Chapter 25 #2
His voice was full of something sacred and whole. He wanted to stay, to hold this moment forever, but the void pulled him back, weightless and spiraling, and the last thing he saw was her smile.
Stephan gasped. Air tore from his lungs like a man dragged from drowning. Cold bit into his skin, anchoring him to the present. The monoliths pulsed faintly, their glow flickering like dying embers.
But none of it mattered, because the moment he came back to himself, he saw her still motionless on the ground. His stomach dropped.
“No!” The word slipped out as panic surged through him. He turned and brushed her cheek with trembling fingers. “Eris.”
No response.
“Why will she not wake?” His gaze snapped, frantic, to Kaelioth.
The shaman only stroked his chin, a slow smirk curling his lips. “Interesting,” Kaelioth murmured, too calm, like a man watching ritual instead of life slipping away. “Part of her is back. I can feel it.” He paused, gaze unreadable. “But it seems she needed you both.”
Both.
Stephan stilled. Kaelioth’s gaze shifted to Kareon. “She will not wake until he brings her.”
Kaelioth exhaled, as if listening to something far beyond the grove. Then a soft, fragile sound broke the stillness.
“Stephan.”
Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was hers. Stephan seized her hand fiercely, threading their fingers as if touch alone could hold her in this world.
“I’m here,” he whispered. He pressed his forehead to her knuckles. “I’m not leaving. Please…come back, my love.”
The Hollow held its breath, and so did he.
Kareon stepped into the mist, and the Hollow slipped away. Ancient pines rose around him like pillars, the air thickening with resin and damp earth. Mist wound through the trunks like something alive, brushing his arms, curling into his breath.
Then he saw her.
Eris stood ahead, unmoving, eyes fixed on the ground. Her shape was seared into him. The slope of her shoulders. The wild fall of auburn curls that once tangled in his fingers. The kind of beauty that never let him rest. He approached without pause, each step final.
When he reached her, he turned her gently to face him. “Eris, look at me.”
She raised her eyes. Green. Wide. Empty.
His jaw tightened. “Why are you here?”
She hesitated. “I came for something,” she said softly. “I just don’t know what.”
Wrong answer.
The emptiness in her voice twisted something deep inside him. Then he saw it—a blade at her hip, untouched. His mouth curved, certain.
“You came to fight.” His voice was low, controlled. “Remember.”
She blinked, her fingers twitching. One hand rose to her temple, but nothing came.
He exhaled sharply, placed a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a firm push, just enough to jolt her instincts awake. Her head snapped up, eyes narrowing.
That got her attention. Good.
She needed a reason to rise, not a hand to hold.
He drew his blade in one motion, the steel catching the moonlight, gleaming cold and clean. “You will remember fighting me.”
Her breath caught in irritation, jaw clenching as her posture shifted.
“There you are,” he said, a flicker of something fierce and satisfied in his voice. He nodded toward her blade. “Pick it up, princess. Or I’ll put you down.”
She glared at him and unsheathed the sword in one sharp motion. Even lost, she never backed down from a challenge.
With each strike, something ancient stirred in her chest, something that remembered who she was.
Kareon’s blade met hers again, swift and brutal. The shock surged through his arms as he drove her backward.
“Feel that?” he said. “The rage. The fire. What they failed to kill.”
Eris gritted her teeth.
He pressed forward. “What are you protecting?”
Their swords locked as his gaze held hers. She inhaled sharply, something flickering behind her eyes as a memory began to rise.
Then she moved, faster and stronger. Her blade lashed toward him with purpose. “I fight for my people.”
Kareon’s mouth curled into a grim smile. “Who, Eris?”
His next strike rang out as steel slammed against steel. She staggered.
“I don’t know.” She was close. So close.
He struck again, relentless and precise, until her blade flew from her grip and clattered against the stone.
For a breath, everything stilled.
Then Kareon tossed his sword aside, letting it fall without hesitation.
He closed the space between them in a heartbeat, seized her, and crashed his mouth to hers.
The kiss burned, fierce and unrelenting.
Both a claim and a challenge. One hand gripped her waist, anchoring her to him.
The other tangled in her hair, pulling her closer as if the distance between them had never been bearable.
He held nothing back.
The kiss consumed her. It was raw, hungry, and impossibly alive. Heat slammed through her as her composure shattered. Her heart pounded, and her ribs trembled. She pushed him away, breath ragged and torn.
He stared at her, wild and steady. “Still lost, princess?” His voice was calm. Taunting.
