And now—freedom.
The absence hit me like a tidal wave. My heart stuttered, shadows trembling around me like beasts suddenly unchained. They lashed wildly, filling the clearing with dark coils that bent and twisted, seeking an enemy to devour.
I clenched my fists, fighting to rein them in, to remind myself that the battle was won. But the flood was overwhelming. A century of restraint snapped in an instant.
Then her hand reached out for mine. Unthinking, I gave it to her, watching as she pulled me to my feet. Just a small touch, steady, grounding.
“Dario,” Elena whispered, her voice cutting through the cacophony like sunlight piercing stormclouds. “Breathe.”
I hadn’t realized I wasn’t.
Air rushed into my lungs like fire, searing, sharp, alive. I dragged it in greedily, chest heaving as though I were inhaling the world for the first time. My shadows quivered, then stilled, retreating closer to me as though ashamed of their frenzy.
I was free. By the gods, I was free.
And it was because of her.
I turned to her, every wall I had built over a century cracked and crumbling. She stood only inches away, her face flushed with exertion, her golden hair wild around her shoulders, her chest rising and falling with quick, uneven breaths. Sweat glistened along her brow, but her eyes—those eyes—burned withtriumph and something deeper, softer, as they met mine.
The clearing hummed with the echo of our joined magic. The forest itself seemed to bow in recognition. Without the wards, the air was different—fresher, thinner, alive. I could sense the trees waving their limbs, every root shifting in relief. Even the night sky above looked sharper, stars glittering with a clarity I hadn’t seen in a century.
I drank it in greedily, dizzy with wonder.
Fragments of the shattered wards drifted through the air, glowing motes of gold and violet, sparks of light twining with threads of shadow before fading into the night. They floated around her like a crown, catching in her hair, clinging to her lashes, making her look less like a priestess and more like some celestial being descended to earth.
I realized I was staring when she shifted, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“You’re quiet,” she said softly.
“I’ve forgotten how.”
Her brows lifted. “How to speak?”
“How tobe.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, heavy with truth. “The wards… they defined me. Contained me. Even when I raged, even when I fought, I knew my limits. Now—” I spread my hands, shadows unfurling from my palms like restless wings. “Now I don’t know where the limits end. I don’t know whereIend.”
Her gaze softened.
“You’ll learn,” she murmured. “You don’t have to know everything tonight. Freedom takes time.”
Freedom. The word made me ache.
I stepped closer before I thought better of it, drawn by the warmth in her voice, the quiet certainty she carried as though the Sun God himself had set it in her bones. The shadows curled toward her instinctively, brushing the edge of her cloak, twininglike vines reaching for the sun.
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t recoil. Instead, she lifted her hand and let her fingers trail through the darkness, as though stroking the fur of a beloved cat. My magic shivered beneath her touch, alive,responsive.
A groan tore from my throat before I could choke it back.
Her eyes darted to mine, wide, startled—not fearful. Something else. Something that twisted low in my gut, hot and dangerous.
“Elena.” Her name was a plea, a warning, a curse. “Don’t—”
“Don’t what?” Her voice was steady, but her breathing wasn’t.
“Just don’t.”
Her lips parted, and for a moment, I thought she might step closer still.
The night held its breath. My body screamed with a need I hadn’t felt in a century, the hunger to close the distance, to taste the warmth that shimmered just beyond reach.
