Kaelen's POV
Fifty soldiers pour through the veil like an invading army.
They're heavily armed swords glowing with light magic, shields etched with protective runes, siege weapons that shouldn't exist in the mortal world.
And leading them is King Aldric himself, flanked by Lord Cassian and someone I recognize from Elara's memories through our bond.
Thalia. Her sister.
Defend the citadel! I command. Nyx howls, and shadows rise from the ground like a tidal wave.
But these soldiers are prepared. They raise their light-shields, and my darkness crashes against them uselessly.
They've found a way to block my power.
Kaelen! Elara's voice cuts through the chaos. We fight together, remember?
She's right. Alone, we're vulnerable. Together, we're unstoppable.
I reach for her hand as the first wave of soldiers charges.
Elara's POV
The moment our hands connect, power explodes between us.
Not light or darkness separately twilight. Purple-silver energy that's both and neither, stronger than anything we could create alone.
Now! Kaelen shouts.
We release the power together.
Twilight magic crashes into the soldiers like a tsunami. Their light-shields shatter. Men are thrown backward, screaming. The siege weapons melt into useless slag.
But there are too many. For every soldier we stop, two more take their place.
A blade gets through slicing across Kaelen's side. He gasps in pain, and through the bond, I feel it like it's my own wound.
No! I scream.
Shadow blood not red, but black and glowing pours from the cut. The light-magic weapon is preventing it from healing.
Three assassins corner Kaelen, raising their weapons for a killing blow.
I don't think. I just react.
Light explodes from my entire body not to destroy Kaelen like everyone expected, but to heal him. I pour every ounce of power I have into the bond between us.
Kaelen's POV
Elara's light floods into me through our connection.
It should hurt. Light magic is the opposite of what I am. It should burn me from the inside out.
Instead, it heals.
The wound on my side closes. The poison from the light-weapon purges from my system. Power surges through me stronger than I've felt in centuries.
Our magic merges completely. Light and darkness becoming one.
Twilight.
Together, we stand and face the army.
You should not have come here, I say, my voice echoing with divine power.
We raise our joined hands, and twilight magic erupts like a volcano.
It's devastating.
Beautiful.
Unstoppable.
The magic doesn't just defeat the soldiers it transforms the battlefield. Dead, scorched ground turns green and fertile. Withered plants bloom. The eternal twilight of the Shadowlands brightens to something almost like dawn.
Within minutes, it's over.
Soldiers flee back through the veil, screaming about monsters and demons. Only a handful remain, too injured to run.
And kneeling before us, disarmed and defeated, are King Aldric, Lord Cassian, and Thalia.
Elara's POV
I should feel triumphant. We won.
But all I feel is exhausted and sick as I stare at my sister.
Thalia's face is streaked with tears. Elara, please
Don't. My voice is ice. Don't say my name like we're still family.
We are family! I came to help you!
You came with an army to kill me! The words tear from my throat. Again! You betrayed me to Cassian once, and now you lead soldiers to murder me? How many times, Thalia? How many times will you choose power over me?
I didn't have a choice! Thalia sobs. They forced me! Cassian said if I didn't help, they'd execute me for treason!
Through the bond, I feel Kaelen's certainty. She's lying.
I already know. I can see it in her eyes the same calculation, the same selfishness that made her betray me the first time.
You always have a choice, I tell her quietly. You just keep choosing yourself.
Kaelen steps forward, shadows coalescing around him like armor. King Aldric. Lord Cassian. You invaded my realm. Attacked my mate. Give me one reason I shouldn't execute you both right now.
Execute a king? Aldric's voice shakes with false bravado. That would be an act of war!
You already declared war when you brought an army through my veil. Kaelen's eyes glow brighter. But I'm feeling merciful. Nyx escort them back to Lummis. Let them explain to their people why they attacked the Shadowlands and lost.
Nyx materializes, baring his teeth. With pleasure.
Wait! Cassian struggles against his chains. You can't just let us go! We have information! About the curse! About the prophecy!
Kaelen pauses. Speak.
The prophecy has three endings, not two, Cassian says desperately. The light priestesses left a hidden text. I found it. There's a third option that no one knows about!
My heart stops. Lyanna already told me about the third option sacrificing myself to free Kaelen.
But Cassian shouldn't know about it.
What third option? Kaelen demands.
Cassian smiles cruelly. Let me go, and I'll tell you.
Or I could torture it out of you.
The information is magically protected. Kill me, and you'll never know. Cassian's eyes gleam with malice. But I'll make you a deal, Dark King. Let me and the king return safely to Lummis. In exchange, I'll give you the hidden text that explains how to break your curse without anyone dying.
I feel Kaelen's suspicion through the bond. He doesn't trust Cassian and neither do I.
But if there's really a way to break the curse without sacrifice...
Kaelen, I whisper. What if he's telling the truth?
He's not. He's a liar and a manipulator.
But what if he's not lying about this? I grip his hand tighter. What if there really is another way?
Kaelen looks at me, conflict clear in his silver eyes. Through the bond, I feel his desperate hope warring with centuries of caution.
Fine, he finally says. You have three days to deliver this text to the veil. If you don't return, I'll hunt you down myself.
Nyx drags the prisoners away, Thalia sobbing the entire time.
When they're gone, Kaelen turns to me. That was a mistake.
Maybe. But if there's any chance
There isn't. His voice is flat. Cassian will never return. He got what he wanted his freedom. We'll never see that text.
You don't know that.
I know people like him. They don't keep promises.
We stand in the transformed battlefield, surrounded by new life growing from death, and I wonder if Kaelen is right.
Did we just make a terrible mistake?
Three Days Later
Cassian doesn't return.
Kaelen was right. It was all a lie to escape punishment.
I'm in the library with Seris, trying not to think about my sister's betrayal or Cassian's deception, when a light-bird appears at the window.
Not from Mira this time.
From Thalia.
My hands shake as I open the letter.
Elara
You were right. I'm a coward who keeps choosing wrong. But maybe I can finally do something right.
Cassian DID find a hidden text about the curse. But he lied he's not planning to return it. He's going to use it to create more weapons against you.
I stole it. I copied the important parts. I'm sending them to you now.
The third option is real. And it's worse than death.
I'm sorry for everything. I don't expect forgiveness. I just wanted you to know the truth.
Your sister,Thalia
Attached to the letter are pages of ancient text.
I read them, and my blood turns to ice.
The third option isn't just sacrificing myself to free Kaelen.
It's merging our souls permanently into the curse itself becoming a single entity, neither fully Elara nor fully Kaelen, trapped as the guardian of the veil between light and dark.
Forever.
We'd exist. But we wouldn't be ourselves anymore.
And there's more.
A prophecy hidden within the text:
When light and dark are bound as one, a choice will come at the final dawn. Three paths diverge: Death for both, freedom for one, or transformation beyond. The last light-blood must choose with her heart, for the choice itself will tear the veil apart.
Tear the veil apart, I whisper.
Whatever choice I make it's going to destroy the barrier between the Shadowlands and the mortal world.
Meaning the curse won't just affect Kaelen anymore.
It will spread to everyone.