Caspian's POV
The Thorne estate looks exactly like a place where nightmares live.
Our car pulls up to the iron gates, and I feel Elara's heartbeat spike through the bond. Fear. Grief. Rage. All mixing together in a cocktail of emotion that makes my own chest tight.
You don't have to do this, I say quietly.
Yes, I do. Her voice is steel. Marcus is in there.
Adrian leans forward from the driver's seat. Teams in position. Snipers on the north and west sides. If anything goes wrong
It will go wrong, Elara interrupts. My aunt doesn't do anything halfway.
She's right. Through my investigation of Vivienne Thorne over the past few hours, I've learned she's brilliant, ruthless, and has been playing a long game. Nine years of monthly payments. Nine years of hiding the truth.
Nine years of torturing a thirteen-year-old boy.
The gates swing open on their own. No guard. No security. Just an open invitation into hell.
Definitely a trap, I mutter.
Obviously. Elara checks her gun for the third time. Her hands are steady, but through the bond, I feel her terror.
We get out of the car together can't separate more than forty-eight feet anyway. Adrian and his team follow at a careful distance, weapons ready.
The front door is already open.
She's watching, Elara whispers. Probably has cameras everywhere.
Good. I look directly at what I assume is a hidden camera. Let her watch.
We step inside.
The house is a museum of wealth and death. Family portraits line the walls Elara's parents, young and happy, standing with a little girl who must be Elara and a baby in her mother's arms. Marcus.
Elara stops in front of the portrait, her hand reaching out like she wants to touch it.
I remember this day, she says softly. Dad hired a professional photographer. Mom wore her best dress. Marcus wouldn't stop crying, so I made faces at him until he laughed. She pulls her hand back. Three years later, they were all dead.
Through the bond, her grief crashes into me like a wave. I want to comfort her, but I don't know how. So I just stand close enough that she knows I'm here.
Elara! A voice echoes through the house. Darling, you came!
Vivienne appears at the top of the grand staircase. She's elegant in a way that makes my skin crawl perfectly styled hair, designer clothes, a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.
Where is he? Elara demands.
Where are your manners? Vivienne descends the stairs slowly. And you brought Mr. Noir. How unexpected.
We're bonded, I say flatly. Where I go, she goes.
How inconvenient. Vivienne reaches the bottom of the stairs, studying us like we're insects. I suppose that complicates things.
Where. Is. Marcus. Elara's magic sparks around her fists.
Temper, temper. Vivienne asks. He's alive. For now. Whether he stays that way depends on you.
What do you want?
What I've always wanted. Vivienne's smile sharpens. The Thorne family magic. The real power that your father kept from me. That pompous fool thought he could hoard it all, pass it only to his precious children. Her voice drips poison. So I took his children. One I planned to kill. The other, I kept. Insurance, you might say.
You're insane, Elara breathes.
I'm practical. Vivienne pulls out a small device some kind of magical detonator. Marcus is in the basement, chained to a very special table. At the first sign of trouble, the table activates. His magic drains into me, and he dies. Simple.
My hand moves toward my gun.
I wouldn't, Vivienne warns. The detonator is voice-activated. If my heart stops, if I'm knocked unconscious, if I say the trigger word Marcus dies.
It's a perfect trap. We can't attack without killing Marcus. Can't leave without abandoning him.
So here's my offer, Vivienne continues. You, Elara, willingly transfer your magic to me. All of it. In exchange, I let Marcus go. And Mr. Noir lives, since you're so inconveniently bonded.
And if I refuse?
Then I take it by force, Marcus dies, and since you'll die from the extraction, Mr. Noir dies too. Three birds, one stone.
Elara's jaw tightens. Through the bond, I feel her weighing options, calculating odds.
Don't, I say quietly. Don't even think about it.
She has Marcus.
And giving her your magic won't save him. She'll kill you both anyway.
Vivienne laughs. Smart boy. Viktor always said you were sharper than you looked.
The name makes me freeze. You knew my uncle.
Knew him? Darling, I was his partner. We planned everything together. The Thorne massacre, the power consolidation, the empire we'd build. Her smile turns sad. Then the fool got guilty. Started talking about making amends. I couldn't allow that.
Ice fills my veins. You killed him.
Poisoned his morning coffee. Made it look like a heart attack. Vivienne examines her nails. He was becoming a liability.
Through the bond, Elara feels my shock, my grief. Her hand finds mine, squeezes.
You're a monster, I say.
I'm a survivor. Vivienne raises the detonator. Now, decide. Elara transfers her magic willingly, or I take it and everyone dies.
There's a third option, Elara says suddenly.
Oh?
