Elara's POV
"Seraphina?" My voice came out strangled. "How did you—the barriers—"
My sister laughed, the sound like breaking glass. "Did you think your little plant walls could keep me out? I'm inside the barrier, dear sister. I've been here the whole time."
That was impossible. I would have sensed—
"She's lying," Cassian said, but his voice was uncertain. "No one could have penetrated those defenses without us knowing."
"Are you sure about that?" Seraphina tilted her head. "You've been so focused on the mages outside, you never thought to look inside the cottage. I've been hiding in plain sight for hours."
Ice flooded my veins. If she'd been inside, she could have poisoned us, sabotaged our magic, anything.
"What do you want?" I demanded.
"The same thing I've always wanted." Seraphina's eyes glittered. "Everything that should have been mine. Mother and Father's wild magic research. The techniques they were teaching you in secret. The power you've been hiding all these years."
"I wasn't hiding anything! I didn't even know—"
"Liar!" Her scream was sudden and vicious. "You knew! You've always known you were special, different, better! While I worked myself to exhaustion trying to master basic Court magic, you had wild magic flowing through your veins like it was nothing!"
"That's not true—"
"I did you a favor at the ceremony," Seraphina hissed. "Slipped that suppressant into your drink to shut down your magic during the test. I thought it would humble you. Bring you down to my level. But you were supposed to recover! The suppressant should have worn off in a week!"
My world tilted. "You... you poisoned me?"
"And it didn't even work properly!" Seraphina's face twisted with rage. "Your magic just evolved instead. Became wild magic. Made you even more special. Even more unique. Do you have any idea how unfair that is?"
Cassian moved between us. "This conversation is over. Get out before—"
"Before what? Before Uncle Malachai burns you both alive?" Seraphina smiled. "I'm not here to fight you, Winter Blade. I'm here to offer a deal."
"No deal," Cassian said flatly.
"Not even one that saves your life?" Seraphina pulled out a vial of shimmering purple liquid. "This is the antidote to Malachai's curse. Take it, and you'll be free. No more dying slowly. No more needing this pathetic bond to survive."
Cassian went very still.
"All you have to do," Seraphina continued sweetly, "is step aside. Let me take Elara and her wild magic research. You go free, I get what I need, everyone wins."
"Except me," I whispered.
"You were always going to lose, sister." Seraphina's voice was almost kind. "The moment you bound the Winter Blade, you signed your death warrant. At least this way, Cassian survives."
I looked at Cassian's face. Saw him actually considering it.
My heart broke all over again.
"Take the deal," I said quietly. "Save yourself."
"Elara—"
"I mean it." Tears burned my eyes. "You didn't ask for this. Didn't ask to be trapped here or bonded to me or hunted by your own uncle. If you can escape, you should."
Cassian stared at me like I'd slapped him. "You think I'd trade your life for mine?"
"Why wouldn't you? Everyone else has."
The words hung in the air. Adrian. Seraphina. Every person who'd abandoned me when I'd failed.
"Smart girl," Seraphina purred. "She knows how the world works. Power matters. Loyalty doesn't." She held out the vial to Cassian. "Take it. Walk away. Pretend you never met her."
Cassian looked at the vial. Then at Seraphina. Then at me.
"No," he said.
Seraphina blinked. "What?"
"I said no." Cassian's voice was ice-cold. "Your offer is refused."
"Don't be stupid! This is your only chance to—"
"To betray someone who trusted me? To prove I'm exactly the monster my uncle created?" Cassian's laugh was bitter. "I've spent fifteen years doing what people expected. Following orders. Being the perfect weapon. I'm done."
He stepped back toward me.
"Elara stays with me," he said. "And if you or your uncle want to change that, you'll have to kill me first."
Something warm bloomed in my chest. Hope I'd thought was dead.
Seraphina's face contorted with fury. "You fool! You're choosing to die for her?"
"I'm choosing to live for something that matters." Cassian took my hand. "Now get out before I freeze you solid and use you as a garden ornament."
"Fine." Seraphina's voice dropped to deadly quiet. "But know this, sister dear—you've killed him. When that bond breaks in thirty days, Cassian Valorent dies screaming. And it will be your fault."
She threw the vial on the ground. It shattered, purple liquid seeping into the earth.
"Enjoy your last month together," Seraphina said. Then she vanished—not through the door, but dissolving into smoke.
An illusion. She'd never been physically here at all.
The moment she disappeared, the suffocation spell intensified. My lungs screamed for air.
"The fusion," Cassian gasped. "Now. Before we pass out."
I grabbed his hands. "On three—"
"No time for counting."
He pulled me close and our magic slammed together.
The world exploded into silver and gold light. His mind crashed into mine, and mine into his. Every memory, every thought, every secret laid bare between us.
I saw his childhood—watching his parents executed, his uncle's cruel training, the curse being placed on him. I felt his loneliness, his fear, his desperate need to be more than a weapon.
He saw my humiliation at the ceremony, Adrian's rejection, Seraphina's betrayal. He felt my pain, my isolation, my stubborn refusal to give up.
We saw each other completely.
And the bond didn't just deepen. It transformed.
Power exploded outward from us in a shockwave that shattered the suffocation spell. The ground trembled. Every plant on the property blazed with silver-gold light.
When the light faded, I was lying on the ground with Cassian beside me, both of us gasping.
"Did it work?" I whispered.
Cassian sat up slowly. Magic crackled around both of us—not just his or mine, but ours. Perfectly merged.
"It worked," he said, awed. "We're... connected. Completely."
I could feel him in my mind. Feel his strength supporting me, his magic flowing through the bond.
"Can we break the siege now?"
"Yes. But Elara—" He caught my hand. "I saw everything. Your memories. Your pain. And you saw mine."
"I did."
"I've killed people. Done terrible things in my uncle's name. Aren't you afraid of me now?"
I thought about what I'd seen. Yes, he'd killed. Yes, he'd been cruel. But I'd also seen why. Seen the boy forced to become a monster or die.
"I'm not afraid of you," I said. "I'm afraid for you. Your uncle made you into something you hate."
"And your sister destroyed your life out of jealousy."
We looked at each other, two broken people who'd just become one.
"We should break through the siege," Cassian said. "Find somewhere safe to—"
A massive explosion shook the ground.
Through the smoke, I saw the barriers falling. Not from outside attacks, but from the inside.
Someone had sabotaged our defenses from within.
And standing in the gap, surrounded by Court mages, was Malachai Valorent himself.
He smiled at Cassian.
"Hello, nephew. Did you enjoy my gift? The vial was fake, of course. But Seraphina's illusion served its purpose—keeping you distracted while my mages dismantled your pathetic defenses." His smile widened. "Now surrender, or watch me kill everyone you've ever cared about. Starting with her."