Sera's POV
I woke up tasting blood.
Not my blood. His.
Kael's blood was in my mouth, copper and warm, and the memory came flooding back—the poison, the dying, him forcing me to swallow.
He'd saved my life.
I sat up slowly, my head spinning. I wasn't in the cell anymore. This room was bigger, with a real bed, a window with bars, clean sheets.
And the door was locked.
Still a prisoner, just a more comfortable one.
Through the bond, I felt Kael sleeping in the next room. His exhaustion pressed against my mind like a heavy blanket. He'd lost too much blood saving me.
Guilt twisted in my stomach.
Someone had tried to poison me, and he'd nearly died because of it.
I examined my arm where the healers had inserted the needle. A fresh bandage covered the wound. Underneath, I knew there'd be a scar to match the chain mark on my palm.
We were connected by blood now. Literally.
His blood was keeping me alive.
I got out of bed and tried the door. Locked, as expected. But through the wood, I could feel Kael's presence like a compass pointing north.
How far could we go before the bond hurt us? A mile? Less?
I was trapped not just by locked doors, but by magic I didn't understand.
The window showed early morning light. I'd been unconscious all night. Finn—where was Finn?
I reached for the bond, trying to sense beyond just Kael. Could I feel my brother through this connection?
Nothing. The bond only linked me to Kael.
Panic started rising in my chest. Was Finn still alive? Had they hurt him? Was he—
Calm down. Kael's mental voice cut through my panic. Your brother is fine. I moved him to a safe house outside the Citadel with guards I trust. He's protected.
I sagged against the wall with relief. You can hear me even when you're asleep?
Not asleep anymore. Thanks for that. His mental tone was dry. Your panic woke me up.
Sorry. I paused. Thank you. For saving Finn. For saving me.
Don't thank me yet. We're both still in danger.
Who tried to kill me?
If I knew that, they'd already be dead. Through the bond, I felt his cold fury. But I will find out.
The lock clicked. I stepped back as the door opened.
Kael stood in the doorway, looking exhausted. Dark circles shadowed his gray eyes. His hair was messy, like he'd been running his hands through it. For the first time, he looked almost human instead of like death itself.
"You need to eat," he said. "The blood loss weakened both of us."
"I'm not hungry."
"I don't care. Your body needs food to recover, which means my body needs food to recover." He held out a tray with bread, cheese, and fruit. "I tested everything myself. It's safe."
I took the tray, our fingers brushing. The chain marks flared hot where we touched.
We both jerked back.
"Sorry," I muttered.
"Don't apologize. Just eat."
I sat on the bed and picked at the food while Kael leaned against the wall, watching me.
"You look terrible," I said.
"You look half-dead. But considering you were fully dead eight hours ago, I'd say that's improvement."
Despite everything, I almost smiled. "Do you ever talk to people normally? Without sarcasm?"
"I don't talk to people. I kill them. Sarcasm is my version of friendly conversation."
"That's really sad."
He shrugged. "That's reality."
I ate in silence for a moment, feeling his eyes on me. It was strange—through the bond, I could feel his concern, his worry. But his face remained blank, emotionless.
"Why do you do that?" I asked.
"Do what?"
"Hide what you're feeling. I can feel how worried you are through the bond, but your face shows nothing."
His jaw tightened. "Fourteen years of practice. If people see you feel something, they use it against you."
"Is that what happened to your parents?"
The bond flooded with pain so sharp I gasped.
"Don't." His voice was deadly quiet. "Don't ask about them."
"But I saw—in the bond, I saw flashes. Your memories. The execution. You were just a boy."
"I said don't." He pushed off the wall, heading for the door.
"Kael, wait—"
"Eat your food. Stay in this room. I'll send guards to watch the door." He paused. "No one gets in but me or Riven. Trust no one else."
"Not even the healers?"
"Especially not the healers. One of them might be working for whoever poisoned you."
He left, closing the door behind him. I heard the lock click.
Through the bond, I felt him walking away, his emotions a storm of anger and grief and something else I couldn't name.
I'd hurt him by asking about his parents.
I'm sorry, I thought at him.
Stop apologizing. You didn't know. His mental voice softened slightly. Just... some wounds don't heal, Sera. Even after fourteen years.
I understand. I lost my mother too.
I know. I felt your memory of it. Through the bond.
We sat in silence—him wherever he was going, me in my locked room—but connected by the invisible thread between us.
This is really strange, I thought.
Which part? The blood bond, the mind reading, or the fact that we're stuck together until one of us figures out how to break it?
All of it.
Through the bond, I felt his grim amusement. Welcome to my nightmare.
Our nightmare now, I corrected.
He didn't respond, but I felt his agreement.
Hours passed. I tried to rest, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw the assassin's face. The servant who'd brought poisoned food, then killed herself rather than be questioned.
Someone wanted me dead that badly.
