Elara's POV
The portraits scream.
Not with voices—with pure rage. The black fire from my wrist explodes outward, and the painted faces of Sarah, Marcus, Daniel, and Elena burst from their frames. Not as people, but as shadows shaped like people. Ghosts made of fury.
They slam into the Sanctum soldiers like a tidal wave.
Men in white armor fly backward, crashing into walls. The High Priestess throws up a shield of golden light, but the shadow-ghosts claw at it, cracking it like glass.
"What did you do?" Cassian stares at me, shocked.
"I don't know!" The fire on my wrist burns hotter. I can feel the ghosts' anger like it's my own. "I didn't mean to—"
"Doesn't matter!" He grabs my hand. "We run. Now!"
We bolt down the hallway as chaos erupts behind us. Soldiers scream. Magic explodes. Theron's voice shouts orders that nobody follows because they're too busy fighting shadow-ghosts.
Cassian pulls me around a corner. His free hand shoots out, and darkness flows from his palm like water. It forms a wall behind us, blocking the corridor.
"That won't hold them long," he says, breathing hard.
"Where are we going?"
"Out." He yanks open a door I didn't even see in the wall. "Secret passage. Come on!"
We plunge into darkness. The passage is narrow—I have to turn sideways in places. Behind us, I hear the shadow wall shatter. Footsteps thunder after us.
"They're coming!" I gasp.
"They always do." Cassian's voice is grim. "Stay close. If we get separated, you die and I die with you. Understand?"
"Yes!"
We burst out of the passage into a larger corridor. Cassian doesn't slow down. We run past rooms, down stairs, through hallways that all look the same.
A soldier appears ahead of us. He raises a glowing sword.
Cassian doesn't break stride. He throws his hand forward, and a spear of pure shadow shoots from his palm. It hits the soldier in the chest, and he drops without a sound.
I stumble, shocked. "Did you—is he—"
"Unconscious. I don't kill unless I have to." Cassian glances back. "But I will if they threaten you. Keep moving!"
More soldiers pour into the corridor from both sides. We're trapped.
"Behind me!" Cassian shoves me against the wall and stands between me and them. His eyes glow silver. Shadows erupt from the ground around him like wings.
"Stay back," he warns the soldiers. "Last chance."
They charge anyway.
What happens next is terrifying and beautiful.
Cassian moves like a dancer. Shadow magic flows from his hands, forming weapons—swords, shields, whips of darkness that wrap around soldiers and throw them aside. He doesn't waste movement. Every gesture is precise. Efficient. Deadly.
He's been doing this for 237 years, I realize. Fighting. Surviving. Protecting people who were bound to him.
A soldier breaks through and lunges at me. I freeze.
Cassian spins and catches the blade with his bare hand. Shadows wrap around it, and the sword shatters. He kicks the soldier backward into his friends.
"I said stay close!" He's angry. Scared. "Don't freeze up on me, Elara!"
"I'm trying!"
"Try harder!" He grabs my hand again and we run.
We reach a dead end. Just a wall.
"No, no, no," I breathe.
Cassian presses his palm against the stone. "Secret door. Just need a second—"
Footsteps behind us. Getting closer.
"We don't have a second!" I look back and see soldiers rounding the corner. Twenty of them. Maybe more.
The wall clicks. A section swings open.
"Go!" Cassian pushes me through into a tunnel. He follows and slams the door shut. Darkness wraps around it, sealing it.
"Will that hold?" I ask.
"Long enough." He pulls me forward. "The tunnel leads to the forest. Once we're out, we can lose them in the trees."
We run through the tunnel. It slopes downward, getting colder. I can hear water dripping somewhere.
Behind us, something explodes. The sealed door, probably.
"They're breaking through!" I say.
"I know!" Cassian runs faster, pulling me with him.
We burst out of the tunnel into night air. Trees surround us—thick, dark, endless. The fortress looms behind us, lit up with magical explosions as the Sanctum soldiers tear through it.
"Don't stop!" Cassian drags me into the forest.
We run until my lungs burn. Until my legs scream. Until I can't take another step.
I collapse against a tree. "I can't—I need to—"
The fortress explodes.
The blast throws us forward. I hit the ground hard, ears ringing. Heat washes over us. When I look back, the fortress is gone. Just fire and smoke and rubble.
Everything. Destroyed.
"Why?" I gasp, staring at the destruction. "Why would they blow up your home?"
