Lyssara's POV
The monster that used to be Sariel charges straight at us.
I don't think. I just act.
My hands fly up, golden light exploding from my palms. But I'm exhausted from saving Kael, and my magic sputters like a dying candle. The blast barely slows her down.
"Lyssara, move!" Kael shoves me aside just as Sariel's claws—actual claws now, black and dripping with corruption—slash through the space where my head was.
I hit the ground hard. Pain shoots through my shoulder, but I roll and scramble to my feet. Around us, the clearing has become a nightmare. Sariel's soldiers are running, screaming, trying to escape the monster their leader became.
Even Elara is backing away, tears streaming down her face. "Mother, please—"
The monster roars. It doesn't sound human anymore.
"She's gone," Kael says quietly, stepping in front of me again. "Whatever Sariel was, the corruption ate it all."
I grab his arm. Through our bond, I feel his exhaustion matching mine. We barely survived her last attack. We're both running on empty.
And this thing? It's full of corrupted death magic—more power than both of us combined.
"We can't fight her," I whisper.
"I know." Kael's jaw tightens. "But we can't run either. If she leaves this clearing, she'll destroy everything. The forest. The villages. Everyone."
My stomach drops. He's right. This monster won't stop until there's nothing left alive.
"Then we trap her," I say suddenly. "The forest—can we use it to hold her?"
Kael's eyes widen. "Maybe. But it would take both of us working together. And if we fail—"
"We die. I know." I squeeze his hand. "Better than doing nothing."
For a second, something warm flashes through the bond. Pride, maybe. Or trust.
Then Sariel attacks again.
This time, she's faster. Her corrupted magic shoots out like black lightning, splitting into dozens of strikes. Kael throws up a shield of thorns, but they crumble under the assault. One bolt gets through, hitting him in the side.
He gasps and drops to one knee.
"Kael!" I pour my remaining magic into him through the bond, just enough to keep him standing. But now I'm dizzy, my vision swimming.
The monster laughs. It's a horrible sound—like metal scraping against bone.
"You're weak," Sariel's voice echoes from the creature, distorted and wrong. "You think love makes you strong? It makes you vulnerable. Watch."
She turns toward Elara.
"No!" Elara screams, but she can't run fast enough.
The monster's claws flash toward her daughter's throat—
And suddenly, vines erupt from the ground.
Not Kael's thorns. Not my flowers. These are different—thick, ancient vines covered in moss and old magic. They wrap around Sariel's arm, stopping her inches from Elara.
The forest itself is fighting.
"It heard us," I breathe. "The forest wants to help."
"Then let's not waste it." Kael grabs my hand. "Together. Now."
We press our palms against the earth. Through the bond, our magic tangles—my life force and his death power, mixing into something new. Something balanced.
I feel every root in the clearing. Every branch. Every living thing connected to the Thornwood. And through Kael, I sense the other side too—the decay, the endings, the dark spaces between.
"Grow," I command.
"Bind," Kael growls.
The forest explodes into action.
Roots burst from the ground, wrapping around Sariel's legs. Branches reach down from above, forming a cage. Thorns and flowers grow together, weaving tighter and tighter until the monster can barely move.
Sariel screams, thrashing against the prison. Her corrupted magic burns through some of the vines, but more grow to replace them. For every root she destroys, three more take its place.
"It's working!" Elara shouts.
But I feel the strain. The forest is strong, but Sariel's corruption is eating at it like poison. Through the bond, I sense Kael struggling too. Sweat drips down his face. The flowers under his skin are wilting.
"We can't hold her forever," he gasps.
He's right. Already, cracks are forming in the vine prison. Black corruption oozes through the gaps, killing everything it touches.
My mind races. We can trap her, but we can't destroy her. We're not strong enough.
Unless...
"The binding," I say suddenly. "When we completed it in the Heart Tree, we didn't just connect our magic. We became the covenant itself. Life and death balanced."
Kael looks at me, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You want to pull the corruption out of her. Like you did with me."
"Not just pull it out. Destroy it. But it'll take everything we have left."
"It might kill us."
"It will definitely kill us if we do nothing." I meet his gaze. "I trust you. Do you trust me?"
