The clash of armies was deafening. Steel on steel, screams of rage and pain, the thunderous sound of three hundred soldiers meeting our defenders in chaotic combat. I'd never been in a real battle before, and nothing in training had prepared me for the sensory overload.
Blood sprayed across my armor within seconds of engaging. A soldier in Daemon's colors lunged at me with a spear, and I barely got my sword up in time to deflect. He was bigger, stronger, trained for war his entire life.
I was a princess who'd been learning to fight for less than two months.
He should have killed me easily.
But training with Kael had taught me to fight smart, not strong. I ducked under his next thrust, slashed low at his legs, and when he stumbled, drove my dagger into the gap between his armor plates.
He fell, and I didn't wait to see if he was dead. Couldn't afford to. Another enemy was already moving toward me, and another beyond him.
The battle was a blur of violence I could barely track. Strike, parry, dodge, strike again. My muscles burned, my breath came in ragged gasps, and terror threatened to overwhelm me with each enemy I faced.
But I kept fighting. Because stopping meant dying, and I'd promised Kael I'd survive.
Around me, our soldiers were holding their own. Kael's bound shadow beasts had stunned Daemon's forces, and we'd capitalized on that confusion. But the enemy was rallying, remembering their training, pushing back hard.
And above it all, I could feel Kael's presence on the wall. Could sense the enormous strain of maintaining control over fifty hostile creatures that wanted nothing more than to break free and kill everything in sight.
He couldn't hold much longer. I could feel it in my bones.
"Princess!" Theron appeared beside me, his sword bloody. "Daemon's forces are trying to flank us on the east side! We need to redirect troops or they'll cut us off!"
"Take the reserves! Hold that flank!" I blocked another attack, kicked my opponent back, and turned to see the tactical situation.
It was worse than I'd feared. Daemon's soldiers outnumbered us and they were disciplined, pressing advantages we couldn't match. If not for the shadow beasts holding their right flank immobile, we'd already be overrun.
"Where's Daemon?" I called out to anyone who could hear. "Has anyone seen their commander?"
"There!" A soldier pointed toward the back of enemy lines where a figure in black armor stood observing the battle. Even at this distance, I recognized the bearing, the way he stood.
Daemon. Watching his plan fall apart. Watching his shadow beasts turn against him. Watching his nephew burn through his life force to stop him.
And I knew what Kael was thinking. Knew he'd seen Daemon too. Knew he'd make the choice I'd been dreading.
"No," I breathed. "Kael, don't. Don't do it—"
But it was too late. I felt the surge of magic as Kael released his tight control over the shadow beasts and directed them toward a single target.
Daemon.
The fifty creatures surged across the battlefield in a wave of living darkness, ignoring the soldiers in their path, focused entirely on the man who'd created them. Daemon saw them coming and his own shade manifested, massive and terrible, meeting his former servants with apocalyptic force.
The collision of that much shadow magic was like a physical shockwave. Soldiers on both sides were thrown from their feet. The very air seemed to crack and tear.
And in the center of it all, Daemon and Kael's bound beasts fought, the uncle's power against the nephew's desperate gambit.
"We need to press the advantage!" Captain Thorne was shouting. "While Daemon is occupied, we hit their forces hard! Break their line!"
He was right. This was our moment. If we could shatter their formation while Daemon was distracted, we could win this.
But all I could think about was Kael, standing alone on that wall, channeling enough power to kill a normal person ten times over.
"Go!" I ordered. "Press the attack! I'm going to Kael!"
"Princess, you can't—"
"That's an order, Captain! Win this battle!"
I didn't wait for his response. I ran toward the wall, dodging through combat, ignoring enemies that weren't directly threatening me. I had to reach Kael. Had to make sure he didn't burn himself out completely in his determination to destroy Daemon.
The wall stairs were slick with blood. Bodies lay scattered—soldiers who'd tried to hold this position when the shadow beasts first attacked. I climbed over them, guilt and horror churning in my gut, but I couldn't stop.
