CHAPTER six
ELysia
I awake to the warm rays of sunlight caressing my face, like the gentle warmth of my mother’s kiss.
I stir, rolling onto my back, eyelids heavy with the remnants of restless dreams. My hair falls down my back in a dark cascade, tangling against my waist as I swing my legs to the side of the bed and stand.
With a flick of my wrist, the balcony doors swing open, letting in a lukewarm breeze that carries the scent of fresh rain and cut grass.
Stepping out, I move among my florals, silverthorns, moonlilies, starbane and white roses. Each is touched with morning dew, nourished by the night’s rainfall before I even had the chance to tend them. Their glow is now faint under the morning light.
It’s been a week since the ceremony, and I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding Kaden for the most part. With our bond still tempering, it’s easier to manage the torrent of our emotions when we’re not in each other’s presence.
The Council delivered my personal belongings a couple of hours after I set foot in my provided room. It will never feel like mine, but it’s only temporary and provides a semblance of familiarity.
My plants were the first to be delivered, and I’m grateful for that… they make everything feel more tranquil and calming, the routine of caring for them keeps me grounded. My books, diagrams and my father’s diary were among the next items I requested.
Drawing a deep breath of morning air, I step back inside and grab the towel I’d left draped over the chest of drawers. Through the bond, I sense Kaden still asleep. His heartbeat steady, a slow rhythmic drum beat in the distance, his breathing even and calm.
The bathing chamber door clicks shut and locks behind me as I enter and turn on the shower, steam curling from the spray of hot water.
Shedding my clothes, I step beneath the stream and sigh as the heat wraps around me and washes away the weight of my broken sleep.
I run my hands through my hair, lathered with rose-scented shampoo.
The scent fills the air until the steam is perfumed.
I finish washing up quickly and shut off the water.
I’m combing through my hair when hunger stabs my gut like lightning, sharp and demanding.
A frown creases between my brows.
I’ve not had a bite to eat since yesterday morning, but this hunger is far stronger than it should be.
Then I understand, it isn’t just mine. I’m feeling his.
The bathroom door swings open as I step through, and steam drifts into the shared living quarters. My damp skin prickles in the cooler air as I tighten the towel around me. Through the archway, I see Kaden in the kitchen, broad-shouldered and still faintly shadowed by sleep.
Another pang of hunger slams into me, echoing from him through the bond, and I nearly groan. I hate to admit it, but Cole was right. Standing here now… I really do feel murderous when I’m hungry.
“On Noctis, can you please eat something?” I spit, voice laced with irritation.
He chuckles low, his voice thick with sleep as he turns to face me. “Good morning to you, too, Elysia darling. Someone’s in a fine mood.”
“It’s just Elysia.” I snap, annoyance bubbling.
“Hmm, I like my name for you better.” He croons, amusement simmering through the tether.
I clear my throat, choosing to ignore his attempt at getting on my last damn nerve. “Eat, or I’ll force-feed you myself.”
“Are you offering to feed me, Elysia darling?” His eyes darken as his burning gaze rakes over my body, “You look… rather appetising this morning.”
His thoughts graze the bond before he can stop them… or perhaps he pushes them through deliberately. Either way, warmth coils beneath my skin, and I swallow hard, pressing it back.
“I wouldn’t willingly fuck you even if you were the last man on earth, Reinheart. Get over yourself.”
He laughs softly, “Who said anything about fucking? You can still hate me while I use my tongue—”
“You’re vile.” I seethe, cutting him off. “You overestimate your appeal. Massively.”
His dark chuckle vibrates through my very soul, and the amusement bleeding into me only heightens the aggravation pulsing through my veins. My fingers flex around my dagger; it’s cold metal grounding me just slightly.
His eyes flick to the movement, and his answering smirk grows impossibly wide.
“You take that thing with you everywhere?”
My hand tightens as a tight smile splits my lips, “Never know when you might need it.”
“Ah,” he murmurs, leaning against the counter, “and with me around, you always need it?”
“Precisely.”
His shadows twitch at my response, and his eyes glint with the promise of violence before liquid darkness slithers forward like something alive.
“Don’t,” I snap, but his shadows are faster. Coiling around my feet, cool and slick before sliding up my thigh as he reaches for the blade.
Before he can pry the dagger from my grip, my muscles snap into motion and fling the blade with a flick of practised precision.
