Evren didn't sleep that night.
His chest ached. Not a physical pain, but a magical one a deep, insistent pressure, as if the bond were a fist closing around his heart. Every breath felt borrowed every heartbeat echoed with a rhythm that was not entirely his own.
He paced the cold stone room, fingers twitching with stray sparks of power. His magic was restless, hungry, and he hated it.
He hated him.
Kaelion.
And yet- the pull was unbearable.
By dawn, Evren gave in. He stormed from his room, the bond a live wire tugging him down the hall. He didn't knock on the prince's chamber door.
Kaelion was awake, sitting by the window, half-dressed and bathed in the low firelight. He didn't look surprised.
"You feel it too," Kaelion said, his voice a low thrum in the quiet room.
Evren nodded, his jaw tight. "It hurts."
Kaelion stood. The air shifted, charged with something ancient and intimate. "Then stop fighting it."
Evren's laugh was brittle. "You think I want this?"
"No," Kaelion said, stepping closer. "But we're past wanting. The bond chooses. Not us."
Evren's breath caught. Kaelion's presence was magnetic annoying, overwhelming, and… unnervingly warm.
"I don't trust you," Evren said, his voice barely a whisper.
Kaelion's eyes softened, just a fraction. "Good. Keep your blade sharp. But stay alive. I need you for this bond to work."
Evren's heart raced for a reason that had nothing to do with magic.
Then the door slammed open.
Sir Alder Thorne Blackspire's steward stood there, breathless, his cloak dusted with snow. "Your Highness, a scout just returned. Someone breached the western ridge."
Kaelion's expression hardened into a mask of cold command. "Who?"
"We don't know. But they left a mark on the gate."
Kaelion and Evren followed Sir Alder to the outer wall. The snow was defiled by a single sigil carved deep into the stone and glowing with a faint, malevolent red.
Evren felt his magic recoil in visceral disgust.
It wasn't just a threat it was a message.
Therin appeared behind them as if woven from the shadows, his tone lethally casual. "Seems the old kingdom hasn't forgotten about you two."
Evren turned to Kaelion, voice low. "What is that?"
Kaelion's jaw clenched. "A hunter's mark."
"So?"
Kaelion looked at him, his eyes shadowed. "It means someone has paid a king's ransom to see us both dead."
The walk back to the war room was silent, the phantom glow of the mark seared behind their eyes. Inside, the fire crackled. Maps were strewn across a heavy oak table, and Therin leaned over them, tracing borders with a lazy finger. Sir Alder stood stiffly in the corner, arms crossed.
"We should assume they've already crossed the mountain," Therin said. "Hunters don't leave warnings unless they want to rattle you."
Evren stared into the middle distance, the sigil burned into his memory. "It worked."
Kaelion didn't look at him. "Their goal is to split us up. To confuse the bond."
Sir Alder's voice was grim. "Should we fortify the gates?"
"No," Kaelion said, his gaze finally lifting to meet Evren's. "We bait them."
Evren spun toward him. "What?"
"They're after us. So we make them think they've caught us off guard. Then we strike first."
"You mean use ourselves as live bait?"
Kaelion's smirk was a sharp, dangerous thing. "Don't tell me you're scared, bonded one."
Evren's magic sparked at his fingertips, irritated and eager. "I'm not scared. I just don't like being the cheese in the trap."
Therin chuckled. "That makes two of us."
Kaelion stepped closer to Evren, well into his space. "If the bond means anything, we'll feel them before they reach us."
Evren glared up at him. "And if it doesn't?"
Kaelion's voice dropped to a feral whisper. "Then we burn them down together."
The way he said it so certain, so vicious left Evren torn between the urge to shove him away and the terrifying impulse to step closer.
Before he could choose, the candles flickered violently. The air thickened, tasting of ozone.
Sir Alder straightened. "Magic surge north tower."
Kaelion was already moving. "They're here."
The northern tower was silent in a way that felt wrong.
Evren felt it in his teeth a dense, metallic tang to the air. Magic burned cold across his skin, crawling beneath his collar like a warning.
Kaelion unsheathed his blade. "Stay behind me."
Evren shoved past him. "You wish."