Eris stepped back, hands trembling and breath uneven. “You bastard.”
Kareon only smiled. This time, he reached not for her lips, but for the truth. “Tell me. Who are you fighting for?”
She clutched her head as memories surged through her, burning with grief and fury.
His hand closed around her wrist, and the world cracked open. Wind howled through the void. The Hollow fractured.
She gasped, and the words escaped her. “For the Lycans. I fight for them.” Her voice rang out strong, carrying the weight of battle and belonging.
Kareon smiled again, darker this time. “Good. Then let’s go home.”
The world shifted, and the Hollow let go.
The Hollow stirred with slow, seismic weight. The monoliths trembled. The runes pulsed once, then flared as if something deep inside them screamed.
Eris arched as a violent jolt tore through her body. A ragged gasp escaped her lips, as if her soul had been dragged from drowning.
Stephan froze.
She was back.
Her eyes opened slowly. Her lungs strained. The weight of the in-between still clung to her skin like shadow.
For a moment, he could not move. He could not believe. Then something inside him broke. He reached for her and pulled her against his chest.
“Eris.” Her name left him like a prayer cracked open.
His hands gripped her cloak—too tight, too desperate—as if letting go might unmake her. He pressed his face into her hair and held her like she was breath itself.
Her breathing was shallow and uneven, but his warmth steadied her. She clung to him, fingers fisting into his shoulders, holding him like anchor and home.
“I’m back, Stephan.” Her voice shook. “It was cold. It was wrong.”
He pulled back just enough to meet her eyes, his hands framing her face with reverence and desperation. “You’re here. That’s enough.”
But it was not enough. Not for the hours he had knelt beside her stillness. Not for the terror that had hollowed him.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered, voice cracking.
She swallowed hard, hands frantically cupping his face as if afraid he might vanish. “You almost did. But you came for me. You saved me.”
Stephan’s eyes closed, his forehead pressing to hers as he exhaled, broken and whole in the same breath.
Beside them, Kareon began to stir. Slowly, he pushed upright, shaking, as the damp earth clung to his skin.
“You took your time, princess.” He tried to sound amused, but the weakness in his voice gave him away.
Stephan didn’t speak. His silence was a warning.
Eris turned, and there he was. Kareon. Alive.
Joy flared in her eyes, too sudden. Too full.
She smiled before she could stop herself. Of course he came back. He always did.
A slow smirk curled on his lips. She knew that look.
“In hindsight,” Kareon said, rolling his shoulders as though the pain belonged to someone else, “we could’ve skipped the swordplay and gone straight to the kiss. Would’ve saved us both some time.”
Stephan lunged, grabbing Kareon by the collar and slamming him back into the stone. The clearing snapped to life, fire spitting sparks.
“You kissed her?” he growled.
Kareon bared his teeth. “Go ahead, Dragov. Hit me. You’ve been waiting for it.”
He didn’t move. He wanted Stephan to see it—really see it. Eris was never his alone. Kareon hated how easy it had been for him, how he’d loved her in the light while Kareon was left to the shadows. So he stood still, willing the blow to land. He needed to bleed something real.
Tension rippled between them, sharp and coiled like lightning clenched in a fist.
Eris stepped in, placing both palms on Stephan’s chest and shoving him back. “Enough.”
Stephan breathed through clenched teeth. His hands didn’t drop yet. Kareon’s smile remained, but it no longer reached his eyes.
Eris met Stephan’s gaze. “Stephan, he didn’t kiss my body,” she said, voice steady. “He kissed my soul.”
As if that would help.
Stephan’s head snapped toward her, eyes blazing. “He doesn’t get to kiss any part of you.” A pause. Then, sharper: “Soul included.”
Kareon tilted his head. “That kiss saved her,” he said, savoring the words. “And she didn’t pull away.” He leaned in, voice lower. “So tell me—was it the kiss that bothered you, or the fact that she wanted it?”
Stephan surged forward again. Eris shoved him harder.
“I said enough!” Her voice cut through bark and flame. Even the Hollow went quiet.
Neither man moved. Stephan’s fists trembled. Kareon’s grin faded slowly.
Eris stood between them, firelight in her eyes, though there was still a fragility in her that stopped them both cold.
“I’m here,” she said. “We’re here. That’s what truly matters...Please.”
The clearing held its breath. Then Stephan stepped back. Kareon exhaled. Their shoulders eased as their anger faded.
They gave her what she asked, because they always did. Because love, for them, was not conquest. It was surrender.