It flies through the air with a satisfying whistle before biting into the flesh of his shoulder. His shadows snap back to him quicker than I can blink as the same wound forms on my own shoulder.
“Fuck!” He curses, eyes landing on the blade.
“Don’t fucking touch me.” I seethe, biting back the pain.
Damn the bond. Damn him.
His jaw tightens as he reaches for my dagger. “Shit.” He hisses, “You’re quick, I’ll give you that.”
In an instant, I lift my hand and call it back to me. It shivers and trembles, then rips free from his shoulder with a satisfying wet pop, streaking back through the air into my palm.
Pain lances through me again, and I swallow it down.
He winces as he rolls his injured shoulder. “One of these days, that little trick of yours is going to really piss me off.”
“It already does,” I bite back.
What sounds like a frustrated growl works up his throat as he turns his back to me, rummaging through the cabinet, grasping a bottle of healing tonic and pouring it over the wound.
My own begins to tingle, then it closes up.
Light pink skin now where a bloodied gash used to sit.
The pain is still there, but the wound is closed.
“Violent little menace.” He mutters, barely audible.
Hunger stabs through me again, sharper and much more painful than it was minutes ago. Gods, if he doesn’t eat soon, I fear he may kill us both.
“Before you say anything, I’m planning to eat, but I can’t get the hearth to light. I may have mastered wielding shadows, but learning to wield your fire is deeming… difficult.”
He turns as I blink, shock pulling at my features before I school them back to neutrality.
Fire wielding is one of the most challenging forms of magic to master.
It’s volatile and untamed, fitting that it’s my form of magic.
To hear that Kaden Reinheart, The Council’s prized weapon, is struggling to spark a flame is… unexpected.
Now it’s my turn to be smug.
“Well…” I say coolly, stepping closer. “Isn’t that something? Kaden Reinheart— the big, bad war hound can’t coax a flame?” My smirk widens, amusement deliberately pulsing through the bond.
I flick my wrist in a smooth, practised motion and the hearth sparks instantly, fire blooming bright and warm. “There, you’re welcome.”
Turning, I stride toward my chambers to dress. Then I sense him shift behind me, and my body sharpens in anticipation of a threat slowly approaching, but none comes.
Instead, his voice follows me. “Do you want any?”
I stop dead in my tracks, disbelief coursing through me. “What?”
“Don’t get used to it. It’s purely practical, your hunger’s been clawing at me since last night.”
I glance back, arching a brow. “If I say yes, are you going to poison it?”
“Now, why would I do that?” he replies, voice smooth and almost teasing. “Killing you would serve me no purpose. I’d die alongside you, and we need each other to find the cure. If we can eventually sever the bond, however…” His eyes glint darkly. “I make no such promise.”
Something cold twists in my chest as my brows rise, my mind racing at the implication, wondering why he would wish to see me dead. I force my face to remain impassive, though fear nips at the edges of my composure.
“No, thank you. I’ll feed myself,” I snap, walking back into my chambers and locking the door behind me, the satisfying click of the mechanism a small anchor against the storm inside me.
I remain in my room for the rest of the day, venturing out only once to grab food and a pot of tea. I’m not sure how long exactly we’re expected to share this suite, but perhaps it’s best we keep our distance… after all, I wouldn’t want to kill him—us, before we have the chance to find a cure.
I’m sprawled across my bed in a simple midnight-blue shift that reaches just below my knees. Thin black threads swirl into delicate patterns along the hem, like smoke curling into the sky. Faintly glowing petals and leaves hover lazily around me as I practice telekinesis.
Trying to be civil with Kaden is a true testament of will.
He stands for everything I oppose. He trusts The Council blindly, answers to their every beck and call.
He’s killed for them, ravaged quarters, and left destruction in his wake.
All because the master he serves demanded it.
He’s nothing but a weapon on a leash. It makes me wonder if he’s ever truly thought or acted for himself.
A knock on my door snaps me from my thoughts. I was so deep inside my head, I hadn’t even sensed him approach.
His voice slides through the wood, dark and edged with irritation. “If you could hate me a little quieter, that would be great. Having your thoughts shoved down the bond is really ruining my mood.”
I click my tongue, rolling my eyes before releasing an exasperated sigh. “Maybe you should try being more likeable, then. Though I imagine that would be hard for The Council’s lapdog.”
