Elara's POV
I wake up screaming Theron's name.
Strong hands grip my shoulders. "Elara! It's me. You're safe."
Cassian's face swims into focus. We're in a cave. Firelight flickers on stone walls. I'm wrapped in a blanket, shaking so hard my teeth chatter.
"What happened?" My voice cracks. "Did I—did I kill him?"
"No." Cassian releases me and sits back. "You knocked him unconscious and scared him badly enough that he ran when he woke up. But he's alive."
"The power. That thing inside me—"
"Is gone now. You passed out right after." He studies my face. "Do you remember any of it?"
I remember shadows exploding from my body. Remember feeling ancient and furious and not myself. Remember Theron's terrified expression as he scrambled backward.
"Some," I whisper. "It felt like someone else was controlling me."
"That's because someone was." Cassian builds up the fire with a wave of his hand. "Shadowborn magic doesn't just give you power. It connects you to every Shadowborn who came before. Their knowledge. Their strength. Their rage."
"So dead people are possessing me? That's what I am now?"
"Not possessing. More like... guiding. When you're in danger and don't know how to use your power, the old ones step in." He pauses. "It saved your life tonight. But it's dangerous, Elara. If you lose control—"
"I'll what? Turn into a monster?" I laugh bitterly. "Too late. Theron already called me one."
"You're not a monster." Cassian's voice is firm. "Scared and confused, yes. A monster, no."
I pull the blanket tighter, trying to stop shaking. The cave is warm from the fire, but I'm cold from the inside out. "I don't understand any of this. Why me? Why did the Sanctum choose me for their ritual?"
Cassian stares at the flames. "They didn't choose you specifically. They choose based on bloodline purity and social status. You were a minor noble—important enough to matter, not important enough to cause political problems when you died."
"So I was nobody special."
"To them, you were just a name on a list." His jaw tightens. "Theron picked you because marrying you first made the sacrifice worth more. Killing a stranger earns favor. Killing a wife earns devotion."
The cruelty of it makes me sick. "He planned it from the beginning. Every smile. Every kind word. All lies."
"Yes."
"And my mother knew I had magic. She drugged me my whole life to keep it hidden."
"Probably to protect you. Shadowborn are hunted. Have been for centuries." Cassian adds more wood to the fire. "She must have thought hiding your power was the only way to keep you safe."
"Instead she made me helpless." Anger burns through the cold. "I never learned to control it. Never knew it existed. And now it's waking up inside me and I don't know how to stop it."
"Then we learn together." Cassian meets my eyes. "I've studied shadow magic for 237 years. I can teach you control."
"Why would you help me? You said yourself—if the power takes over, I'm dangerous."
"Because right now, we're stuck with each other." He touches his own wrist where a matching mark mirrors mine. "Your life is my life. If you lose control and die, I die too. So yes, I'm helping you. Call it selfish if you want."
At least he's honest.
I touch the mark on my wrist. It's warm, pulsing gently. "The curse brought me back tied to you instead of letting me stay dead. So I'm only alive because of you."
"Unfortunately for both of us, yes." He looks away. "I never wanted this. Any of it. The curse. The deaths. Being responsible for someone else's life again."
"You didn't ask for this either."
"No. But here we are." He stands and walks to the cave entrance, looking out at the dark forest. "The Sanctum will keep hunting us. Theron won't stop until you're dead. And your power is unstable and growing stronger every day."
"So what do we do?"
"Survive. Learn. Find a way to break the curse before—"
He stops. His whole body goes tense.
"Before what?" I ask.
"Before your power fully wakes up." His voice is quiet. Scared. "Theron said Shadowborn can control death itself. If that's true, and you can't control it..." He doesn't finish.
I don't need him to. If I can't control power over death, I could kill everyone around me. Including Cassian.
"How long do I have?"
"I don't know. Days. Weeks. Maybe less." He turns back to face me. "But we'll figure it out. We have to."
I nod, trying to believe him.
We sit in silence for a while. The fire crackles. Outside, the forest is eerily quiet.
"Can I ask you something?" I say finally.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you run? When the fortress was surrounded, you could have used shadow travel to escape alone. Left me behind. Saved yourself."
Cassian is quiet for so long I think he won't answer. Then: "Because the others died alone. Scared and abandoned. I couldn't save them, but I can save you. Even if it's just giving you a fighting chance instead of none at all."
Something warm spreads through my chest. Not the mark. Something deeper.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"Don't thank me yet. We still have to survive the night."
As if his words summoned it, a howl echoes through the forest. Long. Haunting. Hungry.
Shadow beasts. Hunting again.
Cassian's hand goes to his shadow-sword. "Stay here. Don't leave the cave."
"What are you—"
"They can't enter the cave. The wards I set up will hold them back. But they can sense us out there." He moves toward the entrance. "I'll draw them away."
"No! If you die, I die!"
"I won't die. I've survived worse than shadow beasts." He looks back at me. "Trust me, Elara."
Before I can argue, he's gone. Disappeared into the darkness.
I'm alone.
The howling grows closer. I hear snarling. The clash of weapons against claws. Cassian's voice shouting something I can't make out.
Then—silence.
Complete. Absolute. Terrifying silence.
"Cassian?" I call out. Nothing. "CASSIAN!"
Still nothing.
My heart pounds. The bond. I should be able to feel him through the bond. I close my eyes and reach for that connection.
There. Faint. Weak. But there.
He's alive. Barely.
I stand up, dropping the blanket. Every instinct screams at me to run to him. But he said stay in the cave. Said the wards would protect me.
More howling. Right outside the cave entrance.
A massive shadow beast appears in the opening. Red eyes. Teeth like knives. It snarls at me but doesn't enter. Can't enter. The wards hold.
But it's not alone. More beasts gather behind it. Five. Ten. Twenty.
All staring at me.
Waiting.
Then I feel it. The tingling in my fingers. Starting small. Growing stronger.
I look down and gasp.
The shadows near the cave entrance start moving. Not away from the beasts. Toward me.
They slide across the ground like living things. Wrapping around my ankles. Climbing up my legs.
"Cassian?" My voice shakes. "What's happening to me?"
The shadows reach my hands. My fingers turn black—not with dirt or paint, but with pure darkness. Like my skin is becoming shadow.
The beasts outside whine and back away.
The mark on my wrist burns ice-cold.
And deep inside me, something ancient whispers:
"Let us out. Let us protect you. Let us show them what a Shadowborn can do."
"No," I breathe. "No, I don't want—"
"He's dying out there. Your bond-mate. Let us save him."
I feel Cassian's pain through the bond. Feel his life fading.
The shadows climb higher. Up my arms. Across my chest. Reaching for my face.
"Please," I beg. "I don't know how to control this!"
"Then don't control it. Surrender. Become what you were meant to be."
The shadows cover my eyes.
And everything goes dark.