Pain.
That was my entire world now. Pain and panic and the horrible realization that I couldn't escape him.
I tried again. One step away from where he stood, still grinning like an idiot despite everything. The mark on my palm flared white-hot. Agony shot up my arm, through my chest, down my spine. I gasped and stumbled back toward him.
The pain stopped instantly.
"Told you," he said. "Interesting."
"Shut up."
"I haven't even said anything."
"Your face is saying things. Shut it up."
He laughed. Actually laughed. We were standing in the ruins of a watchtower that had just exploded, surrounded by dust and debris, magically bonded to each other for life, and he was laughing.
"You're insane," I said.
"Probably. But you're stuck with me now, so you'll have to learn to live with it."
"I'd rather learn to kill you."
"Tried that. Didn't work." He held up his palm, showing the matching mark. "We're connected now. Whatever this is—" he gestured between us, "—it's permanent. So maybe instead of threatening to murder me every five minutes, we could try something revolutionary."
"Like what?"
"Talking? Cooperating? Figuring out why the most powerful artifact in both realms just decided to play matchmaker?"
I stared at him. "Matchmaker?"
"What else would you call this?" He stepped closer. Too close. Close enough that I could see the flecks of silver in his dark eyes, the small scar on his jaw, the way his shadows curled around him like they were part of him. "Two enemies, forced together by ancient magic, unable to separate. Sounds like every romance novel my sister reads."
"I don't read romance novels."
"Maybe you should start. You might learn something."
"Like what? How to kill you faster?"
"Like how this always ends." His voice dropped lower, softer. "Spoiler alert: they fall in love."
My heart did something stupid. I ignored it.
"We're not in a novel."
"No. We're in a collapsed watchtower with a magical bomb between us and enemies who probably want us dead." He looked around at the destruction. "Speaking of which—"
Above us, rubble shifted. Voices called out.
"Valtoris! Report!"
My commander. The Solarian team had survived.
I opened my mouth to answer—
And Dorian's hand clamped over my mouth.
"What—"
"Quiet." His face was suddenly serious. No grin. No joke. "If they find me here, with you, they'll kill me on sight. And if I die—" He held up his palm.
The mark pulsed. Understanding hit me like a blade.
If he died, I died too.
I nodded slowly. He removed his hand.
"We need to hide you," I whispered.
"Romantic. First you try to kill me, now you're hiding me. Our relationship is progressing so fast."
"I swear to the sun, if you don't shut up—"
"Valtoris!" Closer now. Rocks shifted directly above us.
Dorian looked at me. I looked at him.
Then he melted into the shadows.
Literally melted. One moment he was there, the next he was gone—just darkness pooling in the corner, indistinguishable from the natural shadows of the rubble.
I blinked.
"Showoff," I muttered.
"Valtoris!" Commander Vex dropped through a hole in the ceiling, landing gracefully on broken stone. Behind her, Corin followed, looking pale and bloody.
"I'm here," I said.
Vex's eyes swept the room. "Alone?"
"Alone." The lie came easily. Scarily easily. "The blast threw me clear. The Shadow-Weaver I was fighting—" I gestured vaguely. "Gone."
Vex nodded sharply. "Good. We need to move. The Crystal—"
"It activated. I know. I touched it."
"You what?"
"By accident. I fell, I grabbed it, it—" I stopped. The mark on my palm was hidden beneath my glove. If she saw it, if anyone saw it—
"We need to get you to a healer." Vex grabbed my arm. "Come on. The others are outside."
They pulled me up, half-dragged me toward the exit. I let them, playing up the injury, using it as excuse not to look back.
But at the last second, I glanced over my shoulder.
The shadows in the corner shifted. Just slightly. Just enough for me to see silver eyes watching me.
He raised one hand. A small wave. A silent goodbye for now.
I turned away and climbed into the light.
Outside, the world was chaos.
Half the watchtower had collapsed. Solarian soldiers ran everywhere, calling out names, searching for survivors. The Umbran team was nowhere in sight—probably retreated, probably regrouping, probably planning their next move.
Corin appeared at my elbow, his face worried. "You're bleeding."
I looked down. My side was wet with blood—the cut from Dorian's blade, deeper than I'd realized. In the chaos, I hadn't noticed.
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. Let me—"
"I said it's nothing." I pulled away. "Help the others."
He hesitated, then nodded and ran off.
I found a quiet spot behind a fallen pillar and sat down hard. My hands were shaking. My heart was racing. The mark under my glove burned with a warmth that had nothing to do with injury.
What have I done?
Through the bond—because it was a bond, I could feel it now, real and present—I felt something unexpected.
Concern. Worry. Directed at me.
He was worried about me. The enemy who'd just tried to kill me.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to find him and shake him and kiss him and—
No. Not that. Definitely not that.
Stop it, I told myself. He's the enemy. He's dangerous. He's—
The bond pulsed again. Warm. Gentle. Like a hand reaching out in the dark.
And despite everything, despite every lesson I'd ever learned, every wall I'd ever built—
I reached back.