CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
elysia
Kaden all but marched me through the corridors on our way back to the suite, shadows curling protectively around us until the last trace of the archives disappeared behind heavy oak doors.
I’m still clutching the book to my chest, my grip tighter than a python wrapping around its next meal. His hand pulls me forward, guiding me down onto the sofa. His movements are controlled, but there’s a restless energy beneath his skin.
“Explain.” His tone is clipped, eyes sharp and prying.
I sigh but loosen my hold on the book as I lower it to my lap “There isn’t much to say, my father had a theory before he died that The Council had engineered and distributed the plague—”
“Why would they do that?” he cuts in, lowering himself into the cushion beside me.
“I don’t know. He never found out why, but he found proof that they made it. This book only supports his theory.”
I flip open the tome, turning to the entry detailing the ‘cure’ and its shipment. I push it into his lap, pointing to the dated script.
“This was two weeks before the first outbreak. Why would they distribute a cure for something that hadn’t even begun?”
He studies the page, running a hand through his hair. “Maybe the plague was already spreading quietly. The Council could’ve been trying to contain it before the public found out to avoid panic. That would explain an early cure.”
My brow rises. Does he really trust The Council so blindly that he could be this naive?
I turn the pages, revealing the list of bloodlines, my own bloodline among them.
“This states my mother received one count of the cure two weeks before the first outbreak. She was perfectly healthy at the time. Less than three weeks later, she got sick… fever, tremors. Her veins began to glow red after a few months, and she lost the ability to move. Nearly a year after that, her veins turned black, and her magic drained.” My throat tightens, but I keep going.
“She was dead a month after… and so were the rest of the names listed in this book”
He flips through the pages, focused and surprisingly calm as his eyes roam over the deceit woven into each piece of parchment. The silence between us grows heavier with each turn of a page. When he finally speaks, his voice is strained and tired.
“I knew people from some of these bloodlines. They caught the plague, too. But their names aren’t listed.”
“Maybe this isn’t the only ‘cure’ that was distributed, or maybe the plague itself mutated once released” I shrug, “It could have evolved to target others within those bloodlines, which explains why over the years it’s become more aggressive.”
His gaze lingers on the open pages. “If it mutated to target others in each bloodline,” he says slowly, “then why didn’t it kill you or your father?”
I hesitate, searching his eyes, but before I can answer he speaks again.
“Your parents were soul-bound, right? How come he didn’t get ill with her? Everyone knows the plague affects both High Mages within a soulbond.”
My mind races, trying to think of an answer… but I have none. “Maybe he just… got lucky.”
He hums, low and thoughtful, though his tone holds no belief. “I don’t believe in luck, only lies, and The Council’s sitting on one big enough to drown Celestria.”
After a moment, he closes the tome and looks at me. “We keep this between us; no one else is to know. You can’t tell a soul. If they catch wind of what you found, they’ll destroy it, and us.”
I blink, caught off guard by the ‘we.’ “You’re going to help me?”
He nods once. “We’ll find the truth together. Whatever this is, it’s bigger than either of us.”
Something shifts in his voice, less venom, more gravity.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly, eyes softening.
My chest tightens. “For what?”
“For your mother.” He exhales, eyes dropping to the floor. “She didn’t deserve it, none of them did.”
I swallow hard, the ache in my throat making it difficult to speak. “No, she didn’t.”
His gaze burns into me, tracing over my face as if he’s searching for something he can’t quite name.
Then slowly, he lifts a hand, his fingers brushing a loose strand of hair from my cheek.
His touch sends electricity flaring where his skin meets mine, racing down the tether until it hums through my chest. I try to ignore it, to pretend I don’t feel the pull tightening between us.
I keep talking, even though my voice wavers. “We’ll have to be careful. If The Council suspects anything—”
“They’ll make sure this secret dies with us.” He finishes softly, his eyes having not left mine, thumb tracing down my jaw with maddening gentleness.
For a heartbeat, the air is charged as our emotions bleed together. Grief, anger, curiosity, and something else simmering just beneath it all. My gaze flickers to his mouth before I can stop it, breath hitching under the weight of his gaze lingering on my lips.