Cassian sits up slowly. His face is covered in dirt and ash. "Because Theron told them you survived the sacrifice. A failed ritual makes him look weak. Incompetent." His expression is grim. "He wants you dead to cover his mistake. To prove he's still loyal to the Sanctum."
"But the High Priestess—she looked shocked when she saw me. She said Theron sacrificed the 'wrong person.' What does that mean?"
"I don't know." Cassian stands and helps me up. "But whatever it means, it scared her. The High Priestess doesn't scare easily."
I touch the mark on my wrist. It's cooled down but still warm. "The portraits. They came alive because of me."
"Shadow magic. But stronger than anything I've ever seen." He looks at me intently. "You've been bound to me for three days, Elara. Three days. It took the others months to develop even basic abilities. You're doing things I can't explain."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Both." He starts walking deeper into the forest. "Good because you're powerful. Bad because the Sanctum kills powerful things they can't control."
I follow him, exhaustion making every step difficult. "Where are we going now?"
"Somewhere safe. I have friends who—"
A voice cuts through the darkness. Familiar. Mocking.
"Going somewhere, darling?"
We spin around.
Theron steps out from behind a tree. He's alone. No soldiers. No armor. Just him in his expensive clothes, smiling like this is a game.
"How did you find us?" Cassian demands.
Theron holds up his hand. A small vial dangles from his fingers. Inside is dark red liquid. "Her blood. From the wedding. I've been tracking her since the moment she woke up bound to you." He pockets the vial. "You can't hide from me, Elara. I'll always find you."
Cassian moves in front of me. "Leave. Now. Or I'll—"
"You'll what? Kill me?" Theron laughs. "You won't. The Sanctum would hunt you even harder. Besides..." His eyes shift to me. "I have information she needs."
"I don't want anything from you," I spit.
"Not even the truth about what you are?" His smile widens. "About why the High Priestess looked at you like you were a monster? About what happens when someone with dormant magic gets bound to the Shadow Lord?"
My heart pounds. "I don't have magic."
"Yes, you do. You just never knew it." Theron steps closer. Cassian's shadows flare in warning, but Theron ignores them. "Your mother hid it. Suppressed it with potions from the day you were born. She was terrified of what you might become."
"You're lying."
"Am I?" He tilts his head. "Then why did the curse wake your power in three days when it took others months? Why did dead souls answer your call? Why does the High Priestess want you dead so badly she left her temple for the first time in fifty years?"
I can't breathe. "What am I?"
Theron's smile turns cruel. "You're a Shadowborn, darling. The rarest, most dangerous magic user in existence. And when your power fully wakes up?" He laughs. "You won't just be able to control shadows. You'll be able to control death itself."
The forest goes silent.
Cassian stares at me. "That's impossible. Shadowborn are extinct. The Sanctum hunted them all—"
"They missed one," Theron interrupts. "Hidden away as a powerless noble's daughter. Until I sacrificed her and accidentally made her more powerful than anyone could have imagined." His eyes gleam. "I created a monster. And now I have to destroy it before anyone finds out."
He raises his hand. Golden light—Sanctum magic—blazes around his fingers.
"Run," Cassian says quietly.
"What?"
"RUN!"
Theron's magic explodes toward us.
Cassian throws up a shadow shield, but the golden light burns through it. The blast hits us both, and we fly backward through the trees.
I hit the ground rolling. Everything hurts. Through blurry vision, I see Cassian struggling to stand. Blood runs down his face.
Theron walks toward us slowly. Confidently. "This ends tonight, Elara. I'm going to kill you properly this time. And when you die, the Shadow Lord dies with you." He raises both hands, gathering more power. "Goodbye, wife."
The golden light builds. Brighter. Hotter.
I can't move. Can't breathe.
This is it. I'm going to die. Again.
But then—
The mark on my wrist burns ice-cold.
And something inside me wakes up.
Something dark. Ancient. Furious.
My vision goes black. But I'm not unconscious. I'm seeing through different eyes. Through shadow itself.
I stand up. My body moves without me controlling it.
"Elara?" Cassian's voice sounds far away.
I turn to face Theron. When I speak, my voice echoes with power that isn't mine.
"You want to see a monster?" The words come from my mouth, but they feel wrong. Too old. Too cold. "Let me show you what you created."
Shadows explode from my body like wings spreading.
And Theron's confident smile finally, finally breaks.