POV: Ella
I couldn't breathe.
My eyes snapped open, and my body jerked upward like someone had pulled me with invisible strings. My chest heaved as I gulped air, my hands clutching at sheets that felt too soft, too clean, too real.
I'm alive.
The thought crashed through my mind like thunder. I'd been dying—I remembered the pain, the darkness swallowing me whole, the certainty that I'd never wake up again. But here I was, breathing, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
And the pain was gone.
I pressed my shaking hands against my chest, expecting the sharp agony that had been tearing me apart for days. Nothing. The curse marks were still there—black veins crawling across my skin like spider webs—but they didn't hurt anymore.
"What happened?" I whispered, staring at my hands.
The room around me was strange. Books everywhere, stacked on shelves that reached the ceiling. Glass bottles filled with colored liquids lined the walls, some glowing faintly in the dim light. A fire crackled in a stone fireplace, casting dancing shadows across the wooden floor.
Through a tall window, I could see treetops far below. I was high up, somewhere in a tower.
This wasn't the forest. This wasn't the cold, muddy ground where I'd collapsed.
The door slammed open.
I yelped and scrambled backward on the bed, my heart jumping into my throat. A man strode into the room, and my breath caught.
It was him—the wizard from the forest.
In the firelight, I could see him clearly now. He was tall and lean, with messy dark hair that fell into his eyes. Those eyes were silver, sharp and intense, like they could see right through me. Dark circles shadowed the skin beneath them, and he moved with a slight wince, like every step hurt.
He held a steaming cup in one hand. "You're awake," he said, his voice flat and cold. "Good. Drink this."
He shoved the cup toward me, and I took it with trembling hands. The liquid inside smelled like mint and something bitter.
"Who are you?" I asked, my voice coming out as barely a whisper. "Where am I?"
"My name is Raine." He pulled a chair across from the bed and dropped into it, those silver eyes never leaving my face. "You're in my tower. And I saved your life, in case you were wondering."
My throat tightened. "Why?"
Something flickered across his face—surprise, maybe. "Does it matter?"
"Yes!" The word burst out of me. "Everyone else threw me away like garbage. The people who were supposed to love me looked at me like I was a monster. So why would you, a stranger, save me?"
Raine leaned back in his chair, studying me with an expression I couldn't read. "You're a Shadow Elf. Do you have any idea how rare that is? How impossible?"
I looked down at the black veins on my hands. "I'm cursed. I touched the Shadowthorn Tree during a ritual, and it—it changed me." My voice cracked. "My own father exiled me. My fiancé said I was disgusting. The kingdom I loved wants me dead."
"Drink the tea," Raine said, his voice still cold.
I raised the cup to my lips and took a sip. The taste was awful, but warmth spread through my chest immediately, pushing back the lingering cold that had settled in my bones.
"I used my magic to suppress your curse," Raine said. "That's why you're not in pain anymore. The ritual I performed linked my dark magic to your cursed blood, stopping it from consuming you."
Hope exploded in my chest like fireworks. "You can cure me?"
"I didn't say that."
The hope died just as quickly. "But you—"
"I suppressed it," Raine interrupted. "I didn't cure it. There's a difference." He stood up and walked to the window, his back to me. "The suppression will hold for a while, but it's not permanent. Eventually, the curse will break through again."
My hands shook so badly I had to set the cup down on the bedside table. "Then what do I do? Just wait to die?"
"There might be a way to break the curse permanently." Raine turned to face me, and something in his expression made my stomach twist. "The Moonlight Crystal. It's a legendary artifact that can supposedly break any curse. I've been researching it for years."
"Then we find it!" I said, standing up too quickly. The room spun, and I grabbed the bedpost to steady myself. "We find this crystal, and I can go back to normal!"
"Normal?" Raine's laugh was harsh and bitter. "You think finding some magical crystal will turn you back into a perfect little princess? That your family will welcome you with open arms and pretend none of this happened?"
His words hit me like slaps. "I—I just want to stop being this… this thing!"
"You're not a thing," Raine snapped, and for the first time, real emotion cracked through his cold mask. "You're cursed, not broken. There's a difference."
We stared at each other across the room. The fire popped and hissed in the silence.
Finally, Raine spoke again, quieter this time. "When I performed the suppression ritual, something unexpected happened. Your cursed blood—it stabilized my dark magic."
"What does that mean?"
He held up his hand, and dark purple energy swirled around his fingers. "Dark magic is powerful, but it's unstable. It consumes the caster's life force every time it's used. I've been slowly dying for five years." He closed his fist, and the magic vanished. "But when I touched your blood during the ritual, my magic steadied. Became controllable."
My mind raced. "So your magic helps me, and my curse helps you?"
"Exactly." Raine crossed his arms. "Which brings me to my proposal. You stay here and help me stabilize my magic. In return, I'll keep your curse suppressed and help you find the Moonlight Crystal."
"That's it?" I asked, suspicious. "You save my life, and all you want is for me to help with your magic?"
"Don't make it sound noble," Raine said coldly. "This is survival, not kindness. I need you alive because you're useful to me. Nothing more."
The words stung, but at least he was honest. Everyone else had lied to me—my father, Theron, the entire kingdom. Raine's brutal honesty felt almost refreshing.
"How long will it take?" I asked. "To find this crystal?"
"Months. Maybe longer." Raine walked back to his chair and sat down. "The crystal is hidden in the Forgotten Temple of Moonlight, somewhere in the Crystal Peak Mountains. The journey will be dangerous."
Months. The word echoed in my head. Months of being this cursed creature, months of being hunted, months of—
A sharp pain suddenly stabbed through my chest.
I gasped and stumbled, my hand flying to my heart. The pain vanished as quickly as it came, but it left me shaking.
"What was that?" I demanded, looking at Raine.
His face had gone pale. "That shouldn't have happened yet."
"What shouldn't have happened?"
Raine stood up slowly, and I saw something in his eyes that terrified me—fear.
"The suppression ritual I used," he said carefully. "It wasn't just a simple spell. When I linked my magic to your curse, I… I created a bond."
"A bond?" My voice rose. "What kind of bond?"
"The kind that ties our life forces together." Raine's jaw clenched. "What I didn't expect was how deep the connection would go. That pain you just felt? That was from me. I overused my magic earlier, and you felt it through our bond."
The room seemed to tilt. "Wait. Are you saying—"
"We're connected now," Raine said, and for the first time, I heard genuine emotion in his voice. Regret. "Your life is tied to mine, and mine to yours. If something happens to one of us, the other feels it. And if one of us dies…"
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to.
"We both die," I whispered.
Raine nodded grimly.
My legs gave out, and I sank back onto the bed. This wasn't just a deal anymore. This wasn't a simple arrangement where we helped each other and then went our separate ways.
We were bound together. For as long as we lived.
"You should have told me before doing the ritual," I said, my voice shaking with anger. "You should have—"
Another pain lanced through my chest, stronger this time. I cried out, doubling over. Through the agony, I felt something else—something dark and aware, moving inside me like a living shadow.
Raine's eyes widened. "No. That's impossible. The ritual should have locked it down—"
The pain intensified, and I screamed. Black smoke poured from my mouth, and suddenly I wasn't alone in my own head anymore.
Something else was there. Something ancient and evil and hungry.
A voice that wasn't mine whispered through my mind: Finally. A new host. And a bonus—two souls for the price of one.
Through the pain and terror, I saw Raine rush toward me, his face twisted with horror.
"The curse," he breathed. "It's not just magic. It's alive."
The thing inside me laughed, and the sound came from my own throat.
Then everything went black.