They barely made it to Kaedan’s chamber.
Riven carried Ariaxa’s weight while Kaedan half-stumbled beside them, one hand gripping his chest, the other never leaving her skin. The bond pulsed in violent waves, dragging their pain back and forth until neither could tell whose agony belonged to whom.
When Riven lowered Ariaxa to the bed, Kaedan collapsed to his knees beside her, panting, trembling, barely clinging to control.
“Ariaxa…” he rasped. “Don’t—don’t try to move—just breathe—”
But she shook her head weakly.
“No… I can fix this.”
She lifted her hand—shaking, covered in her own blood—and pressed her palm to his wounded side.
Kaedan’s breath seized.
“Ariaxa—no—don’t—”
But she had already begun.
***
Her light flowed into him.
Not as a beam.
Not as a spell.
As warmth.
As breath.
As intimacy so deep it felt like being stripped bare.
Kaedan’s eyes widened—then fluttered half-shut as her Sun magic slid beneath his skin, weaving into his flesh, threading through his veins like glowing gold threads.
He shuddered violently.
“Ariaxa—” he gasped, gripping the edge of the bed so hard it cracked beneath his fingers. “Gods—stop—before I—”
She pressed harder.
Her light sank deeper.
Kaedan’s head fell forward, his forehead pressing into her shoulder as he trembled.
“You’re… inside me,” he whispered, voice raw in a way she had never heard.
Ariaxa flushed, but she didn’t stop.
“Hold still.”
“I—can’t,” he growled, voice shaking with restraint. “Do you know what this feels like to me?”
She did.
The bond made sure she felt it too.
Heat.
Magic.
Pain turning to pleasure.
Two bodies syncing to heal, heartbeat aligning, breath merging, soul pressing into soul.
Her wound closed at the same moment his did.
His regeneration met her sunfire.
Her sunfire met his blood magic.
The two magics twisted together—glowing red-gold, pulsing like a new heartbeat between them.
Kaedan groaned, clutching her waist.
Ariaxa gasped, fingers sliding up his chest as the bond flared again.
“I can feel you,” he whispered into her neck. “Everywhere.”
Their power surged.
The wounds sealed.
Their bodies synced.
And then—
The backlash hit.
Both gasped.
Both collapsed—into each other.
***
Ariaxa’s head landed against his chest.
Kaedan collapsed back against the pillows, dragging her with him, unwilling to let her slip even an inch away.
They lay tangled together, breathless, trembling, staring at the ceiling like they had just survived a storm that tried to consume them both.
Kaedan lifted a shaking hand and cupped her jaw.
“Never take my pain again,” he whispered, voice cracked, raw, terrified.
Ariaxa’s eyes snapped open.
“Then stop putting yourself between me and death.”
His hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, holding her there, their foreheads nearly touching.
“Ariaxa…” he murmured, voice low, dangerous, honest. “I can’t.”