Chapter 7 The Binding Charm
AZRAETH'S POV
The angel guards attack as one.
I throw shadow blasts at them, but I'm too weak. The curse has drained too much. One guard gets through my defenses. His sword slices across my shoulder. Black blood sprays.
Through the bond, Mireya feels my pain. She screams.
But something's wrong. She should be fighting back. The bond should have awakened her demon-touched power by now. She should be dangerous.
Instead, she stands there, helpless. Almost human.
A guard lunges for her. I barely intercept him, taking another wound to my side. I collapse to one knee, gasping.
"Stop!" Celeste shouts. "You're hurting him! Mireya, please! Just come with me!"
"I won't!" Mireya tries to summon shadows like before, but nothing happens. Her hands shake with effort, but no power comes. "Why isn't it working?"
That's when I see it.
A silver necklace around her throat. Simple chain, small pendant. She's worn it this whole time, and I didn't think twice about it because she said it was from her mother.
But now I look closer. Really look.
The pendant glows with suppression magic. Old magic. The kind that binds power at the soul level.
"Your necklace," I rasp. "Where did you get it?"
"My mother gave it to me when I was a baby. She said—" Mireya's eyes widen. "No. She wouldn't."
"She would." Rage floods through me, hot enough to push back the curse's pain for a moment. "That's a binding charm. It's been suppressing your demon-touched bloodline your entire life."
Celeste's face goes pale. "That's not possible. Mother said—"
"Your mother lied." I force myself to stand. Blood drips from my wounds. "She knew what Mireya was from birth. Knew she'd be powerful. So she made sure that power never woke up."
"You're lying!" Celeste shouts. But her voice wavers. She's not sure anymore.
"Am I?" I look at her dead on. "Ask yourself: Why did your mother favor you over Mireya? Why was Mireya always the forgotten daughter? The one no one noticed? It's because the charm didn't just bind her magic—it made her forgettable. Invisible. Easy to dismiss."
Through the bond, I feel Mireya's heart breaking. She's remembering her childhood. All those times her mother looked right through her. All those times Celeste got everything while she got nothing.
It wasn't random. It was planned.
"Take it off," Mireya whispers. Her hands reach for the necklace, but they're shaking too hard.
"Wait—" Celeste starts forward. "If what he says is true, removing it could—"
"I don't care!" Mireya's voice cracks. "My whole life has been a lie! I want to know what I really am!"
I cross to her. The angel guards tense, but I ignore them. Let them try to stop me. I'm going to free my bond-mate even if it kills me.
"This will hurt," I warn her. "The power has been locked away for twenty-seven years. When it breaks free, it's going to hit you all at once."
"Do it."
I grab the necklace. The suppression magic burns my hand, trying to protect itself. I don't care. I rip it off her throat. The chain snaps.
For one heartbeat, nothing happens.
Then Mireya screams.
Power explodes from her like a bomb going off. Dark magic—demon-touched and wild—floods the cathedral. Shadows erupt from her skin. The air itself cracks with energy.
The angel guards are thrown backward. They crash into walls, unconscious before they hit the ground.
Celeste falls to her knees, shielding her face from the blast of power.
And Mireya—
She's transforming.
Her eyes turn completely black. Not just the pupils. Everything. Black as midnight with silver flecks that gleam like stars. Her skin takes on a faint glow, like moonlight under water. Shadows dance around her fingers, responding to her emotions.
The bond between us flares bright. Suddenly I can feel her power feeding mine. The curse's grip weakens. Not broken, but pushed back. For the first time in hours, I can breathe without pain.
She's magnificent.
"What—" Mireya stares at her hands. Shadows swirl between her fingers like living smoke. "What's happening to me?"
"You're becoming what you always were." I step closer. Through the bond, I feel her fear, her confusion, but also something else. Excitement. Power feels good after a lifetime of being powerless. "Your demon-touched bloodline is finally free."
She looks up at me. Those black-and-silver eyes are breathtaking. "I can feel everything. The shadows. The darkness. It's like they're alive and they're listening to me."
"They are. Command them."
