Soul Ties

Isadora:

The masquerade should have been beautiful. Crimson silk, chandeliers dripping in crystal, an orchestra weaving music like a spell. For a fleeting moment, I had even forgotten the weight that stalked me—the shadows, the whispers, the endless warnings.

But then Lucian snapped.

The crowd split apart like frightened birds, their jeweled masks twisting in shock. He moved with a predator’s precision, fury crackling in the air like a storm. His hand wrapped around Maldric’s throat, and for one dizzying second, I couldn’t breathe either.

I should have looked away. Should have stayed where I was, hidden behind the safety of masks and murmurs. But my body moved before my mind could stop it. My feet carried me toward him. Toward the violence. Toward him.

Lucian’s rage burned so hot it froze the world around him. The crash of glass. The sickening sound of flesh against stone. Maldric’s laughter, broken and vile.

And through it all—Lucian’s eyes, fever-bright and unyielding, never straying far from me.

I didn’t think. I reacted.

Something inside me cracked open. Shadows surged—but not just shadows. Heat flushed through my veins, sharp and hungry, laced with a rhythm that wasn’t mine. A thrum, like a second heartbeat. A pull.

And suddenly I could feel everything.

The crowd’s panic. The fear trembling in Kai’s chest as he moved to intercept. The steadiness of Silas’s silence, breaking under strain. Rhett’s heartbeat—wild, furious.

And Lucian. Gods, Lucian. His blood sang to me, thick with rage and desire, dark as the marrow of night. His veins were a map, and my soul—my cursed, unraveling soul—traced them like they belonged to me.

Maldric slithered back into the shadows, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop.

Something inside me wanted to protect him. Lucian, of all people. I clutched at the tether, pulled without meaning to—and the world gasped.

The music died. The room went still.

And then I heard it—ragged, desperate choking.

Behind me.

I turned, dazed, and saw them. Kai, Silas, Rhett. Their hands clawing at their throats. Their bodies frozen mid-motion, eyes wide with horror. They weren’t fighting Maldric. They weren’t even moving.

They were choking because of me.

Their hearts—beating against my will.

“No—no, no, no—” My voice broke, but the pressure only grew. The tether had wrapped around more than Lucian’s blood. I could feel their veins, their frantic pulses stuttering under my hold.

Panic surged. I wanted to stop. I wanted to release them. But the more I struggled, the tighter it pulled. My power was wild, a serpent twisting out of my grasp.

And then—Lucian was there.

Close. Too close. His hand slid against my arm, grounding me, his breath brushing the shell of my ear. His voice wasn’t a command, wasn’t a snarl like it had been with Maldric. It was low. Intimate. Dark velvet wrapping around my trembling bones.

“Easy, little raven.” His whisper was a blade dipped in honey. “You’re drawing a crowd.”

The words slid through me, loosening the knot of terror in my chest. My lungs seized once, then dragged in air. The tether snapped, leaving me hollow and raw.

Behind me, the boys fell to the ground in a violent chorus of gasps and coughs, air slamming back into their lungs. My body shook as if I’d been the one suffocating.

The crowd’s murmurs rose, sharp and fevered. Masks turned toward me, eyes gleaming with curiosity, fear, disgust. The masquerade was no longer music and velvet—it was a cage of whispers, and I was the monster inside.

Lucian’s hand lingered on me, steady, anchoring. His presence drowned out the noise. His eyes locked on mine, fierce and unreadable, not with fear but something worse—something like possession.

“You feel it now, don’t you?” he murmured, his words a secret meant only for me. “What you’re capable of.”

I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t breathe. My throat burned with the taste of ash and dread.

The others recovered slowly, dragging themselves upright, eyes fixed on me. Kai’s lips were pale. Rhett’s fury simmered, banked only by shock. Silas’s gaze was unreadable shadow, but I could feel the wound there—hurt, not from pain, but from me.

My chest hollowed. “I—I didn’t mean to—”

“Not here,” Lucian cut me off, sharp but protective, his arm already curling to shield me from the hungry stares. “They’ll eat you alive if you explain in front of them.”

The boys closed ranks, forming a barrier around me, each step calculated, each breath heavy with words unsaid. The music had ceased entirely now. All eyes followed us as we slipped through the ballroom doors and into the cold night.

Only when the heavy wood slammed shut did I breathe again. My hands trembled as I clutched my skirts, desperate for something solid.

No one spoke.

The silence was heavier than any curse.

Kai rubbed at his throat, wincing. Rhett glared into the dark, jaw clenched, fury thrumming under his skin. Silas… Silas just looked at me, eyes dark, quiet, haunted.

And Lucian.

Lucian stood so close I could still feel his whisper in my bones. His gaze devoured me, sharp and unforgiving, but not afraid. Never afraid.

The others looked at me like I was a danger. He looked at me like I was his.

And that terrified me most of all.