They did not have long.
Elowen felt it before Kael said a word. The bond stirred, tightening like a drawn wire beneath her skin. Not pain this time, but pressure. Awareness. The unmistakable sensation of being sought.
She straightened slowly, every nerve humming. "We are not alone."
Kael had already risen, his posture alert, predatory. Fire flickered faintly beneath his skin, restrained but restless. He listened for a moment, then nodded once.
"They have crossed the outer wards."
Her stomach twisted. "You said this place was forgotten."
"It was," he replied. "Until you woke it."
That was not reassurance.
They moved deeper into the catacombs, their footsteps echoing softly against stone carved with symbols Elowen did not recognize. Some were ancient runes. Others looked newer, etched hastily, as if someone had been here long after the kingdom pretended these tunnels no longer existed.
The bond pulsed again, sharper now.
She stumbled, catching herself against the wall. Kael was instantly there, his hand closing around her elbow. The contact sent a jolt through her, heat flaring low in her stomach before she could stop it.
He felt it.
She knew he did by the way his fingers tightened, by the slight hitch in his breath.
"Do not," he warned.
"I did not," she snapped, flushing with anger and something far more dangerous.
"Your body is lying to you," he said quietly. "Mine is answering."
The honesty of it unsettled her more than anger would have.
A sound echoed through the tunnel behind them.
Not boots.
Something slower. Deliberate. Nails scraping lightly against stone.
Elowen's breath caught. "That is not a guard."
"No," Kael agreed. "That is an Inquisitor's hound."
Her pulse spiked. "They use those for blood-marked mages."
"Yes."
"I am not a mage."
Kael looked at her. "You are worse."
The words had barely left his mouth when the creature rounded the bend.
It was humanoid in shape but wrong in every detail. Its limbs bent at unnatural angles, skin stretched too tightly over bone, eyes milky and unfocused. Black sigils were burned deep into its chest, still faintly glowing.
It smiled at them.
"You reek of oathfire," it rasped. "And something older."
Elowen's blood ran cold.
Kael stepped in front of her without hesitation. Fire crawled up his arms, brighter now, responding eagerly to the threat. "Go back," he commanded. "Before I end you."
The hound laughed, a wet, broken sound. "You cannot. You are bound."
It lunged.
Everything happened too fast.
Kael hurled fire that exploded against the creature's chest, tearing flesh and bone apart. It should have fallen.
It did not.
The sigils flared violently, absorbing the flame and spitting it back in a distorted wave. Kael staggered as the backlash slammed into him, his control fracturing.
Elowen screamed as pain ripped through her chest, the bond flaring out of control.
"Kael," she gasped. "It is feeding on you."
"And on you," he ground out.
The hound advanced again, dragging its ruined body forward with horrifying persistence. "Together," it crooned, "you will burn beautifully."
Something snapped inside Elowen.
She did not think. She did not hesitate.
She reached.
Not for fire.
For him.
She grabbed Kael's wrist and pulled, hard, forcing their palms together. Blood still slick from the ritual smeared between them as the bond ignited violently.
Power surged.
Not wild this time. Focused. Directional.
Kael's breath left him in a harsh sound as something inside him aligned, locked into place. Fire roared to life, darker and denser than before, threaded with something that felt unmistakably hers.
"Now," she whispered.
Kael moved.
He drove the flame straight into the hound's chest, not as an attack but as a command. The creature screamed as the sigils shattered, unable to withstand the altered magic tearing them apart from the inside.
The hound collapsed into ash.
Silence fell hard and sudden.
Elowen sagged forward, dizzy and shaking. Kael caught her, his arms wrapping around her without thought. The contact sent a shock of sensation through them both.
Too much.
Her skin felt too tight. Her breath too shallow. Awareness of him flooded her senses. His heat. His scent. The steady, dangerous pull of the bond urging her closer.
Kael felt it too.
She could tell by the way his grip tightened, by the way his head dipped toward hers before he caught himself.
"This is bad," she whispered.
"Yes," he said hoarsely. "It is getting worse faster than it should."
Her fingers curled into his shirt without permission. "Then why does it feel like this."
His jaw clenched hard. "Because the bond does not distinguish between survival and desire."
The air between them grew thick, charged, vibrating with restrained energy. For a heartbeat, she thought he might kiss her. The thought sent heat spiraling low in her belly, terrifying and unwelcome.
Instead, he pulled away abruptly.
"We cannot do that," he said sharply. "If we cross that line now, we will not come back."
She stared at him, breath unsteady. "You sound very sure."
"I am," he said. "I have seen what this bond does when it is fed the wrong way."
Footsteps echoed faintly in the distance.
More hunters.
Kael cursed under his breath. "They will keep coming. The bond makes us visible."
Elowen wiped ash from her sleeve, her hands still shaking. "Then we need to end this."
He looked at her, something grim and resolute settling into his expression. "There is only one way to truly sever it."
Her chest tightened. "Tell me."
He hesitated.
Then, quietly, "One of us has to die."
The words landed like a blade between them.
Elowen swallowed hard, meeting his gaze without flinching. "And until then."
His eyes darkened. "Until then, we use it."
Outside the catacombs, the kingdom's hunters closed in.
Inside, two people bound by blood and fire stood at the edge of something that could either damn them both or burn the world clean.
And neither of them believed survival would come without corruption.