Elara's POV
Three Court mages stepped out of the Veil forest, and my heart stopped.
They wore the deep purple robes of the Investigation Division—the people who hunted illegal magic users. The people who made criminals disappear.
The woman in front smiled, but it wasn't a kind smile. "Well, well. What do we have here?"
Cassian's hand tightened on my arm. His whole body had gone still in a way that made me think of a wolf about to attack.
"This is Battle Court business," he said, his voice colder than ice. "Leave. Now."
The woman laughed. "Battle Court business? In the middle of nowhere? We felt wild magic, Archmage Valorent. Enough wild magic to light up every detection ward from here to the capital." Her eyes locked on me. "And it came from her."
I couldn't breathe. They knew. They knew what I'd done.
"The situation is under control," Cassian said. "I'm handling it personally."
"Are you?" The woman took a step closer. "Because it looks like you're protecting a wild magic user. That's not like the famous Winter Blade. You've executed people for less."
She was right. Everyone knew Cassian Valorent's reputation. Cold. Ruthless. He'd hunted down illegal mages his entire career. Why was he standing between me and the Investigation Division?
"She's my prisoner," Cassian said flatly. "I'm taking her to the High Courts myself when my current mission is complete."
"Your prisoner?" One of the men behind the woman smirked. "Is that why you're holding her so protectively?"
I looked down and realized Cassian had moved me fully behind him, his body blocking theirs. His hand was still on my arm, but it wasn't rough anymore. It was almost... gentle.
The woman's eyes narrowed. "Show us your wrists, Archmage."
"Excuse me?"
"Your wrists. Show them to us."
Cassian went very, very still.
"Now why would you refuse such a simple request?" The woman's smile turned sharp. "Unless you're hiding something. Like a binding mark, perhaps?"
My stomach dropped. Could they see the soul tether? Could they tell what I'd accidentally done?
"This is your last warning," Cassian said softly. "Leave my territory."
"Your territory?" The woman laughed. "This is unclaimed land on the edge of the Veil. You have no authority—"
Cassian moved faster than my eyes could follow. One second he was standing still. The next, ice exploded from his hands in a massive wave that crashed into all three Court mages and sent them flying backward.
"Run," he snapped at me. "Get inside the cottage and lock the door."
"But—"
"NOW!"
I ran.
Behind me, I heard shouting and the sound of magic colliding. Light flashed so bright it cast dancing shadows across the ground. Something exploded with a boom that shook the earth.
I burst through my cottage door and slammed it shut, my hands shaking too hard to work the lock. Through the window, I could see the battle raging in my garden.
Cassian fought like a storm made flesh. Ice and lightning poured from his hands. He moved like a dancer, every step precise and deadly. The three Court mages attacked together, and he still drove them back.
But there were three of them. And even the Winter Blade couldn't fight forever.
One of the men managed to get behind Cassian and fired a spell at his back. I screamed a warning, but Cassian was already turning. He caught the spell with a shield and sent it ricocheting into a tree, which exploded into splinters.
The woman was chanting something, her hands weaving a complex pattern. Dark red magic gathered around her fingers—something that made my skin crawl just looking at it.
She fired it at Cassian.
He dodged, but the spell clipped his shoulder. He stumbled, and I saw pain flash across his face.
The three Court mages closed in for the kill.
Something inside me snapped.
I didn't think. I just acted.
I slammed my hands against the cottage door and reached for that silver power I'd felt during the summoning. "Please," I whispered. "Please protect him."
Magic exploded out of me.
The ground in front of my cottage erupted upward, earth and roots forming a wall between Cassian and the attackers. Vines shot out of the soil, wrapping around the Court mages' legs and yanking them off balance.
The woman screamed in rage. "Wild magic! She's using wild magic!"
But I couldn't stop. The power was pouring out of me like a flood, and the cottage land itself was responding. My dying garden suddenly blazed with silver light. Plants that had been withered and brown moments ago surged upward, growing impossibly fast. Thorny brambles formed a barrier around the entire property.
Cassian stared at me through the window, shock clear on his face.
The woman cut through the vines with a blade of red magic and pointed at me. "Kill her! Kill the wild magic user before she—"
"Touch her and die," Cassian snarled.
He raised both hands, and the temperature dropped so fast that frost covered everything in seconds. Ice formed in the air itself, creating thousands of razor-sharp crystals that hung suspended like deadly stars.
"You have three seconds to leave," Cassian said. "One."
The woman hesitated.
"Two."
"This isn't over, Valorent," she hissed. "The High Courts will hear about this. About her. About you protecting her."
"Three."
The ice crystals shot forward like arrows.
The three Court mages ran.
They disappeared into the Veil forest, and the night went quiet except for my ragged breathing and the fading crackle of magic in the air.
Cassian turned to face me through the window. His expression was unreadable.
I opened the cottage door on shaking legs. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to use magic again. I just couldn't watch them hurt you—"
"You bonded with the land." His voice was strange, almost awed. "You turned your entire property into a weapon in seconds. Do you have any idea how powerful you are?"
"I'm not powerful. I'm cursed." Tears ran down my face. "They're going to come back with more mages. They're going to kill us both."
"Probably," Cassian agreed.
"This is all my fault—"
"Yes, it is." He walked toward me, and I couldn't read his expression. Angry? Afraid? Something else?
He stopped inches away, looking down at me with those cold winter eyes.
"You saved my life just now," he said quietly. "Why?"
"I... I don't know. I just couldn't let them hurt you."
Something flickered across his face. Then he did the last thing I expected.
He laughed. Actually laughed, though it sounded rusty, like he'd forgotten how.
"What's funny?" I asked weakly.
"I've spent fifteen years being the realm's most feared mage. Untouchable. Unbeatable." He shook his head. "And I just got saved by a woman who can't control her own magic and accidentally kidnapped me with a garden spell."
"I really am sorry—"
"Stop apologizing." He caught my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Those Court mages will report what they saw. By tomorrow, every Court in the kingdom will know about you. About us. About this bond."
My heart sank. "What happens then?"
"Then things get interesting." His smile was sharp and dangerous. "Because the Winter Blade just declared war on the Investigation Division to protect a wild magic user. And my uncle is going to be very, very angry."
"Your uncle?"
"High Chancellor Malachai Valorent. The second most powerful man in the realm." Cassian's eyes glittered. "And the man who's been trying to kill me for years."
Before I could process that terrifying information, pain suddenly ripped through my chest.
I gasped and collapsed. Cassian caught me before I hit the ground.
"What—what's happening—" I couldn't breathe.
Cassian's face went pale. He pressed his hand over my heart, and I felt him analyzing the bond with his magic.
"No," he whispered. "No, this isn't possible."
"What?" I managed to gasp out.
He looked at me with something like fear in his eyes. "The bond. It's not just keeping me here. It's keeping me alive."
"I don't understand—"
"I'm cursed. I've been dying slowly for years." His voice was hoarse. "But since you bound us together, the curse has stopped. The bond is stabilizing me."
Horror washed over me. "So when the moon cycle ends—"
"When the bond breaks in thirty days, I die." He said it flatly, like he was reporting the weather. "Unless we find another solution."
We stared at each other in the moonlight, both trapped, both desperate, both running out of time.
Then he smiled that dangerous smile again.
"Well then," Cassian said softly. "I suppose we'd better make sure we both survive the next thirty days. Together."
And somehow, that sounded like both a promise and a threat.