I reached the top to find Kael exactly where I'd seen him before, but changed. The silver light in his shade had spread through his entire body. His skin glowed with it, his eyes were pure silver fire, and his hands crackled with visible power.
He was burning up from the inside out.
"Kael!" I grabbed his arm, and the contact sent a jolt through me like touching lightning. "You need to stop! Release the binding before it kills you!"
"Can't." His voice was strained, barely recognizable. "Need to... hold... just a little longer..."
"You're dying! I can see it happening! Please, just let go!"
"Not until... Daemon falls..."
I followed his gaze to the battlefield below where Daemon's shade still fought against fifty bound beasts. The uncle's power was formidable, centuries of experience and dark mastery. But fifty creatures working in concert was slowly overwhelming him.
He was losing. Daemon was actually losing.
But so was Kael.
I could see his life force burning away, the magic consuming him bit by bit. The binding wasn't meant to be maintained this long, wasn't meant to channel this much power.
He was going to die if I didn't do something.
"Elena!" I screamed, hoping she could hear me somehow. "Elena, I need you at the outer wall now! Kael is dying!"
No response. Just the sounds of battle raging below, and Kael's labored breathing beside me.
"Please," I begged him, tears streaming down my face. "Please just let go. We can finish this another way. Don't die for this."
"If I... let go... beasts turn back... kill our people... can't allow that..."
He was right. If he released control now, the shadow beasts would revert to their hostile nature and slaughter anyone nearby. Including our own soldiers. Including me.
He was trapped. Either maintain control and burn out, or release and watch the creatures massacre everyone.
"There has to be another option," I said desperately. "Some way to safely release the binding—"
"There is." The voice came from behind me, and I spun to find Elena climbing the last steps to the wall. She looked exhausted but determined. "The binding can be transferred to another host. Someone with compatible bloodline."
"Transferred? How?"
"Physical contact and willing acceptance. If someone with Daemon's bloodline touches Kael and agrees to take the binding, it will shift to them." Elena moved closer. "But it has to be willing. Can't be forced."
"Then do it! You're from the old families, you have the bloodline—"
"I'm too weak. I don't have the magical reserves to maintain the binding for more than seconds. It would kill me even faster than it's killing Kael." Elena's expression was grim. "It needs to be someone with the curse. Someone whose shade can help bear the burden."
My blood went cold. "Daemon's the only other shade-bearer with his bloodline. And he's kind of busy trying to kill us all."
"Not the only one." Elena looked at me meaningfully. "You're carrying Kael's child. If the child inherited the curse—and there's a high probability they did—they share both bloodlines. Daemon through Kael, and Arianna through me. They'd be compatible."
"Absolutely not." Kael's voice cut through, stronger suddenly. "I'm not risking our unborn child for this. Find another way."
"There is no other way! You're dying, Kael! I can literally watch it happening!" Elena moved between us. "The child might not even be affected. The curse doesn't manifest until birth at the earliest. Transferring the binding wouldn't harm an unborn baby who hasn't activated their magic yet."
"You don't know that for certain."
"No, I don't. But I know for certain that you'll be dead in five minutes if we don't transfer the binding. So weigh those odds and decide."
Kael looked at me, and I saw the agony in his eyes. The impossible choice—his life or our child's safety.
"Do it," I said before he could argue. "Transfer the binding to me and the baby. If there's even a chance it works—"
"Elara, no—"
"You don't get to sacrifice yourself while I watch! If this binding needs to go somewhere, it goes to me!" I grabbed his hand before he could pull away. "Elena, what do I need to do?"
"Accept the binding willingly. Say the words clearly: 'I accept this burden freely given.'" Elena placed her hand over both of ours. "But Princess, understand—if the child has the curse, you're binding them to shadow magic before birth. If they don't have the curse, the binding might kill them. Or kill you. Or kill both. This is incredibly dangerous."