For a long moment, he just stares. Then something shifts in his expression—something soft and fierce and terrified all at once.
"With my life," he says. "What's left of it, anyway."
Despite everything, I almost smile. "On three?"
"On three."
We grip each other's hands tighter. The bond between us flares so bright I can barely see.
"One."
Sariel tears through another layer of vines. She's almost free.
"Two."
I close my eyes and reach for every drop of magic left in my body. It's not much. But combined with Kael's, with our bond, with the forest itself...
Maybe it's enough.
"Three!"
We slam our joined hands against the ground.
Power explodes outward—not just from us, but from the earth itself. Golden light and dark shadows twist together, forming a massive spiral that shoots straight toward the monster.
The corruption inside Sariel tries to fight back. Black magic clashes against our combined force. For a second, I think we're going to lose—the darkness is too strong, too concentrated—
Then the forest adds its voice.
Every tree. Every flower. Every living and dying thing in the Thornwood pours its power into us. Through me flows centuries of growth, of life renewed. Through Kael flows centuries of decay, of cycles completing.
And together, we are unstoppable.
The corruption screams as our magic tears into it. Not destroying Sariel, but pulling the darkness out of her. Ripping the corrupted death magic away from what remains of the woman underneath.
I see it happening through the bond—black tendrils being yanked free, burned away by golden-dark light. The monster's form shrinks, becoming more human with each second.
But the corruption doesn't want to go. It fights, lashing back at us through the connection.
Pain explodes through my body. It feels like my insides are being shredded. Through the bond, I feel Kael's agony matching mine.
"Don't stop!" he shouts through gritted teeth.
"Wasn't planning to!"
We push harder. The corruption writhes and twists, trying to escape back into the forest, but we've got it cornered. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
With one final surge of power—every last drop we have—we rip the corruption completely free.
And destroy it.
The blast throws us backward. I hit the ground so hard the air leaves my lungs. For several seconds, I can't move, can't breathe, can't think.
When my vision clears, I see Sariel lying in the center of the clearing. Human again. Breathing, but unconscious.
We did it.
Then Kael collapses beside me.
"Kael!" I try to sit up, but my body won't cooperate. Everything hurts. Through the bond, I feel his life force flickering like a candle in the wind.
No. No, no, no—
"Lyssara." Elara appears above me, her face pale. "You're both dying. That magic—it took too much."
"Fix him," I gasp. "You're a healer—fix him—"
"I can't heal this. You used your life forces as fuel. There's nothing left to heal with."
The world is getting fuzzy around the edges. I reach for Kael's hand, finding it cold.
"Together," I whisper. "We said together..."
His fingers twitch. Barely. "Liar," he breathes. "You said... you wouldn't die..."
"You first."
Despite everything, he almost smiles.
Then his eyes close.
Through the bond, I feel his heartbeat—that heartbeat I gave him—getting slower.
And slower.
And—
"No!" A voice cuts through the darkness. Not Elara's. Someone else.
I turn my head just enough to see a figure walking into the clearing. Someone I never expected to see here.
My father.
Lord Davian Ashenmere stands at the edge of the forest, and he's not alone. Behind him, I see Celestine. And soldiers. And something else—something glowing in his hands.
"Looking for this?" He holds up a crystal vial filled with golden light. Even from here, I can feel its power. Pure life magic. Condensed. Preserved.
"That's impossible," Elara breathes. "That's—"
"Your mother's magic," my father finishes, looking at me. "The magic I took from her the day they burned her. The magic I've been saving for twenty-three years."
My blood turns to ice.
He stole my mother's magic. Kept it. All this time.
"Give it to me," I rasp. "Save him—"
"Oh, I'll save someone," Davian says coldly. "But not the monster. You see, Lyssara, this magic has one use left. One person it can restore. And I'm going to use it to complete the real sacrifice."
He turns to Celestine.
"The covenant is broken, but we can remake it. With this magic, with your stepsister's death, we can reset everything. Return the forest to its proper order."
"No," I gasp, but I'm too weak to move.
Celestine steps forward, and she's smiling.
"I'm ready," she says. "I'll be the perfect bride. The willing sacrifice. Everything will be as it should have been."
My father raises the vial.
And beside me, Kael's heartbeat stops.