Eleanor's POV
I wake up to burning pain shooting through my entire body.
"What did you do?" I scream at Adrian.
My hand is pressed against his, our palms bleeding together. Magic crackles between us like lightning, hot and terrible. I try to pull away, but I can't move. The spell has us locked together.
"Saved us both," Adrian says through gritted teeth. Sweat drips down his face. "Just hold on. Almost done."
"Almost done with WHAT?"
The magic surges one final time, and something snaps into place inside my chest. Like a lock clicking shut. Like chains wrapping around my heart.
And suddenly, I feel him.
His emotions flood into me like a tidal wave. Loneliness so deep it makes me want to cry. Pain from old wounds that never healed. Determination burning fierce and hot. Fear of what he's just done.
It's too much. I can't breathe.
"Stop!" I gasp. "Make it stop!"
"I can't." Adrian releases my hand finally, and we both collapse backward, gasping. "The binding is permanent. We're connected now."
"Connected how?" My voice shakes.
"Every way that matters." He examines his palm. The cut has sealed completely, leaving only a silver scar. "Your curse is unique—it might help me control my power. My shadow magic can slow your deterioration. We're bound now. You die, I die."
The words slam into me. "You die, I die?"
"Yes."
"You can't just—" Fury rushes through me. "You can't just tie your life to mine without asking!"
"You were dying. I didn't have time for a discussion." Adrian stands, his face hard. "I made a choice. Deal with it."
"I didn't ask for this!" Tears burn my eyes.
"Neither did I." His gray eyes meet mine, and through our bond, I feel his guilt. His regret. His fear that he's made a terrible mistake. "But here we are. Now get up. They're still hunting you."
I want to scream at him. I want to cry. But outside the cave, I hear voices getting closer. The hunters haven't given up.
Adrian offers his hand. I stare at it, angry and scared and confused.
Finally, I take it.
The moment our hands touch, his emotions flood me again. But this time, I push back. I let him feel MY emotions too—my terror, my heartbreak, my desperate need to survive.
He flinches slightly. "That's going to take some getting used to."
"You should have thought of that before binding us."
"Probably." He pulls me to my feet. "Can you walk?"
I test my legs. They're shaky but steady. The corruption isn't spreading anymore—I can feel Adrian's magic flowing through me constantly, holding it back.
"I can walk," I say.
We slip out of the cave quietly. The hunters are searching the rocks above us, shouting to each other. We move in the opposite direction, staying low.
As we walk through the wasteland, I keep stealing glances at Adrian. He's a stranger. I don't know anything about him except that he's dangerous and powerful and running from something.
And now our lives are tied together forever.
"Stop staring at me," he mutters.
"I'm not staring. I'm just—" I don't know how to explain it. "I can feel you. All the time. Your emotions, your thoughts, it's like you're inside my head."
"The bond goes both ways, princess. I feel you too." He doesn't look at me. "Your fear. Your anger at your sister. Your heartbreak over that blonde idiot who wants you dead."
Heat rushes to my face. "Stay out of my feelings."
"Can't. That's how blood-binding works. We're stuck with each other now." He pauses. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know you didn't choose this."
The apology surprises me. Through our bond, I feel his sincerity.
"Why did you do it?" I ask quietly. "Really?"
Adrian is silent for a long moment. Then: "Because I know what it's like when the whole world wants you dead. When people call you a monster for something you didn't choose." His voice goes rough. "You didn't deserve to die alone in that wasteland."
Something warm spreads through my chest. He saved me not just because I'm useful, but because he understood my pain.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"Don't thank me yet. Being bound to me comes with problems you don't know about." He touches his chest. "The thing inside me—whatever the Guild put there—it's connected to you now too."
"What is it?"
"I don't know. They never told me." His jaw clenches. "But I've felt it my whole life. This pulse in my chest that doesn't match my heartbeat. This weight that doesn't belong to me."
"And now I'm connected to it."
"Yes. If that thing wakes up, we're both in danger." He finally looks at me. "If you want to find a way to break the binding, we can try. It might kill one of us, but—"
"No." The word comes out firm and certain. "We're in this together now."
Surprise flickers through our bond. "You're sure?"
"You saved my life. You gave up your freedom to bind yourself to me. The least I can do is not abandon you." I squeeze his hand. "Besides, I don't have anywhere else to go."
Something shifts in Adrian's expression. Not quite a smile, but close.
"Okay then," he says quietly. "Together."
