Aria's POV
I woke up to the smell of roses and lies.
My eyes flew open. I was lying on grass—soft, green, impossibly perfect grass that didn't exist in any realm I knew. Kael was beside me, unconscious but breathing. The bond told me he was alive, just exhausted.
But standing over us, holding a bouquet of red roses and wearing his most charming smile, was Marcus.
"Hello, Aria," he said. "Miss me?"
I scrambled backward, putting myself between him and Kael. "How did you find us?"
"The portal." Marcus gestured casually at the air behind him, where reality still shimmered from our escape. "You tore quite a hole through the Veil. Anyone with basic tracking skills could follow it. Lucky for you, I got here first."
"Lucky?" I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You tried to capture me. You work for Theron. Why would I ever think seeing you is lucky?"
"Because Theron's forces are about thirty seconds behind me." Marcus crouched down, his expression serious. "And I'm here to help you."
"Help me?" Anger flooded through me, hot and sharp. "Like you helped me when you stole my research? Like you helped when you destroyed my career? When you left me for Vivian?"
"I know." He had the nerve to look guilty. "I know I hurt you, Aria. But I can explain everything if you just listen—"
"No." I stood up, pulling on my Oracle power. It was weak, barely a flicker, but Marcus didn't need to know that. "You had six months to explain. Six months to tell the truth. Instead, you built your career on my work and let me be destroyed."
"I was protecting you!" Marcus's perfect facade cracked. "You don't understand what you got involved in. What Vivian and Theron were planning. I had to make them think I was on their side, had to make them believe I'd betrayed you completely, or they would have killed you!"
I stared at him. "You expect me to believe that? That everything—the lies, the betrayal, leaving me for Vivian—was all to protect me?"
"Yes!" He moved closer, and I saw desperation in his eyes. "Vivian approached me a year ago. She said she knew about my research into celestial artifacts. She offered me funding, resources, everything I needed. But there was a price."
He glanced at Kael's unconscious form.
"She wanted me to find someone with Oracle blood. Someone who could break divine seals. And she knew you were descended from Oracle Keepers because—" He paused. "Because I told her. I found records of your family line while researching ancient texts. I mentioned it to her, thinking it was just historical curiosity."
My blood ran cold. "You told her about me?"
"I didn't know what she'd do with the information! I didn't know she was working with the Starfire King!" Marcus's voice rose. "By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. Vivian had already started watching you. Planning how to use you. I had to play along, had to make them think I didn't care about you anymore, or—"
"Or what?" I demanded. "Or they'd hurt me? Well, congratulations, Marcus. They did anyway. You did anyway. Everything I lost, every moment of suffering—that was all part of your protection?"
"I was trying to buy you time!" He grabbed my shoulders, and I flinched. "Time to figure out how to break free from their plans. Time to warn you. But then you broke the seal before I could stop you, and now you're bonded to the most wanted criminal in the celestial realm, and—"
A groan cut him off. Kael was waking up.
"Aria?" His voice was rough. "What—" He saw Marcus and was on his feet instantly, silver fire exploding along his arms despite his exhaustion. "Get away from her."
"Kael, wait—" I started.
"That's one of the people who tried to capture you." Kael moved between us, swaying but determined. "One of the people working for my brother."
"He says he was protecting me," I said, not sure if I believed it but needing to hear more.
"And you believe him?" Kael's voice was incredulous. Through the bond, I felt his rage mixing with the constant burn of the curse. "This is the man who stole your work. Who destroyed your reputation. Who stood by while Vivian and Theron hunted you. And you think he's telling the truth?"
"I don't know!" My frustration boiled over. "I don't know what to believe anymore! Everything in my life was a lie. My career was stolen. My family hid what I was. The man I loved betrayed me. And now I'm bonded to someone who's dying because he can't help caring about me!" I turned back to Marcus. "So talk. Fast. Tell me everything, and I'll decide if you're lying."
Marcus's face twisted with something that looked like genuine pain. "I loved you, Aria. I still love you. Everything I did—"
"Was for yourself," Kael interrupted coldly. "I've seen a thousand men like you. They claim love while serving their own interests. They lie while stealing what doesn't belong to them. They—"
He broke off with a gasp, clutching his chest. The curse flared harder than I'd ever felt it, dropping him to his knees.
"Kael!" I grabbed him, feeling his agony through the bond. "What's happening? It's not just the curse—"
"Poison," Kael managed through gritted teeth. "The grass. It's been—treated with something. Designed to—weaken immortals who land here."
I looked at the perfect grass, the beautiful clearing we'd fallen into. It was too perfect. Too convenient.
A trap.
"You knew," I said slowly, looking at Marcus. "You knew this place was poisoned. That's why you got here so fast. You were waiting for us to fall into it."
Marcus's expression shifted—guilt replaced by cold calculation. "I had to make sure the War Prince couldn't fight back. I can't save you if he keeps interfering."
"Save me?" I backed away, pulling Kael with me. "By poisoning someone I'm bonded to? Don't you understand? What hurts him hurts me!"
"The bond can be broken." Marcus pulled something from his pocket—a crystal that glowed with dark energy. "This seal can sever soul bonds. All you have to do is let me use it. You'll be free. He'll be free. And I can get you away from here before Theron arrives."
