She knew he was in there, buried somewhere beneath the shadows tearing him apart, and if she could reach that part of him, even for a breath, it would be enough. It had to be. Every instinct inside her screamed that Kael was slipping fast, slipping into something he could never return from, but she refused to let this place take him. Not now, not after everything.
The Circle pressed against her with a suffocating force, pushing at her ribs, her spine, her lungs, as if trying to shove her out of the ritual space altogether. But she was already inside, already close enough to hear the ragged pull of his breath, close enough to see the tremor in his jaw. The shadows pinned him in place, clinging to him.
He strained against the chains, the metal groaning under the pressure. Sweat and shadow bled together down his skin. His head jerked as though pulled by invisible hands.
Leira stepped closer.
Her breath hitched as she fought it, planting her feet and leaning forward until her body trembled from the strain. She reached out, her hand shaking, her palm glowing faintly with the light that always rose inside her when she needed it most.
The heat near him was blistering. She winced at the sting scraping across her skin, but she forced herself forward anyway.
She had to talk to him. She had to anchor him. He needed something to hold on to, something stronger than shadows.
"Kael," she whispered, breath unsteady, "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me."
The shadows around him stilled for a heartbeat, as if listening.
She swallowed hard, fighting to keep her voice steady. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but she blinked quickly, not wanting to lose her focus. His skin was scorching, but she didn't pull away. She couldn't.
"Do you remember," she whispered softly, "when you found me on the bridge, the day everything fell apart. You came for me, even when you barely had the strength to fight those things that came for me. You saved my life."
A shiver ran through him. Not the shadows. Him.
She stepped closer, her voice tightening as the Circle's force tried to shove her backward. She pushed against it, her shoulders shaking.
"D…do you remember the cabin," she murmured, her breaths turning fragile, "when you tried to protect me from the shadows. You didn't even know what was happening to me. You didn't know what would happen to you if they took you, you didn't care if they killed you, but you still put yourself in front of me anyway."
His fingers twitched against the chains. His head tilted, a fraction, but enough. She saw it. Felt it.
It cracked something inside her.
"Kael," she breathed out, voice breaking, "remember our haven. The quiet place we built when everything else was falling apart, when Ari died. When you use to go days without falling asleep. Remember the first time you held me. When you told me the truth about your nightmares."
His breath hitched. The shadows around his ribs rippled sharply, as if fighting him.
"And do you remember," she whispered, a tear slipping free down her cheek, "the first time you told me you loved me."
The shadows lashed upward like whips, trying to drown the flicker she saw in his eyes, but she didn't stop. She wiped at her cheek with the back of her hand, trying to hold herself together.
"You thought I didn't believe you," she continued, voice trembling, "you thought I didn't say it back because I didn't feel it, but the truth is I did. I loved you, Kael. I did. And it terrified me. Ari had just died, and the idea of letting anyone that close again felt like it would break me, like it might kill me."
Her voice cracked, a quiet sound swallowed quickly by the cavern.
"But what I wouldn't admit, not then, was that it already happened. You were already in my heart. You were already the man I loved. I just didn't know how to say it yet. I didn't know how to let myself have you."
She stepped closer, pushing through a harsh wave of resistance. The ground cracked beneath her boots. Dust rained from above. The shadows hissed in pain as her light brushed Kael's cheek.
Her tears fell freely now, sliding down her face and dropping onto his skin, where they hissed against the heat of the corruption surrounding him.
"I love you," she whispered, barely able to speak, "I love you with everything in me. And I need you to come back to me. Right now. Please."
The shadows stilled.
Kael's body went rigid, chest rising sharply. His lips parted around a breath that sounded torn from somewhere deep inside him.
Then his eyes flickered.
Shadow. Light. Shadow.
Then clear.
Clear, fragile, human.
Tears rolled down his temples, cutting trails through the grime on his skin.
His voice broke on her name.
"Leira," he whispered, barely audible, "I love you too."
The sound hit her like a blow, so soft and so real that her knees weakened. Her hand cupped his cheek more firmly, her thumb brushing the wetness beneath his eye.
But the moment didn't last.
The shadows shrieked, a piercing, angry sound that cut through the cavern like a blade. They surged upward around him, latching onto his ribs, his spine, his throat, as if trying to drag him back under. Kael gasped, his body trembling, his chains rattling so violently the metal sparked.