Someone powerful enough to plant assassins in the Citadel.
But who?
Lord Theron was the obvious answer. But would he really risk an assassin? He'd already arranged for Finn's execution legally. Why poison me when he could just wait for me to hang?
Unless he couldn't wait.
Unless something had changed that made him desperate to kill me quickly.
The bond, I realized. He must have heard about what happened at the execution. The dark magic. The connection between me and The Reaper.
If Theron knew about the bond, he'd know killing me would also kill Kael. And without The Reaper, the empire's most effective executioner would be gone.
Theron wouldn't care about killing Kael. But someone else might.
The door burst open.
I jumped up as a woman swept in—elegant, beautiful, with dark hair and cold eyes. She wore the white robes of a High Priestess.
Behind her, Kael appeared, his face tight with anger.
"I told you to wait," he said.
"And I told you I don't take orders from executioners." The woman's smile was sharp. "I take orders from the Emperor. And he wants to know about the dark magic in his Citadel."
She turned to me, her gaze calculating.
"So you're the girl who bound herself to The Reaper. How fascinating."
My blood went cold. She knew. She knew about the bond.
"High Priestess Morvaine," Kael said carefully. "The investigation is ongoing. I'll report my findings when—"
"Your findings?" She laughed. "You're too close to this, Kael. I can smell the blood magic on both of you. You performed a blood transfer last night, didn't you? To save her life?"
Kael's face remained blank, but through the bond, I felt his fear.
"That's forbidden magic," Morvaine continued. "Punishable by death. Unless, of course, you had a very good reason. Like, say, being blood-bonded to the girl. If she died, you'd die too. Self-preservation isn't a crime."
She stepped closer to me, studying my face like I was an interesting specimen.
"Let me see your hand, child."
"No," Kael moved between us. "She's my prisoner. My investigation."
"And she's also evidence of blood magic. Which makes her my jurisdiction." Morvaine's voice hardened. "Move aside, Reaper. Or I'll have the Emperor remove you from this case entirely."
Through the bond, I felt Kael's calculations. He was thinking about fighting her. About killing her to protect our secret.
But killing a High Priestess would condemn us both.
"It's okay," I said quietly. I stepped around Kael and held out my palm.
Morvaine grabbed my hand, her fingers ice-cold. She examined the chain mark, her eyes lighting with fascination.
"Extraordinary," she breathed. "A perfect blood-bond. I've studied these for years, but I've never seen one this strong."
She looked at Kael, then back at me.
"This wasn't an accident, was it? Someone created this bond deliberately. Used ancient magic to tie your lives together."
"I did it," I said. "I performed the ritual. It was my mistake."
"Your mistake?" Morvaine laughed. "Child, you don't understand what you've created. Blood-bonds this powerful don't just happen. They require perfect compatibility. The right bloodlines. The right magical resonance."
She released my hand, her smile widening.
"You two were meant to be bonded. Someone knew that. Someone wanted this."
"That's impossible," Kael said. "We'd never met before yesterday."
"Doesn't matter. Your blood knew each other. Your magic recognized its match." Morvaine moved toward the door. "I'll need to report this to the Emperor, of course. He'll want to study you both. Understand how such a perfect bond was created."
She paused in the doorway.
"Oh, and Lord Theron will be so disappointed. He's been demanding your execution, Sera. But the Emperor won't kill you now. Not when your death would also eliminate his best executioner."
She swept out, leaving us in stunned silence.
Through the bond, I felt Kael's racing thoughts.
"She's lying," I whispered. "She has to be. We weren't meant to be bonded. It was an accident—"
"Was it?" Kael's gray eyes burned into mine. "Think about it, Sera. What are the odds? The ritual connecting to me specifically. The bond being this strong. The fact that we can share blood, thoughts, feelings. That's not normal magic. That's something else."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying maybe she's right. Maybe someone did want us bonded." His voice was grim. "And if that's true, we need to find out who. And why."
"But who would want—"
The answer hit me like a physical blow.
My mother.
She'd been researching blood-bonds before she died. She'd written about The Convergence ritual in her journal. She'd known things about forbidden magic that got her executed.
What if she'd planned this? What if she'd somehow known that one day I'd need protection, and she'd set up the ritual to bind me to the one person who could keep me safe?
The empire's most deadly executioner.
"Kael," I said slowly. "I think my mother did this. I think she planned for us to be bonded."
"Why?"
"Because she knew." My voice shook. "She knew the empire would come for me eventually. She knew I'd need someone strong enough to protect me. Someone dangerous enough that even the Emperor would think twice about killing me."
Through the bond, I felt Kael's realization dawning.
"She bonded you to me as insurance," he said. "If you die, The Reaper dies. And the empire needs The Reaper."
We stared at each other, the weight of this revelation hanging between us.
My mother had used her last days to create a spell that would save my life years later.
She'd bound me to a killer.
To keep me alive.