I learned another important thing about the Dark Palace that night.
It never truly slept.
Even as servants withdrew and torches dimmed, the walls whispered with movement—boots against stone, distant murmurs, the rustle of silk and steel. Power lived here, breathed here. And power, I was beginning to understand, was never quiet.
It was always as loud as possible.
Kael led me through the eastern corridors without a word.
We had just returned from the council chamber—a brutal affair I hadn't been invited to attend, yet somehow still felt. The bond had pulsed the entire time, flaring whenever voices rose, tightening like a warning around my heart.
Now it throbbed steadily, a low ache beneath my ribs.
"You're angry," Kael said finally.
I glanced at him. "You locked me out."
"I protected you."
"That's not the same thing."
He stopped walking.
The suddenness of it nearly sent me crashing into him. He turned, towering over me in the dim corridor, torchlight casting sharp shadows across his face. Those green eyes searched mine—not gently, but thoroughly, as though he were stripping me bare layer by layer.
"They wanted blood tonight," he said quietly.
"Not yours."
I swallowed. "You don't get to decide that for me."
A muscle jumped in his jaw. "I am the king."
"And I'm not your weapon."
Something dark flickered across his expression—approval, maybe. Or interest.
"You're learning," he said.
That didn't feel like a compliment.
We resumed walking, the silence heavier than before. My chambers came into view at the end of the hall, guarded by two sentinels clad in black armor etched with runes.
My room.
My cage.
"I want answers," I said, stopping before the door. "About the curse. About what it's doing to me."
Kael hesitated.
Just barely.
Then he reached past me, pushing the doors open. "Then you should come inside."
The chamber was lit by a single hearth, flames flickering low. Shadows clung to the ceiling like living things. I stepped in slowly, every nerve on edge.
Kael closed the door behind us.
The sound echoed too loudly.
"Start talking," I said, folding my arms to keep from trembling.
"The curse is older than this kingdom," he began. "Older than my bloodline. It binds a ruler to a chosen soul—someone capable of balancing our darkness."
"And if it fails?"
"It consumes both."
I stared at him. "So I'm just… balance?"
"No." His voice sharpened. "You're the only one who didn't die."
That sent a chill through me.
"How many tried before me?"
His silence was answer enough.
Anger surged, hot and reckless. "You let this happen. Over and over."
"I didn't choose to live with the curse," he snapped. "I was born into it."
I took a step closer. "But you benefit from it."
His gaze dropped to my lips before snapping back to my eyes. The bond flared, heat curling low in my stomach.
"That," he said darkly, "is where you're wrong."
Before I could ask what he meant, pain ripped through my chest.
I cried out, clutching at the mark as it burned like fire beneath my skin. My knees buckled—but Kael was there instantly, hands gripping my arms, shadows surging protectively around us.
"Someone crossed the threshold," he growled. "Uninvited."
The doors shook violently.
Magic slammed into the chamber like a wave. The windows shattered outward, glass exploding into the night.
A figure emerged from the smoke—hooded, blade gleaming with sickly green light.
"Move," Kael ordered.
I didn't.
The assassin lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Kael shoved me aside, shadows exploding from his body as he drew his sword in a fluid, lethal motion. Steel met steel. Sparks flew. The assassin was fast—inhumanly so—but Kael was faster.
Too fast.
He disarmed the attacker with a brutal strike, shadow tendrils wrapping around the man's limbs, lifting him off the ground.
"Who sent you?" Kael demanded.
The assassin laughed, blood spilling from his mouth. "The crown will fall… because of her."
I felt the bond react violently.
"No," I whispered. "Don't—"
Too late.
The curse answered my fear.
Darkness tore through the assassin, ripping him apart in a scream that cut off far too quickly. Blood splattered across the stone floor. Silence followed.
My stomach lurched.
I turned away, retching.
Strong arms wrapped around me, steadying my trembling body. Kael's grip was iron, unyielding, as though he were the only thing anchoring me to the world.
"You didn't kill him," he said softly. "The curse did."
"That doesn't make it better," I choked.
"It keeps you alive."
I shoved at his chest. "At what cost?"
His hands tightened briefly—then released me.
"At mine," he said.
I looked up, startled.
He was pale. Sweat beaded along his brow. Shadows clung to him like parasites, trembling.
"The curse feeds on me when it protects you," he admitted. "Every time it acts, it takes something."
"You're lying."
"I don't lie about this."
The realization hit me like a blade.
"This is killing you."
"Yes."
I stared at him, my anger collapsing into something sharp, unfamiliar and unwelcomed.
Fear.
"You should have told me."
"You wouldn't have stayed."
"I didn't choose this!"
"And neither did I!"
The room fell into a charged silence, magic crackling between us.
Slowly, Kael sank to one knee.
The sight stole my breath.
The Dark King—kneeling.
Not in submission.
In exhaustion.
Without thinking, I moved to him, dropping beside him on the cold stone floor. I hesitated only a second before placing my hand over his chest.
His heart raced beneath my palm.
The bond warmed—gentler this time.
"Why me?" I whispered.
His voice was barely audible. "Because you don't fear the darkness."
"That's not true," I said.
He looked up at me then, eyes raw. "You fear becoming it. There's a difference."
Something cracked open inside my chest.
Careful, fragile, dangerous.
I pulled my hand away, standing abruptly. "This can't continue."
"I know."
"There has to be a way out."
"Perhaps," he said. "But until we find it, the court will see you as my weakness."
I met his gaze. "Then stop hiding me."
A slow, lethal smile curved his lips.
"Careful," he warned. "If you step into the light, they will come for you."
"Let them," I said quietly. "I don't need your shadow to survive ."
The bond pulsed.
Not in pain.
In agreement.
Kael rose slowly, towering once more—but something had shifted.
"You're changing the game," he said.
"So are you," I replied.
Thunder rolled outside, shaking the dark king's palace.
And for the first time since the curse chose me, I realized something terrifying:
I wasn't just bound to the Dark King by the curse.
There was something much more deeper.
Something I couldn't even dare to name.