The silence that followed felt suffocating, like a living thing that clung to the space between them, stretching tighter with each passing second. Lyriana stood frozen, the weight of Kael's words settling over her like a cold, suffocating fog. The bond between them—no longer the curse, but something else—throbbed in her chest, relentless and unforgiving. She could feel it pulsing beneath her skin, weaving its way through her veins like an insistent whisper.
Kael didn't move, his eyes still locked on her with an intensity that made her blood run cold. His presence—once a source of anger and frustration, now felt like a silent, inevitable storm, waiting to break.
"I…" Lyriana started, but the words caught in her throat. She didn't know what to say. Didn't know how to make sense of this. Of what she had done. The curse was gone, yes. But this… whatever this was between them, felt so much worse.
"You're afraid," Kael said softly, but there was no mockery in his tone, only the quiet truth. "You should be."
She bristled at the words, but the truth of them sliced through her defenses. She was afraid. Of him. Of what she had done. Of the thing inside of her now, stirring like a restless beast. The magic that still tied them together. But most of all, she was afraid of what it meant for her future.
"Why?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why couldn't you just let it be? Let me be free?"
Kael's gaze softened, but it was brief, a flicker in the darkness. He took a step closer, but this time, there was no force in it. He wasn't crowding her. Instead, it was an offer. A chance. She could walk away now. But something told her she wouldn't.
"You think this was about freeing you?" Kael's voice was rough, like the sound of stone scraping against stone. "You were never the only one trapped. The curse was a prison for both of us, Lyriana. But the magic…" He paused, his jaw tightening as if the next words were as difficult to speak as a confession. "It's in us. Both of us. We are bound to it now. Whether we want it or not."
Her chest constricted. "You're saying I'm stuck with you?"
"No," Kael said, his voice dark with an edge of something that might have been bitterness. "You're not stuck with me. You're stuck with the magic. And it won't let you go. Not now. Not ever."
Lyriana swallowed hard, her breath coming shallow. The words felt like chains, tightening around her heart, dragging her down. "How long until it consumes me?"
"I don't know," Kael admitted, his eyes darkening with a mix of uncertainty and regret. "I don't know how long you can fight it. How long I can fight it."
The words stung. She had hoped for more—something to hold onto. But there was nothing but this. This dangerous bond. This magic. This curse that had morphed into something far more terrifying.
"I didn't ask for this," she said, the words raw with frustration. "I never asked for any of it. Not the curse. Not you. None of it."
Kael's lips twisted into a bitter smile. "None of us ask for this, Lyriana. But we don't get a choice in the matter."
A tremor of doubt rattled through her. "What do we do now?"
Kael's gaze darkened. "We survive."
Survive. The word hung in the air, heavy with the weight of everything unsaid. Lyriana turned away from him, taking a few steps, her mind racing. How did you survive when you were bound to something you couldn't even begin to understand? Something that had its claws in you, in your soul, in your very flesh?
She could feel the magic still inside her, pulsing with a life of its own. It was as if it had taken root, as if it were growing, spreading, coiling through her with every breath she took.
"Do you ever wonder if we can escape it?" she asked, turning to face him. "This—whatever this is. This magic. Can it be undone?"
Kael's face was unreadable as he met her gaze, his expression hard. "I don't know. But I do know that we don't get to walk away from it. Not without consequences."
She clenched her fists, the pulse of the magic beneath her skin rising with every heartbeat. It was overwhelming, relentless. She could feel it gnawing at her, tugging at the edges of her thoughts.
"I want to be free of it," she said, the words more to herself than to him. "I want to be free of all of this."
Kael's voice dropped, low and steady. "We all want freedom. But sometimes the price is too high to ever truly escape."
Lyriana closed her eyes, letting the words wash over her. She didn't know how to fight this. How to survive in a world where freedom was no longer a choice.
"You're not alone," Kael said, his voice unexpectedly softer. "I'm with you. Whether you like it or not."
The sincerity in his words caught her off guard, and for a moment, she was silent. She couldn't trust him. She couldn't trust anyone. But there was something about him—something in the way he spoke, the way he held himself—that made her hesitate. Maybe he was right. Maybe they were both stuck with this, forced into a future neither of them had chosen.
For the first time since the curse had been broken, she felt the weight of their shared burden. It was heavy, suffocating, but she wasn't alone.
"Then we fight," she said, her voice firm now. "We fight to understand it. To control it. And if I have to live with it, I'll do it on my terms."
Kael's eyes softened slightly, a flicker of something almost like approval in his gaze. "We'll see about that."