Chapter 15 Fifteen

Chapter 15 Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen 

Aria’s POV

He didn’t come back to me that night.

But the bond never stopped moving.

It pulsed and twisted, shifting between heat and cold until I couldn’t tell which belonged to him and which was mine. Every time I thought it would settle, it flared again, like a heartbeat caught between love and fear.

I tried to call to him the way I always did, quiet inside my own head, but something else answered.

You’re wearing my heart.

The words slid through me like a whisper inside my veins. I froze.

“Who are you?”

You already know.

It wasn’t Kael’s voice. It wasn’t even human. It sounded like memory given breath.

I gripped my chest as if I could tear the sound out. “Stay out of my head.”

I lived there long before you did.

Pain spiked through the bond, his pain. For a second, I saw flashes that weren’t mine: Kael’s hand pressed against cold earth, blood running over his fingers, a woman’s face framed by firelight. Then nothing.

My knees gave out. I hit the floor, shaking.

I tried again to reach him, but the link felt blocked, crowded. There were too many feelings at once, his guilt, my fear, and something darker curling around both.

He was mine first.

I didn’t answer. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of hearing my voice.

But the silence only made her laugh.

He buried me under the same moon he now worships with you. Tell me, little bond, does he still whisper promises before he breaks them?

“Stop.”

Did he tell you how I died?

“No.”

Then let me show you.

The world around me flickered.

For a heartbeat, I wasn’t in my room anymore. I was standing somewhere cold, the smell of iron and ash thick in the air. Kael knelt in front of me, or her, blood smeared across his mouth, his eyes bright with horror.

“Liora,” he whispered, “I didn’t mean, ”

Her voice cut through him. “You always mean it, Kael.”

Then she smiled as the light left her eyes.

The vision shattered. I was back in my own body, gasping for air, my hands covered in a shimmer of light that wasn’t mine.

“Get out,” I whispered.

He belongs to me.

“No.”

You can’t fight what was written in blood.

“Then I’ll rewrite it.”

The laughter faded, but the cold stayed.

I found Mrs. Blake sometime later, though I didn’t remember walking to her. She was waiting outside Kael’s door again, as if she’d known I would come.

“You felt her,” she said quietly.

“She showed me his memory.”

Mrs. Blake’s expression hardened. “Then she’s learning to use the bond.”

“She said he killed her.”

“Part of her believes that. The rest was consumed by the curse. When love mixes with blood magic, truth doesn’t survive the fire.”

I shook my head. “She’s inside him.”

“She’s inside you now.”

“I can feel her trying to pull me apart.”

“That’s what she does. She feeds on doubt. Don’t give her more.”

“How?”

“Trust him.”

“He’s hiding something.”

“Of course he is,” Mrs. Blake said. “He’s been hiding his grief for decades. But he’s never hidden his love for you.”

The words made my chest ache. “He’s planning something.”

“He’s always planning something.”

I turned away. “If the curse wants a sacrifice, it’ll take me before it takes him.”

Mrs. Blake’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Be careful what you offer. The moon hears everything.”

That night, I lay awake listening for his heartbeat through the bond. When it came, it was slow, heavy, laced with exhaustion. He was still alive. But I could tell he’d been near her again. The rhythm felt bruised, off-beat, as if another pulse kept trying to merge with it.

I whispered his name, hoping he’d hear me.

For a moment, there was only silence. Then his voice drifted through the link, hoarse, tired.

Sleep, Aria.

Where are you?

Nowhere safe.

Come back.

Not tonight.

The connection dimmed.

But underneath his words, faint as breath, another voice coiled around mine.

He won’t choose you.

I sat up, clutching the sheet. “You’re wrong.”

He already has.

“Then why are you still here?”

Because he hasn’t finished paying for me.

“You’re the curse.”

I’m the promise he broke.

My hands trembled. “He doesn’t owe you anymore.”

He owes me eternity.

Her tone softened, almost sad. You think you can love him enough to end me?

“Yes.”

Then you’re a fool. And fools burn brightest before they die.

The bond flared, heat, then cold, then silence.

I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the wetness on my hands.

Hours passed, or maybe minutes. Time didn’t mean much inside the bond. I couldn’t tell if I was awake or dreaming when Kael’s presence brushed against mine again.