He choked out a cry.
Leira grabbed his shoulders, pulling herself closer, holding him steady as the entire Circle convulsed around them. The temperature shifted violently, swinging from freezing cold to blistering heat. Her hair whipped around her face. The ground trembled under her feet.
The shadows lunged.
They slammed into her with a force that knocked the air from her lungs. She stumbled but didn't fall. She held him tighter, pressing both hands to his face, her forehead nearly touching his.
"No," she whispered fiercely, breath shaking, "focus on me… come back to me."
The Circle roared back at her. A shockwave burst outward, pushing dust and loose stones across the floor in a violent scatter. A crack ripped down the cavern wall. The sound echoed like thunder.
Kael convulsed again, his breath breaking, his eyes flickering wildly.
"Leira," he gasped, his voice strained and cracking, "please… I can't lose you again."
She shook her head, tears falling faster.
"I can't lose you. We have come too far for this to be how it ends."
"They're going to hurt you…" he choked, shadows rising around his jaw, "I can't let them hurt you."
He cried out as something inside him twisted. His back bent against the chains. His fingers clawed at the empty air, reaching for something he couldn't grasp.
Leira pressed her hands to his chest, her palms glowing with fierce, trembling light.
"Then don't," she whispered, voice breaking, "don't let them hurt me… don't let them hurt us. I'm here, Kael, I am going to stay right here with you, no matter what."
He shuddered, the shadows swelling around him, thick and furious. The lines carved into the stone glowing so intensely they burned against her vision. Chunks of rock broke free from the ceiling and crashed around them. The stalkers shrieked from beyond the boundary, pacing wildly.
Kael gasped as the shadows coiled around his throat and tried to force themselves into his mouth.
His eyes softened for a breath. A single second. A piece of him pushing back.
"I…" he whispered, voice thin, "I won't… let them… hurt you…"
His entire body spasmed and he fell forward onto his knees, screaming. The sound tore through the cavern, raw and violent. He was fighting the shadows with everything he had, his muscles shaking under the force of it. The shadows writhed in panic, slowly unraveling as if peeled from him by some invisible hand, trembling and clawing at him, trying to force their way back in, but failing. Kael's determination was unmatched.
He wasn't strong enough when his life alone was at risk, but knowing the woman he loves was being threatened too, knowing she wasn't going to leave, something inside him snapped into place. He knew the only way she would survive was if he acted, and acted now. He had to protect her again, even if it destroyed him.
The shadows sensed they were losing him. They writhed violently, desperate. In a frantic surge, they lunged toward Leira, the only threat to their ritual. If they couldn't control him, they would destroy her. They struck at her in a rushing burst of darkness.
They slammed into her chest, knocking her off balance, pushing her backward until her boots skidded across the fractured floor. Pain shot up her arms. Her vision blurred. But she forced herself forward again, teeth clenched, breath sharp.
Behind her, Kael screamed again, louder than anything before, a sound so agonized it made the walls tremble.
And then he moved.
With his last unshadowed instinct, he drove his hand downward, slamming his palm against the glowing sigil carved beneath him.
The moment his skin touched it, the entire Circle reacted.
Light sparked. The ground bucked. The sigil beneath him cracked in half, splitting like shattered bone. A surge of unstable energy rushed upward, tearing through the ritual lines and severing the shadows' grip on the foundation of the Circle.
The shadows shrieked in fury, recoiling violently as the ritual destabilized under them. The cavern groaned from the sudden imbalance. The glow around the Circle flickered rapidly, losing structure, losing form, losing control.
Kael's body jerked from the backlash, almost throwing him backward, but he held himself up with shaking arms, still forcing his hand against the broken sigil.
The shadows scrambled, trying to reform, trying to reattach themselves, but they couldn't. Not fully. Not with the sigil ruptured. Not with Kael's will anchoring the fracture.
He growled through clenched teeth, his voice low and cracked, "You will not take her."
The shadows thrashed, but the break in the sigil weakened them. They could no longer keep him fully contained. They could no longer keep the Circle intact.
And they knew it.
They shrieked in a frenzy, whipping around him in chaotic spirals.
They turned their full attention back to Leira. She braced herself for their attack again.
But now, for the first time… they were afraid.