The bond. Elara looks at me, and through our connection, I feel her plan forming. Crazy. Dangerous. Might just work. Our magic is synchronized now. Connected. If you try to drain mine, you'll get his too. And Caspian's magic is... different.
She's bluffing. But Vivienne doesn't know that.
Different how? Vivienne's eyes narrow.
Shadow magic mixed with elemental. It's unstable when forced. Could backfire. Could kill you. Elara's voice is perfectly calm. Are you willing to risk it?
For the first time, Vivienne looks uncertain.
That's when Adrian's voice crackles in my hidden earpiece: Boss, we found the basement entrance. But there's a problem.
What problem? I whisper, too quiet for Vivienne to hear.
The boy isn't alone. There are five other prisoners. All kids. All with magical signatures matching the families on Viktor's list.
My blood runs cold.
She didn't just keep Marcus. She's been collecting them. All the children from the families Viktor targeted.
Elara, I say carefully. How many families were on Viktor's list?
Twelve. Why?
Through the bond, I push the image Adrian just sent me. Five cells. Five prisoners. Five terrified kids who've been held captive for years.
Elara's face goes white. Then red with fury.
You didn't just take Marcus, she says to Vivienne. You took all of them.
Vivienne's smile returns. Insurance policies, every one. Their families are still powerful. Still influential. With these children, I control their parents. She raises the detonator higher. And if you don't cooperate right now, I kill all six.
You're bluffing, I say.
Am I? Vivienne presses a button.
Somewhere below us, a child screams.
Elara moves before I can stop her. Magic explodes from her hands pure, furious elemental power. Ice and fire combined, shooting toward Vivienne.
But Vivienne is ready. A shield snaps up, deflecting the attack.
Wrong choice! Vivienne shouts the trigger word.
I feel the magic activate through the house's foundation. Feel the draining spell begin in the basement.
Six children. Dying. Right now.
Elara screams and runs for the basement door. I run with her can't separate anyway. Adrian and his team pour into the house, engaging with magical guards I didn't even see hiding.
Chaos. Gunfire. Magic tearing through the air.
We burst through the basement door, race down the stairs.
The scene below is from a nightmare. Six tables. Six kids chained down. Glowing symbols draining their magic, their life force, into a central collection point.
Marcus is the closest. Thirteen years old when he was taken. Twenty-two now, but looking seventeen, like the magic kept him from aging properly. His eyes find Elara.
Ellie? His voice is weak. Hopeful. Broken. You came.
I'm here! Elara runs to him, starts working on his chains. I'm here, I've got you
The others, Marcus gasps. Save the others first. I can hold on.
But he can't. None of them can. The draining spell is accelerating, pulling harder.
I run to the control panel, trying to shut it down. But it's blood-locked needs Vivienne's magical signature to deactivate.
Caspian! Elara's voice is desperate. What do we do?
I look at the six tables. Six kids dying. Only one way to save them.
Someone has to absorb the draining spell. Take all that magic into themselves before it reaches Vivienne.
It would be agony. Probably fatal.
But through the bond, Elara feels my decision.
No, she says. Don't you dare.
It's the only way.
Then we do it together. She grabs my hand. The bond connects us. We split the load. Share the pain.
It could kill us both.
So could letting them die. She meets my eyes. I'm not losing Marcus again. And I'm not losing you either.
When did I become someone she didn't want to lose?
No time to think about it. The kids are fading fast.
Together, I agree.
We place our joined hands on the control panel. Open ourselves to the bond completely. And pull.
The magic hits like a lightning strike. Six different powers, six different flavors of pain, all flooding into us simultaneously. Elara screams. I scream. Our shared heartbeat goes wild, hammering so fast it feels like it'll explode.
But we hold on.
The tables go dark. The draining stops. Six children gasp for air.
And above us, Vivienne shrieks with rage.
What have you done?!
Through my blurring vision, I see her at the top of the stairs, furious and desperate.
We took your prize, Elara pants. The magic is ours now.
All of it. Swirling inside us. Too much power. Too much everything.
We're going to explode.
Unless
The bond, I gasp. Use the bond. Channel it through our connection. Balance it between us.
We try. God, we try.
The magic starts to stabilize. Sort itself. Find equilibrium between our two bodies.
And then I feel it. Something changing in the bond itself. Growing stronger. Permanent.
Caspian, Elara whispers. The sixty days. This is accelerating it.
She's right. The timer just jumped. Not sixty days anymore.
Ten.
We have ten days before the bond becomes permanent.
And we just absorbed enough power to make us the most dangerous people in the magical world.
Vivienne is going to come for us with everything she has.