DUAL POV: KAELIS & KIERAN
KAELIS' POV
The Tidelands are beautiful.
I hate that I notice.
Underwater caverns glowing with bioluminescent plants. Crystal-clear pools reflecting impossible constellations. The sound of water everywhere—gentle, constant, like the world is breathing around me.
It should be peaceful.
Instead, I can't stop shaking.
Nyx brought me to a chamber carved from smooth stone, gave me clothes that feel like water against my skin, left food that tastes like nothing because I can barely swallow.
Then he left.
Gave me space, he said.
Time to adjust, he said.
Liar. He's watching. I can feel it..
The water in the basin across the room ripples even though nothing touched it. The humidity in the air feels like eyes on my skin.
I pull my knees to my chest, back against the wall, and try to remember how to breathe.
I jumped through a portal.
I time-traveled two hundred years.
I'm in an underwater kingdom with a god who claims I belong to him.
And I can never go home.
Even if I wanted to—and I don't, I don't—the portal is closed. Mother is in the past. Ravion is in the past. Everything I knew is gone...
My hands shake so hard I have to clench them into fists.
"I'm free," I whisper to the empty room. "I'm free."
But why It doesn't feel like freedom.
It feels like drowning.
I don't know how long I sit there before Nyx returns.
He moves silently, water dripping from his hair even though he's been underwater this whole time.
Those silver eyes find me immediately, and something in his expression softens.
"You haven't eaten," he observes.
"Not hungry."
"You haven't slept."
"Can't."
He crosses the room, kneels in front of me.
"Kaelis—"
"Don't." My voice cracks. "Don't say my name like that. Like you know me. You don't know me. You've been watching me, which is creepy, but you don't know me."
"I know you're exhausted," Nyx says quietly. "I know you're terrified. I know you jumped through a portal because you'd rather risk death than marry a man you hate." His hand reaches out, stops just short of touching me. "I know you're trying very hard to be brave right now, and it's breaking you."
The words hit like a physical blow.
"Fuck you," I whisper.
"I know you want that." He almost smiles. "You can hate me, Kaelis. Rage at me. Blame me for every bad thing that's happened. I can take it." His blue eyes hold mine. "But you need to rest. Your body is shutting down. The portal took more from you than you realize."
"I'm fine—"
"You're not." His voice firms. "You're shaking. You haven't eaten in two days. You can barely keep your eyes open. And if you push yourself any harder, you'll collapse." He pauses. "Let me help."
"Why?" The question tears out of me. "Why do you care? What do you want from me?"
Nyx is quiet for a long moment.
Then he says, simply: "Everything."
My breath catches.
"But not now." He stands, moves to the bed I've been ignoring. "Now, I just want you to sleep. To let your body heal. To stop fighting long enough to survive." He looks back at me. "Can you do that?"
"I don't trust you."
"I know."
"You're just another person trying to own me."
"Maybe." He doesn't deny it. "But I'm also the only thing standing between you and a world that would destroy you in days. So for now..." He gestures to the bed. "Sleep. We'll fight about ownership tomorrow."
I should refuse.
Should stay awake, stay alert & ready.
But I'm so tired.
My body moves before my mind agrees. I stumble to the bed, collapse onto it. The mattress is soft—too soft, like water that somehow holds shape.
Nyx pulls a blanket over me. His hand brushes my hair back from my face, gentle in a way that makes my chest ache.
"Sleep, little prince," he murmurs. "You're safe here. I promise."
"Promises from gods are worthless," I mumble, already fading.
"Then I'll prove it." His voice follows me down into darkness. "Every day. Until you believe."
KIERAN'S POV
I'm locked in the wedding chambers.
They're beautiful, of course. Everything in this nightmare castle is beautiful.
Four-poster bed with black silk sheets. A fireplace crackling with real flames. Tapestries showing battles and creatures that shouldn't exist.
And me.
Still in the wedding clothes because I can't figure out how to get them off without help, and I'd rather die than ask.
I sit on the floor—the bed feels too intimate, too real—back against the wall, wedding cape pooled around me like a puddle of expensive fabric.
The bond hums in my chest.
Not painful. Just... there. A constant awareness of Ravion somewhere in the castle. I can feel him like a second heartbeat, steady and cold and wrong.
Blood magic, the Oracle had said.
Ancient. Powerful.
I'm married to a man I don't know.
