Ch. 5: The Bond that Shouldn’t Exist

The heartbeat didn’t come from below.

It came from everywhere.

Each pulse made the torches shiver, each echo vibrated in Kaelira’s ribs like a second heart trying to crawl inside her. She staggered, clutching her chest. The mark on her wrist burned through the bandage, lines of gold light crawling up her arm.

Zevran caught her elbow before she fell. “Kaelira—”

“It’s not stopping.” Her voice trembled. “It’s—inside me.”

He drew her closer, the air around them bending as his own power rose to meet hers. “Breathe. You’re resonating with the seal.”

“Resonating?” She half-laughed, half-gasped. “It feels like I’m exploding.”

“Then don’t fight it.”

“That’s easy for you to say—you’re not the one—”

Her sentence cut off in a gasp as the light surged, flinging her backward. Her back slammed against the wall; cracks spidered out from the impact.

Zevran swore and moved fast—too fast for human sight. One arm braced the wall beside her head, the other pressed against her sternum, fingers splayed over the mark that now blazed through her skin.

“Listen to me,” he said, voice low and sharp. “If you lose control, this fortress will collapse.”

“I can’t—control—it!”

Her eyes glowed pure gold. The seal under her skin pulsed in rhythm with the black moon above, the same dark energy he’d sworn to bury centuries ago.

Zevran’s throat worked once before he did the unthinkable—he leaned closer until his forehead brushed hers, a spark of cold lightning between them. “Then I’ll do it for you.”

The words weren’t a command; they were an invocation.

Silver light spilled from his hand into her chest. For an instant she saw what he saw—his memories bleeding into hers: a throne room burning, a crown cast aside, a promise whispered to a dying witch. Protect her line, even from herself.

The energy between them twisted, became something living. A strand of silver and gold coiled out from her heart, linking to his, searing the air between them with a hiss.

Kaelira gasped. “What—what did you do?”

Zevran’s expression was unreadable, jaw clenched tight. “I invoked the old bond.”

“You bound me?”

“It was that or watch you burn alive.”

The light dimmed, leaving only the faint glow of their connected marks. She shoved him away, chest heaving. “You had no right.”

“You were dying.”

“I was mine.” Her voice cracked like thunder. “You don’t get to decide for me.”

For a long moment, neither spoke. The torchlight painted his face in molten shadow. When he finally answered, his voice was quiet but cutting. “I don’t care for your pride, Kaelira. I care that you’re breathing.”

The silence that followed felt heavier than any argument.

Somewhere in the distance, stone groaned—another part of the fortress shifting awake.

Kaelira turned away, pressing trembling fingers to the mark that now shimmered faintly silver where it had once been gold. “What does it mean? This… bond.”

“It’s an echo of the first oath,” Zevran said. “Blood to blood. Power to power. Two souls sharing the same tether.”

Her head snapped up. “So now you can feel everything I do?”

He hesitated. “Yes.”

She stared at him. “Then I hope it hurts.”

A shadow of something almost human passed over his face—guilt, maybe, or memory. “It does.”

They moved through the halls in brittle silence, following the faint vibration of the newly awakened seal. The further they went, the stronger the pulse became, until the walls themselves hummed. Frost formed on the stone where Kaelira’s magic met Zevran’s in quiet friction.

At last they reached a vaulted door carved with moons and wolves entwined. The metal surface thrummed beneath their palms.

Zevran said, “Whatever lies beyond, it’s older than both our kinds.”

Kaelira’s fingers brushed the crescent tattoo under her eye. “Then maybe it remembers me.”

The door shuddered open. Warm air rolled out—thick, damp, smelling faintly of blood and starlight. The chamber beyond was a cathedral of silver roots and pulsing veins of light. At its center, suspended in a column of energy, hung a crystal sphere the size of a heart.

Kaelira stepped forward, transfixed. “It’s alive.”

Zevran’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The source of the Dominion’s experiments. The heart of the Black Moon.”

The sphere pulsed once, and the tether between them yanked tight. Kaelira’s breath hitched; her knees buckled.

Zevran lunged, catching her. “The bond’s reacting to it.”

She pressed her forehead into his chest, trembling. “It’s calling me.”

“I know,” he murmured, fingers threading through her hair in a gesture so instinctive he didn’t seem to realize he’d done it. “And that’s what terrifies me.”

The sphere pulsed again—faster now—synchronizing with their shared heartbeat.

Kaelira looked up at him, eyes wild. “If it’s part of me, then I can stop it.”

Zevran shook his head. “You’ll destroy yourself.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Before he could answer, a sound like shattering glass ripped through the air. The sphere cracked down the middle, bleeding light. Voices—hundreds, maybe thousands—whispered all at once: Flamebound. Flamebound. Flamebound.

Kaelira’s mark blazed brighter. The tether between her and Zevran burned white-hot, lifting them both from the floor in a storm of wind and sound. Pain seared through her veins, but beneath it, she felt his heartbeat, steady and fierce, anchoring her to something real.

“Kaelira!” His voice cut through the chaos. “Look at me!”

She did—and for the first time, she saw fear in the Lycan King’s eyes.

Their magic collided, gold and silver twisting together until the crack sealed with a scream. The chamber went dark. Only their breathing remained.

Zevran’s hands were still on her face, his forehead pressed to hers. The bond’s glow faded slowly, leaving only warmth.

Neither moved.

Finally, Kaelira whispered, “Tell me the truth. What happens to two souls that share one tether?”

He swallowed hard. “They either save each other.”

A pause.

“Or they burn the world.”