Aria?

I’m here.

She came to you.

She never left.

His next breath echoed through me. I’m sorry.

Don’t be. Just tell me how to stop her.

You can’t.

Then you can.

No one can.

I felt his despair as if it were my own.

If the curse wants blood, it’ll take mine, I said.

Don’t say that.

Then stop her.

I’m trying.

Try harder.

He went silent. Then, softly: If I fail, promise me you’ll run.

No.

Promise me.

I’d rather die beside you than live as her shadow.

The bond pulsed once, hard enough to steal my breath. His emotion rushed through me, fear, love, helplessness. It left me shaking.

You have no idea what that means, he said.

I don’t care.

You will.

His presence faded again.

But the cold that replaced him wasn’t Liora. It was emptiness.

I must have fallen asleep sitting up. When I woke, the bond was too quiet. For the first time since meeting him, I couldn’t feel his heartbeat.

Panic tore through me.

I reached for him mentally, calling his name again and again, but nothing answered. Then the pain hit, a deep, ripping ache that spread from my chest to every part of me.

Images crashed through my head: Kael standing before someone I couldn’t see, light tearing through the air, blood falling like rain. I screamed until my throat broke, but the images kept coming.

When they finally stopped, I collapsed, drenched in sweat, gasping.

Mrs. Blake found me on the floor.

“What happened?”

“He’s gone.”

Her face drained of color. “Gone where?”

“I don’t know. The bond went dark.”

She knelt beside me. “That means he’s close to the source. He’s trying to end it.”

“He can’t do it alone.”

“You can’t reach him in that state.”

“I have to try.”

“If you follow him into the curse, you may not come back.”

“Then neither will he.”

I stood, dizzy, holding onto the wall. The bond flickered once, weak but alive. It was enough.

I’m coming, I whispered into the link.

No answer, but I didn’t need one.

Because even in the silence, I could still feel him breathing somewhere inside me. And beneath that breath, faint but real, another pulse waited, Liora’s.

The curse wasn’t choosing between us. It was waiting to see who would break first.

The pain returned in waves as I walked. Every step sent sparks through my veins. My vision blurred, but the bond guided me. I didn’t stop until my body refused to move.

Then I heard her again.

You think this is love?

I bit back a cry. “It’s stronger than you.”

Then prove it.

The world tilted, and everything went white.

When I could see again, I was standing on the edge of nothing. In the center of that emptiness, two shadows faced each other, Kael and Liora.

She was touching his face, smiling the way ghosts smile when they remember being alive. He looked like he’d been fighting forever.

He turned, as if he could feel me even inside the vision. Our eyes met across the void.

“Go back,” he said.

“I can’t.”

“This isn’t real.”

“It feels real.”

“It’s a trap.”

“Then let’s break it.”

He shook his head. “You’ll die if you stay.”

“So will you.”

Liora’s laughter cut through the space between us. So poetic. Two hearts, one end.

Kael moved toward her. “Take me.”

“No.” I grabbed his arm, the bond burning where we touched. “Take me instead.”

He turned to me, fury and love twisting his face. “Stop.”

“You said the curse wants a choice. Let it have mine.”

“No!” His shout cracked the air. “I won’t lose you too.”

Liora smiled. Then we’ll see which of you the moon favors.

Light exploded. Pain followed. I felt myself falling, the bond tearing apart thread by thread.

Then nothing.

When I woke, everything hurt. My body shook, my heart struggled to find its rhythm. But I was still breathing.

Kael’s heartbeat was faint but there, ragged, uneven, alive.

Mrs. Blake’s voice floated somewhere close. “The curse is shifting. One of you forced a choice.”

I forced my eyes open. “Who?”

“We don’t know yet.”

I tried to speak again, but the bond pulsed once, slow and heavy, and Kael’s voice brushed against my mind.

I told you not to follow.

You’re welcome.

His laugh came weak but real. You’re impossible.

I learned from you.

Rest, Aria.

Only if you do.

Silence, then a single word that felt like a promise and an apology all at once.

Always.

I let the word wrap around me until the pain dulled. For now, both our hearts still beat.

How long that would last, neither of us knew.

But I’d already made my choice.

If the moon wanted a sacrifice, it would have to take both of us together.