The moment Elara's lips touched Kael's wounded palm, a jolt ran through her like a lightning strike. It wasn't pain—but memory. Not hers.
His.
The scent of burning fur. Screams echoing through a blood-soaked ballroom. A girl, silver-haired, screaming his name—not Elara.
Elara reeled back, breath catching. "What was—?"
Kael gripped her wrist suddenly, his eyes wide, pupils blown, golden irises flashing with something ancient and broken.
"You shouldn't have done that," he whispered, voice ragged.
"I kissed a wound, not a sigil."
"No. You kissed a pact."
The rune on his chest—one she hadn't even noticed before—flared like fire beneath the torn remains of his shirt. Heat pulsed between their connected hands, and for a single, terrifying moment, she couldn't tell if her blood was hers anymore.
Kael's grip tightened.
"Elara," he rasped, but it didn't sound like her name anymore. It sounded like a prayer choked on ash.
And then he moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
One moment, she was crouching. The next, Kael had twisted their positions, her back slammed against the stable floor, his body looming over her, one knee between her legs, breath hot and wild against her neck.
His free hand slammed into the ground beside her head, claws barely retracted.
"Let go," she hissed, struggling.
"I can't," he breathed. "You opened the bond. It's bleeding both ways."
Elara's heart thundered.
"What do you see?" she asked, her voice low, challenging.
Kael's gaze was wild, feral. "Flames. Blood. Her."
"Her who?"
He didn't answer.
Elara's hand shot up and grabbed the back of his neck, yanking his face down to hers.
"Say my name."
His jaw tensed. "Elara—"
She didn't wait for more.
She flipped them, using all the leverage she had left, straddling him now, her knees pinning his arms, her breath trembling as she looked down at him.
"Good," she whispered. "Now look at me. Really look."
Kael's chest rose and fell beneath her, muscle corded and tight, still glowing faintly with the heat of the bond.
"I'm not your ghost," she said. "I'm not your guilt."
He blinked. Slowly.
The madness began to recede from his eyes.
"You're not," he said softly.
"No," she growled. "I'm the damn fool who kissed you instead of killing you."
A laugh escaped him—dark, broken, half feral.
"I warned you," he said. "I'm poison."
She leaned down, lips brushing his.
"Then I guess I'm thirsty."
And she kissed him.
It wasn't gentle.
It wasn't sweet.
It was sharp teeth and blood heat and cracked lips. It was two survivors drowning in each other's ruin. His mouth opened beneath hers, desperate and hot, and she could feel the bond vibrating between their palms like a live wire.
For a moment, there was nothing but the kiss.
The war, the fever, the fear—it all faded.
And then—
A footstep.
Outside the barn.
Kael froze.
Elara jolted upright, heart punching through her ribs.
Another footstep.
Then a voice.
"Elara? You in there?"
Elara's blood ran cold.
Her sister.
Kael sat up, still panting, body thrumming with restrained instinct. "Who—?"
"My sister," Elara whispered. "She wasn't supposed to come here."
Kael's expression changed in an instant—from dazed to deadly.
"Do I need to kill her?"
"No!"
He smirked, eyes lazy. "You paused."
"Shut up."
"Elara?" her sister called again, closer this time. "I brought—what the hell is this smell?"
"Damn it," Elara muttered.
She shoved Kael back down and grabbed a loose canvas tarp, tossing it over his body. "Don't move. Don't speak. If she sees you—"
"I know," Kael said, voice suddenly serious. "If she sees me, she dies."
Elara's eyes narrowed. "You're not helping."
But he was already still, jaw tight, body pressed flat to the floor.
Elara wiped her lips, her cheeks, ran blood-crusted fingers through her tangled hair, and staggered to the barn door just as it creaked open.
Her younger sister—pale, wide-eyed, freckled—stood in the moonlight holding a basket of herbs and a borrowed lantern.
"Elara," she said, confused. "What are you doing in here?"
"I—I couldn't sleep," Elara said quickly. "I came to clear out the old stable. Just… memories."
The girl wrinkled her nose. "It smells like blood."
"Probably a dead rat."
Her sister frowned but stepped inside anyway. "You look weird."
"I am weird," Elara said with forced lightness. "You're just catching up."
Her sister tilted her head. "Did you… cry?"
Elara blinked. "No."
"Yes, you did. Your eyes are red. And your lip is split."
Elara bit back a curse. "I tripped on a beam."
Her sister looked at her, then at the tarp-covered form in the shadows.
Her breath hitched.
"Elara—what's under there?"
"Old tack."
"Elara."
"It's fine," she said firmly, stepping between her and Kael's still form.
The girl's voice dropped. "Did you bring something from the forest?"
Elara didn't answer.
And that silence was an answer all its own.
Her sister looked up at her, eyes huge. "Does it have blood magic?"
Elara opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
Because Kael, under the tarp, was laughing.
Just a whisper of it—barely audible.
But she heard it.
Elara turned on her heel, stormed to the tarp, and hissed through her teeth, "Shut. The hell. Up."
His muffled voice replied, amused: "She's clever."
"I swear I will silver-stitch your mouth shut."
Her sister stood frozen.
"Elara, what did you do?"
Elara turned back to her, heart pounding, breath shaky.
"I made a mistake," she said softly. "But I'm going to fix it."
Her sister stared at her.
Then, slowly, she walked forward, placed the basket on the ground, and whispered, "I'll guard the barn."
Elara's eyes widened. "You what?"
Her sister looked up at her. "I don't understand what you're doing. But you've never lied to me before. So if you say it's not a monster... I'll believe you. Once."
Then she turned.
And walked out.
Leaving Elara in the dark.
And Kael, chuckling softly under his breath.
"You're a terrible liar," he said from under the tarp.
"And you're a terrible secret."
She sat down beside him, too exhausted to care.
Outside, her sister's silhouette settled on a hay bale under the stars, lantern burning at her side.
Inside, Elara curled her fingers around Kael's.
Neither of them spoke.
They didn't need to.
Because now the bond was awake.
And it was hungry.