned down the whole tower!"
"I was thinking I'm tired of being locked up like an animal!" I yell back, surprising myself with the anger in my voice. "You said I'm dangerous because I can't control my powers? Then teach me!"
"You're not ready—"
"I'll never be ready if you keep me locked in here!" Tears blur my vision, and I hate that I'm crying but I can't stop. "Three days, Kael. That's all your father gave you. Three days to decide if you're going to kill me or not. So either teach me to control this, or just get it over with now!"
The words echo in the damaged room. Kael stares at me, and through our bond, I feel his emotions churning—anger, fear, guilt, and something else I can't name.
His gaze drops to my face, and his expression shifts. "You're crying."
"Of course I'm crying!" I swipe at my eyes furiously. "Everyone I ever trusted has betrayed me. My sister wants me dead. My parents abandoned me. And now I'm bonded to someone who has nightmares about me being the monster who killed his mother!"
Kael goes very still. "You felt that?"
"The Soul Bond goes both ways, remember?" My voice cracks. "I feel everything. Your fear. Your hatred. The way you look at me and see the thing that destroyed your family."
"That's not—" He stops, running a hand through his hair. "It's complicated."
"No, it's not." I sink to the floor, exhausted. "You want me to be something I'm not. A weapon. A monster. Anything except a scared girl who doesn't understand what's happening to her."
Silence fills the space between us. Then Kael moves closer, slowly, like he's approaching a wild animal. He crouches down so we're eye level.
"You're right," he says quietly. "I do see my mother's death when I look at you. But that's not all I see."
I meet his violet eyes. "What else?"
"Someone strong enough to survive three years of torture and still have compassion. Someone who could have killed Damien and Lyanna yesterday but chose not to. Someone who's terrified but trying anyway." His jaw clenches. "Someone who deserves better than being locked in a tower by someone who doesn't know if he's your protector or your executioner."
The honesty in his words steals my breath.
"Tomorrow," Kael says, standing. "Training starts tomorrow. I'll teach you to control your power. But Aria—" His expression hardens. "If you lose control and hurt someone, I won't have a choice anymore. Do you understand?"
I nod, not trusting my voice.
He walks to the door, then pauses. "The barriers are linked to my magic. If there's a real emergency, push against them with Spirit element and call for me through our bond. I'll come."
"Even in the middle of the night?"
"Especially then." Something in his tone makes me think he's not sleeping well either. "Get some rest. Tomorrow won't be easy."
He leaves, and I hear the lock click behind him.
I'm still a prisoner. But maybe, just maybe, I'm not completely alone.
The nightmare starts the same way reality did.
I'm standing in the Grand Amphitheater. Three thousand students laughing. Damien's voice echoing: "I will not marry an Elementless freak."
But in the dream, when the five elements hit me, I don't absorb them. I explode. Fire consumes the students in the front rows. Water drowns those trying to escape. Earth swallows the exits. Air tears people apart. Spirit turns their screams into silence.
I try to stop it, but my body won't listen. I'm killing everyone, and I can't make it stop.
Lyanna's voice: "I told you she was a monster."
Mother's voice: "I should have let them kill you when you were born."
Kael's voice: "You took everything from me."
I scream, but no sound comes out. Just power—endless, terrible power that destroys everything I touch.
I wake up sobbing.
The room is dark. I'm tangled in sheets, shaking so hard my teeth chatter. It was just a dream. Just a nightmare. None of that happened.
But it could. That's the terrifying part. It could happen any time I lose control.
Through our Soul Bond, I feel something strange—an echo of my own fear, but coming from somewhere else. Kael's room. He's awake too, breathing hard, and I realize with a shock that he felt my nightmare.
He experienced every moment of my terror like it was his own.
I wait for him to come check on me. Surely feeling that much fear through our bond would make him worried, right?
But minutes pass, and he doesn't appear.
He felt my nightmare, knows I'm awake and scared, and he's choosing to stay away.
The message is clear: I'm still his prisoner first, whatever else we might be second.
I curl up on my side, trying to build walls around my emotions so he won't feel how much that hurts. But the Soul Bond doesn't work that way. It shows everything, whether we want it to or not.
Somewhere across the tower, I feel Kael's guilt spike.
Good. Let him feel guilty. Let him understand what it's like to be trapped with someone who can sense your pain but chooses to do nothing about it.
I'm almost asleep again when I feel something strange through our bond—movement. Footsteps. Kael is walking through the tower, getting closer.
My door opens so quietly I almost miss it.
I keep my eyes closed, pretending to sleep, but I sense him enter. He stands there for a long moment, just watching me. Through our connection, his emotions are a mess: concern, regret, longing, and that ever-present fear.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, so soft I barely hear it. "For all of this."
Then he's gone, the door clicking shut behind him.
I open my eyes and stare at the ceiling.
Kael Nightshade is more complicated than I thought. He's my captor, but he's also trapped—by duty, by his father's demands, by his own fear of what I might become.
And we're connected by magic that won't let either of us escape.
The next morning, I wake to find a tray of food outside my door—fresh bread, cheese, fruit, and a note in elegant handwriting:
Training room. One hour. Don't be late. And Aria? No more setting things on fire.
Despite everything, I almost smile.
Then I notice the second note underneath, written in different handwriting—rougher, urgent:
Aria Thornheart—we need to talk about what really happened to you. Meet me in the East Gardens at midnight. Come alone. Tell no one, especially not Kael. Your life depends on it. —A Friend
My blood runs cold.
Someone else in this tower knows I'm here. Someone who can get past Kael's security. Someone who wants to meet me in secret.
This could be a trap. It probably is a trap.
But what if it's not? What if someone actually has answers about what I am and why this happened?
Through our Soul Bond, I feel Kael approaching—probably coming to take me to training.
I shove the second note under my pillow just as he knocks on the door.
"Ready?" he calls.
I stare at the hidden note, my heart pounding.
"Ready," I lie.