We walk through the night. My feet hurt. My body aches. But the corruption isn't killing me anymore. For the first time since I touched that cursed tree, I feel like I might actually survive.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"North. To find the Moonlight Crystal."
"What's that?"
"The only thing that can permanently cure Shade-Born corruption." Adrian's voice is careful, like he's choosing his words. "It's also the only thing that might stabilize my power. Keep the thing inside me from exploding."
"Is it real? Or just a legend?"
"It's real. I've been tracking it for years." He doesn't meet my eyes. "It's hidden somewhere past the Cursed Forest, in territory even the Guild won't enter."
"How long will it take to get there?"
"Weeks. Maybe months."
"Months?" My voice rises. "I don't have months!"
"You do now. The binding is keeping you stable." He squeezes my hand. "You're not dying anymore, Eleanor. You're surviving."
The words settle over me like a warm blanket. I'm surviving. Not dying. Not rotting. Surviving.
We walk in silence for a while. Then I ask: "Adrian? What you said before, about knowing what it's like when everyone wants you dead—what happened to you?"
His face closes immediately. "That's a long story."
"We have time."
"Not enough time for that story." But through our bond, I feel his pain. Deep, old pain that's never healed.
"The Guild hurt you," I say softly. "I can feel it. Whatever they did, it was terrible."
"They did what they thought was necessary." His voice is flat. "I was seven. A prodigy. They wanted to hide something valuable, something dangerous. So they used me."
"They put the Crystal in you when you were seven?"
"Among other things." He won't elaborate. "I escaped when I was thirteen. Been running ever since."
Fifteen years alone. Fifteen years of hiding and running and never trusting anyone.
"You're not alone anymore," I say.
Adrian stops walking. He looks at me, really looks at me, and through our bond I feel his shock. His disbelief. His desperate, terrified hope.
"Don't," he says quietly. "Don't make promises you can't keep."
"I'm not. We're blood-bound. I literally can't leave you even if I wanted to."
"You say that now. But when you see what I really am—"
"I already know what you are. I can feel it through our bond." I step closer. "You're lonely and scared and trying so hard to survive. Just like me. And maybe that's enough."
For a long moment, Adrian just stares at me. Then he looks away, but not before I feel it through our bond—relief. Pure, overwhelming relief that he's not alone anymore.
"We should keep moving," he says, his voice rough.
We walk through the wasteland until the sun starts to rise. Adrian finally stops at some old ruins—broken stone walls covered in dead vines.
"We'll rest here for a few hours," he says. "Then we keep going. The hunters won't stop looking for you."
I collapse against a wall, exhausted. My whole body hurts. Through our bond, I feel Adrian's concern.
"The binding is keeping you alive, but you still need regular maintenance," he says. "Your corruption needs to be stabilized every few days, or it'll start spreading again."
"How do we do that?"
"Ritual magic. I channel my shadow power directly into your corruption, reinforce the binding, slow everything down." He sits beside me. "It's going to be uncomfortable."
"Will it hurt?"
"Yes. But it works."
I nod tiredly. "Okay. Do what you need to do."
Adrian rolls up his sleeves, exposing the shadow-mark tattoos covering his arms. They start glowing softly in the dawn light.
"Give me your wrists," he says.
I hold out my wrists, and his hands wrap around them. Immediately, his magic sinks into my skin—cold at first, then burning hot. I gasp, trying not to pull away.
"Breathe," Adrian says quietly. "Just breathe through it."
His magic flows deeper, wrapping around the black veins in my arms. Where his power touches my corruption, I feel darkness and relief all at once. Pain and healing mixed together.
"Does it always hurt?" I manage to ask.
"Yes. But it works." His hands slide up my forearms, following the corruption. The touch is intimate, careful. "Your corruption runs deep. It's wrapped around your bones, your blood vessels. But it's stable. The binding is working."
His hands linger on my wrists after the magic fades. For a moment, neither of us moves.
"Why are you really helping me?" I ask softly.
Adrian's face closes off immediately. "Because I need you alive."
"That's not the whole truth. I can feel it through our bond."
His jaw tightens. "Don't read more into it, princess. You're useful to me. That's all."
But through our bond, I feel his lie. I feel his loneliness, his desperate need for connection, his fear of letting anyone close.
He's terrified of caring about me.
Before I can say anything, exhaustion pulls me under. The last thing I feel is Adrian's magic wrapping around me like a protective blanket.
And his emotions, raw and honest through our bond: Please don't leave me. Please don't become another person I lose.
Then I fall asleep.