She turns to where the guards are starting to wake up. Raises one hand. Shadows leap to obey her will, wrapping around the guards like chains. They struggle but can't break free.
"Stop!" Celeste crawls toward us. Tears stream down her face. "Mireya, please! You're turning into a monster! This isn't you!"
"Isn't it?" Mireya's voice sounds different now. Layered with power. "Maybe this is who I've always been. Maybe the monster was the only real part of me, and everything else was just a lie you all wanted to believe."
"I love you!" Celeste sobs. "You're my sister! Come back to us! We can fix this! The angels have healing magic that can—"
"Can what? Make me weak again? Make me forgettable again?" Mireya's shadows grow darker, more aggressive. "I spent my whole life being nothing. Being invisible. Now I'm finally powerful, and you want to take it away?"
Through the bond, I feel her rage building. It's intoxicating and dangerous. She's like a dam that just broke—all that suppressed power and emotion flooding out at once.
She needs to be careful. This much power, unleashed too fast, could consume her.
But another part of me—the part that's demon king, not dying prisoner—thinks: Let it consume her. Let her burn the world down. They deserve it.
"Mireya," I say quietly. She turns to me. "You need to breathe. Control the power. Don't let it control you."
"Why?" Her black eyes flash. "Why should I control it? They controlled me my whole life! My mother. Lilith. The angels. Everyone trying to keep me small and weak and manageable!" Her voice rises. "I'm done being controlled!"
The shadows surge. The cathedral shakes. Stone cracks under the pressure of her unleashed power.
Celeste screams.
I grab Mireya's shoulders. "Look at me. Look at me!"
She does. Those bottomless black eyes lock onto mine.
"You're right," I say. "They did control you. Suppress you. Lie to you. And we will make them pay for every second of it." I feel the curse pushing back, trying to kill me now that our moment of relief has passed. "But if you lose control now, you'll destroy yourself along with them. And I can't lose you again. I won't."
Something shifts in her expression. The rage doesn't disappear, but it focuses. Becomes sharp instead of wild.
She takes a breath. Then another. The shadows calm. The shaking stops.
"There you are," I say softly.
But before she can respond, Celeste moves.
My sister-in-law is faster than I expected. She pulls something from her pocket—a crystal that glows with angel light.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "But I have to save you from yourself."
She crushes the crystal.
Blinding white light explodes through the cathedral. Angel magic, pure and holy. It wraps around Mireya like chains, trying to sever the demon bond.
Through our connection, I feel it burning her. Trying to rip her newly awakened power away. Trying to make her human again.
"No!" I throw myself between Mireya and the light.
The angel magic hits me instead. It burns like acid in my veins, attacking the demonic essence of my being. The curse, weakened by Mireya's power, roars back to life.
I scream.
Through the bond, Mireya feels me dying. Feels the curse finally winning.
"Azraeth!" She catches me as I fall. Her black eyes are wide with terror. "No, no, no! Stay with me!"
"The ritual," I gasp. Black blood pours from my mouth. "We need to complete it. Now. It's the only thing that can—"
"But it's not dawn yet! You said we needed sunlight!"
"No time." My vision blurs. The curse is eating through my heart. "Either we bond now, or I'm dead in minutes."
Celeste stands frozen, the shattered crystal in her hands. "What have I done?" she whispers.
Mireya ignores her. She presses her hands to my chest, over the mark. "Tell me what to do. Tell me how to save you!"
"Blood," I force out. "The ritual needs blood. Yours and mine. Mixed over the soul marks. Then you speak the binding words—"
"What words? I don't know the words!"
"You do." I grab her hand. My strength is fading fast. "Morwenna knew them. Her memories are in you now. Find them. Speak them. Bind us completely before—"
I can't finish. The curse locks my throat. My heart stutters.
Through the bond, I feel Mireya diving into those merged memories. Searching desperately for something that can save us.
And then she finds it.
The bonding ritual. The ancient words that fuse two souls permanently.
But there's a cost. There's always a cost with blood magic.
"Azraeth," she says, her voice shaking. "The ritual... to complete it, I have to give up something. Something precious. Something I can never get back."
"What?" I gasp.