Then, like a door slamming shut, the moment breaks. His expression hardens, those familiar walls sliding back into place as he snaps his hand away and stands.
“Hide the tome.” He says, voice rougher than before, “and get some rest.”
Then just like that, he turns away. The smell of cedar wood and cinnamon trails in his wake as he disappears into his personal quarters, leaving my skin still trembling with the echo of his touch.
Sleep does not find me easily; my mind is still flipping through the information hidden within the tome, and how my father managed to keep it concealed under The Council’s noses for so long.
High Mages only have access to elemental power; having illusory magic is not one of them. Fire was my mother’s and father's, and that was passed down to me.
When two High Mages with different elemental magic soul-bind, they can access one another’s magic forms. Kaden could learn to master fire if he wanted to, and I could learn to command his shadows as if they were my own.
When two of the same element bind, their magic doubles in potency. It makes me wonder if that combined strength somehow caused the blip that became my telekinesis, not that I’m ungrateful for it.
I lie on my bed, hair spilling at my side in silk waves of blue threaded with moonlight, my dagger twirling loosely between my fingers. I haven’t tried wielding Kaden’s shadows yet. I’d completely forgotten it was even possible.
Closing my eyes, dagger still dancing over my skin, I try to imagine dark tendrils of ink seeping out from beneath my flesh, curling across the floorboards.
For a heartbeat, I almost feel them move.
Peeking through one eye, I scan my moonlit room.
No shadows in sight, other than the ones thrown across the walls by the pale glow filtering through the window.
Damn.
A familiar caress brushes the edge of my mind, his voice sliding in smooth as silk. “You’re doing it all wrong, Elysia darling.”
My eyes roll before shutting them closed again, bringing my dagger to rest atop my chest. “And how would you suggest I try it, Reinheart?”
“You have to become one with the darkness, not just imagine it. Befriend it, and it will answer your every call.” His voice is rough and mocking.
I scoff, “Befriend it? You make it sound like a wild animal.”
A low hum echoes across the tether, half amusement, half something softer.
“You could call it that, you fear what you don’t trust. Shadows know that, and they don’t yield easily.” His tone isn’t mocking this time, and that subtle gentleness catches me off guard.
I shift onto my side, tracing the edge of my dagger with my thumb. “Maybe it’s just you they don’t trust.”
A quiet laugh drifts through my mind, low and tired. “Maybe.”
Silence follows, the kind that isn’t uncomfortable, just heavy. The kind that lingers when there’s too much unsaid.
I swallow. “You can’t sleep either?”
A pause, grief briefly pulsing through the bond before he smothers it.
“No. Every time I close my eyes, I’m back there.” His voice hardens slightly, but I can hear the exhaustion bleeding through. “It’s always the same. The smell of smoke and blood, her cold body in my hands, her vacant eyes.”
My throat tightens, my heart lodged in my throat at the image still fresh in my head.
“Nightmares?” I whisper through the bond, though I already know the answer.
“Memories.”
I sit up, drawing my knees to my chest as moonlight filters through the window, painting silver across my hands. “I’m sorry… for seeing what I saw. I didn’t mean to intrude, Kaden.”
Silence stretches long enough that I wonder if he’s shut me out again. Then his voice threads softly through the tether, rough but honest.
“I know. Maybe it was time someone else saw it. It’s strange, the nightmares have been lighter since. Maybe sharing them made them less… mine.”
My chest aches, a dull and sweet pain. “Then maybe that’s what we’re meant to do, share them.”
“Maybe so.” His voice drops to a whisper. “Try to get some sleep. You’ll need your strength if you plan on conquering my shadows.”
I scoff softly, “Goodnight, Kaden.” I whisper, eyelids heavy.
“Goodnight, Elysia darling.”
The sound of his heartbeat echoes faintly through the link in tandem with mine, slow and even, wrapping around my thoughts like a lullaby. My breathing matches his without effort, and for the first time in months, my mind stills… the nightmares pushed back by the warmth pulsing softly between us.
By the time the dark sky turns to a pale blue, we are both adrift. Lulled into sleep by the sound of our shared heartbeat.