79

79
Thalia’s POV

The world was on fire.

Or maybe that was just the air in my lungs.

I couldn’t tell anymore—where the fire ended and where Jaden’s power began. Everything was red, gold, and black; smoke coiled through the trees like serpents, swallowing the light.

My body ached, every nerve alive with pain. I tried to move, but the ground shifted under me, soft as ash. For a heartbeat, I thought I was still dreaming.

Then I saw the scorch marks.

The forest around me had been split apart—trees uprooted, earth torn open as though the gods themselves had clawed their way through. The once-green canopy hung in shreds. Smoke stung my eyes, but even through the haze, one thing was missing.

“Jaden…”

The word came out like a prayer and a wound.

The silence that followed was unbearable. No heartbeat through the bond. No answering growl. Just the distant hiss of dying flames.

I pushed myself to my feet, swaying as dizziness swept over me. My cloak was half-burned; my palms, raw and red. The air reeked of ozone and iron.

The memory returned in flashes—his eyes, half gold and half crimson, the barrier of fire, his voice shouting my name. Then the explosion.

And after that… nothing.

“Jaden,” I whispered again, louder this time. “Please.”

Still nothing.

Then, faintly, the bond pulsed.

Weak, fragile—like a thread stretched too far. But it was there.

Alive.

My knees almost gave out from relief. I pressed a trembling hand to my chest, focusing on the faint rhythm echoing through the bond. He was out there, somewhere in the forest. Hurting, maybe dying—but alive.

“I’m coming,” I said under my breath.

The woods didn’t make it easy.

The curse had changed them. The deeper I went, the stranger everything became. The air felt thicker, heavier—like walking through water. Shadows moved where there was no light. Branches twisted into shapes that almost looked like faces.

And beneath it all, whispers.

Faint, ghostly. Sometimes it was Jaden’s voice calling my name. Other times, my own thoughts thrown back at me, warped and wrong.

You can’t save him.
He chose this path.
You will end like him.

I clenched my fists. “I don’t believe you.”

The forest laughed softly in reply.

The bond flickered again, drawing me left. I followed, ignoring the burning in my lungs, the tremor in my legs. Every step felt heavier than the last, but stopping wasn’t an option.

I needed to find him before the curse did.

The path narrowed until I was forced to crawl under the low-hanging roots of an ancient oak. When I emerged, I found myself in a hollow—a clearing untouched by sunlight, where the ground pulsed faintly as though alive.

At its center lay a pool.

Not water. Not entirely. It shimmered darkly, black and red, mirroring the color of Jaden’s eyes when the curse took hold. I could feel the energy radiating from it, familiar and terrible.

This was where the curse had first taken root.

And somewhere beneath that surface, I felt Jaden’s presence.

I hesitated only a second before stepping closer. The heat rolled off the pool in waves. It wasn’t just the curse’s power—it was his.

He’d been here. Maybe he still was.

“Jaden,” I called softly. “If you can hear me, I’m not leaving without you.”

A ripple spread across the surface, slow and deliberate. The air thickened.

And then, from beneath the water, something moved.

At first, I thought it was him—his hand, reaching up. But as it broke the surface, I saw the truth. The shape was wrong. Too long, too thin, dripping with black liquid that hissed when it touched the air.

The curse was awake.

I stumbled back, heart racing, as the thing rose higher, pulling itself free of the pool. It had no face, no true form—just darkness given body, moving like smoke and blood mixed together.

But I felt him inside it.

His pain. His fury.

“Jaden…”

He cannot hear you.

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, echoing through the clearing, low and venomous.

“You lie.”

He belongs to me now.

The shadow lunged forward. I screamed and stumbled back, throwing my hands up—and the air around me cracked.

Light burst from my palms, a blinding flare that forced the shadow to recoil. My vision went white, ears ringing, and for a moment, I didn’t know what I’d done.

But the shadow hissed, retreating toward the pool. The ground sizzled where the light had touched it.

My breath came in short, ragged gasps. The power still burned under my skin, wild and unfamiliar.

What was happening to me?

The shadow’s voice turned mocking. You think light can save him? He is already consumed.

“No.” My voice shook. “He’s fighting it. He always fights.”

He fights because of you. He will die because of you.

The words hit like a physical blow. For a heartbeat, doubt flickered. Maybe it was right. Maybe I was the reason he’d fallen this far.

Then I felt it—a spark through the bond, faint but defiant.

Jaden.

He was still fighting.

I straightened, fire burning behind my ribs. “Then he won’t die alone.”

The shadow roared, lashing out. I threw my arms up again, but before it could reach me, the ground split open with a sound like thunder. Light erupted from the fissures, swirling through the clearing in a spiral.

The curse screamed, writhing as the light tore at it.

And in the heart of it, a shape began to emerge.

Tall. Familiar. Blood-streaked.

“Thalia…”

His voice was hoarse, broken—but real.

I didn’t think. I ran.

The moment my hands touched him, the bond snapped taut. The forest, the curse, the world—it all fell away. There was only him, shaking and burning in my arms, his heartbeat unsteady but strong.

“I told you to stay away,” he rasped.

“And you never listen,” I shot back, half-laughing, half-crying.

He tried to smile, but his face twisted with pain. His skin was hot, feverish; the black veins of the curse crawled up his neck, glowing faintly.

“It’s spreading,” I whispered.

“I can stop it,” he said. “I just… need time.”

The shadow screamed again, regaining form at the edge of the pool. I felt its fury boiling the air.

“You don’t have time,” I said, gripping his arm. “We do this together.”

He met my gaze, and for a moment, I saw everything there — fear, defiance, love.

Then we turned to face the darkness together.

The shadow lunged again, and this time, we didn’t run.

I felt our bond ignite fully, a blinding surge of power that lifted the air around us. His fire met my light, twining together, burning through the curse.

The forest screamed. The shadow howled.

And when the light faded—there was only silence.

Smoke drifted lazily across the clearing. The pool had gone still, its surface dark but quiet. The oppressive weight of the curse was gone.

I turned to Jaden. He was on his knees, breathing hard, but alive.

For the first time, the gold in his eyes looked pure—no crimson burning at the edges.

“It’s over,” I whispered.

He managed a smile. “For now.”