The warning came too late.
Alisha sensed it only after the world had already tilted—after the Eclipse tightened sharply around her awareness, not flaring, not surging, but withdrawing. That alone was enough to snap her fully awake.
She sat upright in her chambers, breath quickening.
Something was wrong.
Not the wards.Not the city.
Someone.
She was already on her feet when the knock came—urgent, uneven.
"Alisha."
Caelan's voice.
She crossed the room in three strides and opened the door.
He stood there pale, eyes darkened not by shadow but by strain. One hand braced against the stone wall as though the ground itself were unsteady.
"You felt it too," she said.
He nodded once. "He found a way around you."
Her chest tightened. "Are you hurt?"
"No," he replied. "Not yet."
That answer frightened her more than blood ever could.
She reached for him instinctively, catching his wrist, then his arm, guiding him inside without ceremony. The moment the door closed, the wards sealed—but she already knew they wouldn't be enough.
Caelan exhaled slowly, as if the simple act of standing required effort.
"He didn't attack me," he said. "He spoke."
Alisha's fingers tightened in his sleeve. "Here?"
"No. In my head." He met her gaze. "He showed me you."
Her breath caught.
"What did he show you?" she asked quietly.
Caelan hesitated—and that hesitation told her everything.
"He showed me a future where I'm the reason you fall," he said. "Not because I betray you. But because I stay."
The Eclipse recoiled sharply.
Alisha pulled him closer without thinking, pressing her forehead against his chest, grounding herself in the solid, human reality of him. His arms came around her slowly, carefully, as if afraid she might disappear if he held too tightly.
"You're here," she said, more to herself than to him.
"I am," he replied. "But he's patient."
They moved together to the edge of the bed—not collapsing, not desperate, but needing stillness. Alisha sat, and Caelan followed, their knees touching, their closeness no longer theoretical.
Alisha lifted her hands to his face, thumbs brushing lightly beneath his eyes, tracing the tension there.
"He's using proximity," she murmured. "Not power."
"He said something," Caelan admitted. "He said love is the easiest leverage because it doesn't feel like force."
Her jaw tightened.
"That's because it isn't," she said. "That's why it matters."
She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his again. This time, she didn't hesitate.
The kiss was deeper than before—but still controlled, still restrained. It wasn't about escape or urgency. It was about affirmation.
This is real. This is chosen.
Caelan's hands settled at her waist, warm and steady, not pulling her closer, simply anchoring her there. When they broke apart, their breathing was uneven but calm.
"He'll come for you through me," Caelan said quietly.
"Yes," Alisha replied.
"And you won't push me away," he added, searching her face.
"No," she said firmly. "That's what he expects."
She drew back just enough to look at him fully.
"But we will change the rules."
Caelan frowned slightly. "How?"
Alisha closed her eyes briefly, reaching inward—not to the Eclipse's power, but to its awareness.
"He can touch emotion," she said. "But he can't control consent."
She took Caelan's hands in hers, interlacing their fingers deliberately.
"This stays ours," she said. "No secrecy. No denial. No fear."
Caelan swallowed. "That makes me a target."
"It already did," she replied softly. "Now it makes you prepared."
Outside, the moon dimmed almost imperceptibly.
Far beyond Valoria, the Shadow King paused mid-step.
Something had shifted.
"She didn't retreat," he murmured.
Instead of isolation, he felt resistance.
Connection—reinforced, not severed.
His smile returned, slower this time.
"Then I'll escalate," he said. "Not by taking him."
A pause.
"But by making her choose when holding on becomes the greater danger."
Back in the palace, Alisha rested her head briefly against Caelan's shoulder, allowing herself one quiet moment of closeness before standing.
"This doesn't end tonight," she said.
"No," Caelan agreed. "But neither do we."
She squeezed his hand once—then released it.
Because the war had entered a new phase.
And this time—
the battlefield was the heart.