Kael's POV
We crashed into water.
Cold, dark water that filled my lungs and dragged us down. Aria's hand was still locked in mine, her panic flooding through the bond like ice in my veins. She couldn't swim—I felt her terror as clearly as my own exhaustion.
I kicked upward, pulling her with me. My body screamed in protest. The curse, the fighting, the realm-jumping—I'd pushed too hard. Three hundred years sealed away had left me weaker than I wanted to admit.
We broke the surface, both gasping. I looked around, trying to figure out where her wild escape had landed us.
A lake. Dark sky. Trees that looked wrong—too tall, their leaves shimmering silver in moonlight that felt too bright. Not the mortal realm. Not the Celestial Court either.
"Where are we?" Aria choked out, clinging to me.
"The In-Between," I said, swimming toward the shore. "The space that exists between all realms. How did you even—" I broke off as we reached shallow water. "Oracle Keepers can see the paths between worlds, but you shouldn't have been able to travel them. Not without training."
"I didn't know what I was doing," she admitted, stumbling as her feet found bottom. "I just... I saw the way out and I took it."
We collapsed on the rocky beach, both breathing hard. Aria's clothes were soaked through, her hair plastered to her face. She looked like a drowned cat—small, miserable, and furious.
"You could have killed us both," I said, anger rising. Not at her, but at this impossible situation. "Jumping through realms without knowing where you'll land? That's how mortals end up scattered across dimensions or crushed between worlds."
"Well excuse me for saving your life!" Aria shot back, her eyes blazing. "What was I supposed to do? Let your brother take my power and lock you away for another three hundred years?"
"Yes!" The word came out harsher than I meant. "You should have saved yourself, Aria. That's what I told you to do."
"And I told you no." She stood up, water dripping from her clothes, looking small and fierce and impossibly brave. "I'm done letting people use me. I'm done being the victim everyone walks over. Marcus stole from me. Vivian destroyed my career. The whole academic world treated me like garbage. I spent six months feeling worthless, and I'm not doing it anymore."
She pointed at the mark on her wrist, the silver bond glowing faintly.
"You said this bond makes us connected. That means your problems are my problems now. So you're going to explain everything, and we're going to figure this out together. Because I didn't tear a hole through reality just to watch you die from some stupid curse."
I stared at her. This mortal girl who'd been a librarian two hours ago, who'd lost everything, who should have been terrified and broken—she was standing here dripping wet and ordering me around like she had any right to.
And through the bond, I felt her determination. Her stubborn refusal to give up. It reminded me of Sera, but also of myself before three hundred years of darkness taught me that caring only led to pain.
"Fine," I said, pushing myself to my feet. "You want explanations? Let's start with what you are."
"I'm just a librarian—"
"You're an Oracle Keeper." I cut her off. "A human born with the blood of the first mortals who served the gods. Your ancestors could read divine languages, see the future, and most importantly—they could manipulate the seals and bonds that hold our world together."
Aria wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. "Vivian said something about that. But my family never mentioned anything about gods or seals or—"
"Because most Oracle lines died out or went into hiding centuries ago. Your family probably forgot what they were, or chose to forget. It's safer that way." I started walking along the shore, needing to move, to think. "The gods used Oracle Keepers to maintain the Veil between realms. But some of your ancestors got too powerful, started making their own rules. The Celestial Council wasn't happy about mortals having that much control."
"So they killed them?"
"Some. Others were forced to give up their powers. A few managed to hide, had children, and hoped the bloodline would stay dormant." I glanced at her. "Yours clearly didn't."
Aria followed me, her teeth chattering. "But I've never done anything like this before. I couldn't even light a candle with my mind until tonight."
"Because the seal kept your power locked away. Divine seals don't just trap immortals—they can suppress mortal abilities too. When you broke mine, you broke your own at the same time. All that Oracle blood that's been sleeping in your veins for generations? It just woke up."
She was quiet for a moment. Then: "Is that why everyone wants me? The power?"
"Partly." I stopped walking and turned to face her. "But it's more than that. When you broke the seal, you didn't just free me. You absorbed part of its power. Divine seals contain enormous energy—they have to, in order to hold immortals like me. That energy is inside you now, mixed with your Oracle blood."
Understanding dawned in her eyes. "That's what Vivian and Marcus were after. That's why they used me to find the seal in the first place."
"They knew you could break it. Oracle Keepers are the only ones who can. But they didn't expect you to bond with me in the process." I held up my wrist, showing her the matching mark. "Soul bonds are rare. Ancient. They only form when two beings choose each other on a level deeper than consciousness. Usually it happens between immortals who've known each other for years."
"But we just met," Aria said quietly.
"I know." And that was the part that terrified me. "Which means something about you called to something in me. Or vice versa. The bond doesn't form unless both souls... recognize each other somehow."
The implications hung heavy between us. I'd loved Sera with everything I had, but we'd never formed a soul bond. She'd been human. Mortal. Temporary.
But this girl I'd known for hours? This Oracle with her stubborn courage and her broken heart?
The bond had snapped into place the moment our eyes met.
"What does the bond do?" Aria asked. "Besides the matching tattoos and the weird feeling of you in my head?"
"We're connected now. Emotionally. Physically. We feel each other's pain, each other's emotions. We can sense where the other is. And we can't be separated by more than a mile without both of us suffering." I paused. "The bond gets stronger the longer we're together. Eventually, we'll be able to communicate without words. Share memories. Share power."
"Share power?" Her eyes widened. "You mean I could use your abilities?"
"And I could use yours. That's what makes soul bonds so dangerous. Two beings become one unit, twice as powerful as they were alone." I met her gaze. "That's also why my brother is terrified of us. A War Prince bonded with an Oracle Keeper? We could rewrite reality itself if we wanted to."