Through the bond, I felt Kael trying to tell me something. Trying to warn me. But the poison was stealing his strength, his voice, leaving him helpless.
"Why would you help me now?" I asked Marcus. "What's changed?"
"Because I realized I was wrong." Marcus stepped closer, the crystal glowing brighter. "I thought I could manipulate this situation. Thought I could play both sides. But I was a fool, Aria. Vivian doesn't love me—she's using me the same way I used you. And Theron? He doesn't want you for study. He wants to drain your Oracle power and kill you once he's done."
His eyes met mine, and I saw real fear there.
"So I'm making a choice. I'm choosing you. Let me break the bond. Let me save you from him." He glanced at Kael with contempt. "Before the curse kills him and traps you in a dead bond forever."
The crystal pulsed, ready to be used.
Kael's hand found mine, weak but determined. Through the bond, I felt his message clearly: Don't trust him. This is another trap.
But what if it wasn't? What if Marcus was telling the truth? What if this was my chance to escape—to break the bond, save Kael from the curse, and get away before Theron found us?
What if this was my only chance to survive?
"Aria, decide quickly," Marcus urged. "Theron's forces will be here any moment. If they find you bonded to Kael, they'll use it against you. They'll torture him to control you. But if the bond is broken—"
"I'll consider it," I said. "But first, wake him up. If we're breaking the bond, he deserves to be conscious for it."
"There's no time—"
"Make time!" I put command in my voice. "You said you love me? Then prove it. Help him. Show me you're actually trying to save us both, not just me."
Marcus hesitated, then nodded. He pulled out another vial—this one filled with silver liquid. "Antidote to the poison. But Aria, once I give this to him, he'll fight. He'll try to stop me from breaking the bond. You have to be ready to choose."
He handed me the vial. Our fingers touched, and something felt wrong. A tingle of magic that shouldn't be there.
Through the bond, I felt Kael's urgent warning spike.
I looked at the vial in my hand. Looked at Marcus's concerned expression. Looked at Kael dying on the poisoned grass.
And I realized the truth.
"This isn't an antidote," I said quietly. "This is another poison. Something to finish him off while I watch."
Marcus's face went blank. Then he smiled, and it was the cruelest thing I'd ever seen.
"Smart girl. I always knew you were smarter than you let on." He grabbed my wrist before I could pull away, and the crystal flared to life. "But not smart enough."
Pain exploded through me as the crystal activated. Not to break the bond—to hijack it. To use it as a channel to drain my Oracle power directly.
"Did you really think I came here to save you?" Marcus laughed as I screamed. "Did you think I'd throw away everything I've built just because we used to date? I'm here for your power, Aria. For what you can give me. And once I have it, once I can break divine seals myself, I won't need Vivian or Theron or anyone."
The crystal burned hotter, pulling power from my body, using the bond as a pathway. I felt it reaching for Kael too, trying to drain him.
"The beautiful part is," Marcus continued, "when I'm done, you'll both be empty husks. The bond will collapse, killing you instantly. And I'll walk away with enough power to remake the world."
I tried to fight, tried to pull away, but the crystal held me fast. My Oracle power was being ripped out, and through the bond, I felt Kael's life force being stolen too.
"ARIA!" Kael's voice, weak but desperate. "Break the crystal! You have to—"
"She can't." Marcus smiled. "The crystal feeds on her will. The more she fights, the faster it drains. In about thirty seconds, you'll both be dead, and I'll be—"
A sword burst through Marcus's chest.
He looked down in shock as blood bloomed across his expensive shirt. The crystal fell from his hand, its connection severed.
Behind him stood Vivian, her eyes cold and her blade dripping red.
"Really, Marcus?" she said conversationally. "You thought you could betray me? Steal the Oracle's power for yourself? Did you forget who I work for?"
She pulled the sword out, and Marcus collapsed, gasping.
"The Starfire King sends his regards," Vivian continued. Then she looked at me with a smile. "Hello, darling. Miss me? Because I certainly missed you. Theron's been very eager to meet the Oracle who bonded with his brother."
She raised her hand, and I saw warriors emerging from the trees—dozens of them, surrounding us.
"So here's what's going to happen," Vivian said. "You're going to come with me quietly. The War Prince can bleed out from the poison. And if you resist even a little, I'll make sure his death is so slow and painful that you'll feel every second of it through that precious bond."
She crouched beside Kael, pressing her blade to his throat.
"Choose wisely, Oracle. Him or yourself. Because you can't save both."
I looked at Kael, barely conscious and dying. Looked at Marcus, bleeding out on the grass. Looked at Vivian's blade and the warriors closing in.
And I realized—
This had never been about choosing between Kael and myself.
It had always been about choosing whether to fight or surrender.
Whether to be the victim again or become something else entirely.
I met Vivian's eyes and smiled.
"You're right," I said. "I can't save both of us."
I grabbed the fallen crystal, ignoring how it burned.
"So I guess we'll just have to save ourselves."
I slammed the crystal into the ground with all my remaining strength.
And the entire world exploded in silver light.
When the light faded, we were gone.
And Vivian was screaming in rage at the empty clearing where we'd been.