Rage slams into me through the bond like a wave of molten lava.
My breath hitches, and my skin flushes pink under the assault of his emotions, violent and seething.
Then my lock clicks.
Fuck.
The door bursts open, and shadows snake into the room faster than thought, like serpents ready to strike.
Before I can even blink, they coil around my throat, lifting me off my feet and slamming me against the wall beside my bed.
My toes dangle mere inches from the floor; my back pressed to cold stone.
My breath catches, and my hands claw at the tendrils of shadow wound around my neck.
“What the fuck, Reinheart?” I rasp, my voice a broken whisper.
He’s on me in an instant, stepping out of the doorway like a predator from the dark. His eyes are darkened storms, threaded with green and turquoise, his jaw tight.
The bond becomes a living thing between us, his fury tearing through me like a blade, the agony of it radiating across my skin. I know he feels it too when his face twists briefly, a grimace flickering through the rage.
“Lapdog?!” His voice is a low growl. “You think you know me now? You think you’ve got me figured out because you can feel my heartbeat and the air I breathe?” His hand rises, placed on the wall beside my head as he moves in closer. “You don’t know anything about me.”
I grit my teeth, ignoring the shadows tightening at my neck. “I know enough,” I hiss, my voice raw but steady. “Enough to know you’re nothing but The Council’s weapon. You kill who they tell you to. You kneel when they say kneel. You’re. Their. Bitch.”
The bond lashes at my words, anger and defiance mixing into a dangerous concoction.
The air crackles, magic filling the room with a hiss as petals ignite and disintegrate to ash.
His shadows writhe harder, crawling up the walls like smoke from a fire, rune-powered lights flicker, and the windows rattle.
The whole chamber hums with raw, unchecked power.
His expression flickers, a flash of something pained beneath the rage. But he smothers it instantly, leaning in until his breath is hot against my cheek.
“I’d suggest you learn to watch your tongue, you’re under the mercy of my shadows now.” His voice deepens. “It would be a shame if they were to hurt you.”
Panic spikes through me, unwanted and ugly, like poison flooding my veins. My nails dig at the bands of shadow strangling my throat, but they hold firm, tightening with every heartbeat.
The rune lights flicker violently in tandem with my panic.
Kaden’s smirk stretches into a wide, manic smile, canines glinting as his shadows pour higher up the walls, blotting out the room until a pulsing black cocoon surrounds us.
Only the dim, flickering light survives; the windows rattle with the force of an earthquake, and one cracks, hairline fractures spiderwebbing across the glass.
A voice cuts through the chaos, sharp as a blade. The shadows falter, like startled snakes retreating a fraction.
“Enough.”
The single word lands like a hammer, and light floods the threshold of my room as Councillor Avangeline Cordero steps inside, a pale-gold aura coiling around her as if the sun burns beneath her skin.
A light wielder without a doubt.
“I suggest you both calm down,” she says, her voice even. “Before the soulbond scorches you from the inside out.” Her eyes are stern and unmoving as they settle on Kaden. “Mr. Reinheart, release her. Now.”
Kaden’s jaw flexes. Then slowly and reluctantly, he withdraws the shadows from my throat.
They slither back across the walls, nipping at my skin like retreating snakes before disappearing into his palms. I slouch against the wall, gasping for breath, hands fly to my neck where the shadows have left a firm ache.
“Thank you.” Avangeline continues, her expression unsoftened.
“Now, it is imperative you both learn to control your emotions. That little display caused the entire tower to rattle. If I hadn’t come to check on you…
” She lets the sentence trail, her lips a thin line.
“I dread to think how different the outcome could have been.”
We stand glaring at one another like predators.
Avangeline’s gaze flicks between us, cool and sharp. “Clean this up. Both of you. And make sure you’re up early for the first day of training. It seems we’ll need to start sooner than anticipated… before you kill each other, or so help us, you’ll bring this tower down on all our heads.”
She gives us both a pointed look, the kind that makes you feel stripped bare, then turns and strides out of the suite.
Kaden exhales hard, raking his fingers through his ink-black hair. His features are still twisted with rage, something dark and unreadable lurking behind his eyes, but he says nothing. He only shoots me a look sharp enough to kill and storms out, slamming the door behind him.