Aria sat down heavily on a rock. "This is insane. Yesterday my biggest problem was paying rent. Now I'm some kind of magical being bonded to an immortal prince, and your brother wants to steal my power."
"Don't forget the curse that's slowly killing me," I added dryly.
"How could I forget? I feel it every time you—" She broke off, looking at me with something like guilt. "Every time you protect me or care about me, it hurts you. That's not fair."
"The curse was designed to teach me that mortals aren't worth dying for." I heard the bitterness in my own voice. "Three hundred years to learn that lesson, and here I am anyway, bonded to another human who's going to get hurt because of me."
"I'm not Sera," Aria said firmly. "And I'm not going to burn to ash because your brother sabotaged a ritual. We're going to find a way to break this curse."
"There is no way—"
"There's always a way." She stood up, that stubborn determination radiating through the bond again. "You said Oracle Keepers can manipulate divine seals and bonds. The curse is basically a bond too, right? A forced connection between you and pain?"
I opened my mouth to argue, then stopped. She wasn't wrong. The Heartbreak Curse was a type of divine bond, linking my emotions directly to physical agony.
"Even if you're right," I said slowly, "breaking a curse placed by the Celestial Council would require enormous power. More than you have right now."
"Then I'll get more power." Aria's chin lifted. "You said the bond lets us share abilities. Teach me how to use them. Teach me everything you know about divine magic and Oracle abilities and how this whole immortal world works. We'll figure it out together."
"You realize that means spending time with me. A lot of time. And the more we bond, the worse the curse gets." I stepped closer, letting her feel the pain through our connection. "The more I care about you, the more it kills me. Are you really willing to watch that?"
"Are you really willing to give up?" she countered. "You survived three hundred years alone in darkness. You fought your way out. You protected me even when it cost you. That doesn't sound like someone who's ready to let a curse win."
Damn her. Damn her stubborn courage and her refusal to accept defeat and the way she looked at me like I was still a hero instead of a monster.
Through the bond, I felt her hope. Her determination. Her absolute certainty that we could fix this.
It was intoxicating. Terrifying. Dangerous.
"Fine," I said. "We'll try. But when the curse gets too bad, when it starts killing me—"
"We'll deal with it," Aria interrupted. "Together."
Before I could respond, the water behind us exploded.
We both spun around. Something massive rose from the lake—a creature of shadow and teeth and too many eyes. Water cascaded off its body as it roared, and I recognized it immediately.
A Void Hound. Creatures from the space between realms, attracted to divine power like moths to flame.
And Aria was blazing with it.
"Run," I said, shoving her behind me. Silver fire erupted along my arms. "RUN!"
The creature lunged.
I threw up a barrier, but I was too weak. Too drained. The Void Hound crashed through my defenses and sent me flying. I hit a tree hard enough to crack ribs, gasping as pain exploded through my chest—mine and the curse's, doubling me over.
"Kael!" Aria screamed.
The Void Hound turned toward her, its multiple eyes fixed on the divine power she carried. It moved faster than anything that size should, closing the distance in heartbeats.
Aria threw her hands up instinctively. Silver light exploded from her palms—pure Oracle power, uncontrolled and wild. It hit the creature square in the chest.
The Void Hound screamed and staggered back. But it didn't die. Oracle power could hurt it, but she didn't know how to kill it.
I forced myself up, ignoring the agony in my chest. "Aria, the bond! Use the bond!"
She looked at me, confused and terrified.
"Trust me," I said, reaching out my hand. "Link with me. Now!"
Aria grabbed my hand. The bond flared bright and hot, and suddenly I felt her power flowing into me while my knowledge flowed into her. Our abilities mixing, combining, becoming something neither of us could do alone.
"Together," I said. "On three. One—"
The Void Hound charged.
"Two—"
It was almost on us.
"THREE!"
We released our combined power as one. Silver fire and Oracle light merged into something new, something impossible—a blast of pure energy that tore the Void Hound apart at the molecular level.
The creature dissolved into shadow and screaming, then vanished completely.
Silence filled the In-Between.
Aria and I stood there, hands still joined, both breathing hard. The bond between us hummed with new strength, new connection. I could feel her exhaustion, her shock, her awe at what we'd just done.
"That was—" she started.
"Impossible," I finished. "Oracle power and immortal magic shouldn't mix like that. It should have destroyed us both."
"But it didn't." Aria looked at our joined hands, at the matching marks glowing brighter than before. "The bond made it work."
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell her this was a fluke, that we'd gotten lucky. But through the bond, I felt the truth.
We were stronger together than apart. Dangerously stronger.
And somewhere out there, in the Celestial Court and the mortal realm and every space between, people who wanted to use us or kill us had just felt that power surge.
They knew where we were now.
"We need to move," I said, pulling away even though the distance immediately made the bond ache. "That power signature was like a beacon. Everyone will be coming."
"Where do we go?"
I looked around the In-Between, thinking fast. We couldn't go back to the mortal realm—Marcus and Vivian would be waiting. We couldn't go to the Celestial Court—Theron controlled it. The In-Between was too exposed.
That left one option. One place I'd sworn never to return to.
"There's a sanctuary," I said slowly. "A place between realms where immortals who've broken celestial law can hide. It's dangerous and full of criminals, but—"
A sound cut through the air. Hunting horns. Dozens of them, echoing across the In-Between.
Theron's forces. Already here.
"No time," I grabbed Aria's hand again. "Hold on. This is going to hurt."
"What—"
I didn't give her time to finish. I pulled on the bond, on her Oracle power, and tore another hole through reality.
As we fell through, I heard Theron's voice echoing behind us:
"Find them. And when you do—bring me the Oracle alive. My brother can burn."
Then we were gone, tumbling through darkness toward a sanctuary that might kill us before Theron's hunters ever got the chance.