They reached the top landing. A single guard lay slumped against the wall, eyes wide and unseeing, his mouth frozen mid-breath. No blood. Just a thin, smoking line across his throat clean and precise.
Kaelion's jaw tightened. "Silent blade."
Evren's magic surged in response. 'They're close."
The moment he spoke, the window exploded.
A whirlwind of glass and snow rained inward. A shadow darted through the blast tall, masked, and impossibly fast. They barely registered its form before it struck.
Kaelion met the assassin's blade with his own, steel shrieking. The masked figure moved with inhuman grace, dancing around his defenses.
Evren threw up a hand. A bright barrier of flame erupted, cutting off the assassin's lunge. The hunter turned, its gaze locking with Evren's through the slits of its mask.
He felt it then the bond. It surged between him and Kaelion like a lightning strike, a palpable snap of power in the charged air.
"Now!" Kaelion shouted.
Evren didn't need to be told twice. He focused, reached out through the bond, and connected. Their magic entwined in mid-air-flame and shadow swirling into a single, devastating force.
The assassin lunged again this time, the strike was meant for Evren's heart.
Kaelion moved faster than thought. He caught the assassin's wrist, stopping the blade a hair's breadth from Evren's face, and drove his own sword into their side.
The hunter staggered.
Evren didn't hesitate. He unleashed a concentrated burst of fire point-blank into their chest.
The assassin collapsed, crumbling into smoke and ash.
Silence fell, broken only by their ragged breathing.
Evren leaned against the wall, his chest heaving. Kaelion stood close too close again.
"That was reckless," Kaelion said, his voice low and dark.
"You needed me," Evren replied, his eyes burning with defiance and spent power. "Just admit it."
Kaelion's gaze dropped to Evren's lips, lingering for a moment too long.
"I always need you."
The assassin's body was gone reduced to scorched fragments and memory. But the aftermath clung to the air.
Evren slumped against the wall, his breath unsteady. His arms trembled not from fear, but from the brutal magic burnout. He had flared too bright, too fast.
Kaelion crouched beside him. "You're overheating.*
"No shit," Evren snapped, trying to push himself upright. His knees buckled.
Kaelion caught him.
The contact sent a jolt through them both their magic reacting instinctively, reaching out and entwining in a dizzying rush.
Evren froze, caught in the closeness. Kaelion's arm was a solid band around his waist, the other gripping his shoulder. Their foreheads nearly touched.
"You're burning up," Kaelion murmured, his voice barely a whisper. "The bond's reacting… You're not used to channeling this much power through it."
Evren tried to form a retort, but the words dissolved in his throat. Kaelion's eyes weren't their usual arrogant gold they were dark with concern.
"We have to cool your core down," Kaelion said. "Come with me."
"I can walk."
"No," Kaelion stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. "You can't."
He didn't wait for a protest he swept Evren up into his arms.
"What the hell are you-!"
"You'll pass out before you reach the bottom stair. Don't flatter yourself by thinking you have a choice."
Evren should have cursed him. Fought him. Anything.
But all he could do was stare up at the stubborn set of Kaelion's jaw, the prince carrying him as if he were something fragile. Something precious.
Kaelion set him down gently in a private chamber adjacent to the hot springs that fed the fortress. Steam curled in lazy tendrils, softening the edges of the stone room.
Evren shivered, the cold stone a shock against his overheated skin.
Kaelion knelt by the water's edge, testing the temperature with his hand. "This spring channels ambient magic. It will help balance your flow."
Evren hesitated, his pride warring with the bone-deep ache. "So we're… bathing together now?"
Kaelion didn't quite smile. "Unless you'd prefer to faint a second time."
Evren gave him a crude gesture, then slowly, stiffly, peeled off his sweat-soaked tunic.
He slid into the water, hissing as the warmth enveloped his exhausted muscles. Kaelion followed, sinking into the opposite end but even with the distance, the bond pulled, a constant, humming tether between them.
Steam rose. Silence stretched, thick and heavy.
Then, quietly, Kaelion spoke, his voice cutting through the mist. "When that blade was at your throat… I felt it. In my chest. Like a knife."
Evren blinked, the water suddenly feeling colder. "That's the bond."
Kaelion looked at him, his golden eyes stark and unguarded. "No. That was me."