Bound by magic I don't understand.
Trapped in a time I don't belong to.
And no one is coming to save me.
A knock at the door makes me flinch.
"Go away," I call out, voice hoarse from crying.
The door opens anyway.
Of course it does.
Ravion steps inside, and I hate that my traitorous body relaxes slightly. The bond wants him near. Craves the connection.
I want to throw up.
"I brought food," he says, setting a tray on the table. "You didn't eat at the wedding feast."
"I was busy getting kidnapped into marriage."
His jaw tightens. "Fair point."
He doesn't leave. Just stands there, looking at me with those blood-red eyes that should terrify me but somehow don't. Not anymore. The bond won't let me be afraid of him.
Which is worse.
"Why are you here?" I ask tiredly.
"Because you're my husband." He says it simply. "And you're sitting on the floor in wedding clothes, clearly in distress. Where else would I be?"
"Literally anywhere else."
"Unfortunately for both of us, I take my vows seriously." He moves closer, crouches down to my level. "Even vows made under... complicated circumstances."
I laugh—bitter. "Complicated. Right. That's one word for 'I kidnapped and force-married someone from the future.'"
"I didn't know you were from the future."
"Does that make it better?!"
"No." He has the grace to look uncomfortable. "No, it doesn't." He's quiet for a moment. "The Oracle confirmed your story. You truly are from 2025. You truly aren't Kaelis." His red eyes search my face. "Which means I've made a catastrophic mistake."
"Yeah. You think?"
"I'm trying to fix it—"
"How?" I'm shouting now, exhaustion making me reckless. "How do you fix blood magic? How do you send me back two hundred years? How do you undo this?!" I gesture at the bond humming between us.
Ravion's expression goes very still.
"I can't," he says quietly.
The words hit like a physical blow.
"What?"
"The bond is sealed. Blood magic doesn't break—it only strengthens with time. And the portal..." He shakes his head. "According to the Oracle, it won't open again for another century." His jaw clenches. "You're stuck here, Kieran. With me. As my husband. For the rest of your mortal life."
I can't breathe.
Can't think.
Can't—
"I want to go home," I whisper. "I want my phone and my apartment and my life."
"I know."
"I want to wake up and have this be a nightmare."
"I know."
"I want—" My voice breaks. "I just want to go home."
Ravion doesn't say anything for a long moment.
Then, slowly, he reaches out.
I should pull away. Should slap his hand. Should do something.
But I don't.
His hand cups my face—cold skin against my tear-streaked cheek.
"I can't send you home," he says quietly. "I can't undo the bond. I can't change what happened." His thumb brushes away a tear. "But I can make sure you survive it. That you have everything you need. That you're treated with kindness, even if I can't give you freedom."
"That's not enough," I whisper.
"I know." His red eyes hold mine. "But it's all I have."
We sit there in silence—me on the floor, him crouched beside me, his hand still on my face.
The bond hums between us, trying to pull us closer.
I hate it.
I hate him.
I hate this.
But I'm so tired of fighting.
"Can you help me out of these clothes?" The words taste like defeat. "I can't figure out the stupid fastenings."
Something flickers across Ravion's face—
"Of course baby."
He helps me to my feet, steadies me when I sway. His hands are efficient but gentle as he undoes complicated clasps and ties I never would have figured out alone.
The wedding clothes fall away piece by piece until I'm just in the simple undergarments.
Ravion hands me soft sleep clothes—black silk, because apparently, that's all he owns.
"There's food on the table," he says. "And water. If you need anything else—"
"I need to go home."
His expression breaks.
"Anything I can give you," he amends quietly.
I want to scream at him.
Want to hit him.
Want to hurt him like I'm hurting.
But I'm too tired.
"Just... leave," I whisper. "Please. Just leave me alone."
Ravion nods. Turns to go.
Then pauses at the door.
"For what it's worth," he says without looking back, "I truly am sorry. If I could undo it—if I could send you back—I would. In a heartbeat." His hand tightens on the doorframe. "But I can't. So all I can do is try to make this bearable." He glances back, red eyes glowing in the candlelight. "I'll try, Kieran. Every day. To make this bearable."
Then he's gone.
And I'm alone.
With wedding clothes on the floor.
A bond in my chest that won't let me hate him properly.
And the crushing knowledge that this is my life now.
I sink onto the bed and cry until there's nothing left....