The mirror swallowed Kaedan whole.
For a moment there was nothing.
Then—
Pain.
Not the clean, sharp kind.
The old kind.
The kind rooted in memory, rot, and bone.
The kind that never healed.
He gasped, falling to his knees as the world around him twisted into a jagged, distorted reflection of his past.
Cold chains slammed around his wrists.
His back struck stone.
The stench of blood and smoke filled his nostrils.
“No,” he rasped, breath choking. “Not again.”
But the mirror didn’t care.
It dragged him deeper.
The mines—
dark, endless tunnels filled with screams.
Whips cracking.
Bodies collapsing.
His mother’s voice screaming for him to run—
run—
run—
And the hand that never let go of him
because she was ripped away.
He clutched his chest, the bond screaming through him like a torn thread.
Ariaxa…
Ariaxa…
Her name flickered like a candle in a hurricane.
The mirror illusions converged, whispering with Vaelen’s cold voice:
“Let go. You were never meant to survive.”
Then Brakus’s guttural growl:
“You are a monster. You always were.”
Then Rhaelle’s silken poison:
“She is breaking free of you. She does not need you. Let the bond die.”
Kaedan snarled, teeth flashing.
“I need her.”
But the illusions twisted again, showing him Ariaxa walking away, holding another man’s hand. Showing her crowned without him. Showing her radiant while he lay dead and forgotten.
His breathing hitched.
Pain surged so violently he nearly vomited.
His heart slowed.
The bond trembled.
Faltered.
Began to snap.
Ariaxa slammed her body against the mirror, wings flaring so brightly the air screamed.
“KAEDAN!”
Her fists hit the barrier again, solar fire exploding from her knuckles.
The mirror groaned, cracking beneath her magic, but each crack healed instantly — Rhaelle’s power wove around the prison like chains.
“You won’t take him!” Ariaxa roared, tears burning like molten gold down her cheeks. “YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM!”
She pressed both palms against the surface.
Her magic surged —
Sun-fire roaring,
Night-shadow slicing,
the bond blazing like a living star inside her ribs.
Her body strained.
Her wings trembled.
Her veins glowed until the light threatened to tear her skin open.
And then—
The mirror shattered around her hand.
Just enough.
She shoved herself through the crack, ignoring the burning as shards sliced her arms, her waist, her thighs. The cuts sealed instantly from the heat of her aura.
Inside, she landed in darkness.
But darkness wasn’t empty.
It was full of screams.
“Kaedan?” her voice broke.
No answer.
“KAEDAN!”
She gathered light in her palm — a blazing sphere of eclipse-flame — and hurled it into the void.
The prison illuminated.
She choked on her breath.
Kaedan was on his knees.
His head bowed.
His chest barely rising.
Chains of illusion locked around him, each chain carved from one of his memories—his mother dying, Riven bleeding, Ariaxa crying in pain, him standing over bodies he hadn’t meant to kill.
“Kaedan,” she whispered, falling to her knees beside him. “Look at me.”
No reaction.
His skin was cold.
His heartbeat—
She couldn’t feel it.
No.
NO.
She grabbed his face between trembling hands, forcing his head up. His eyes were half-closed, pupils unfocused, breath barely a whisper.
“Kaedan,” she said, voice cracking open. “Please. Please come back.”
The illusions swarmed around her, dozens of reflections whispering poison.
“He doesn’t need you.”
“You failed him.”
“He died for nothing.”
“You can’t save him.”
“You will lose him. You will lose everything.”
She snarled, power erupting from her in a violent storm.
“SHUT UP!”
The illusions shattered like broken stars, evaporating in streaks of silver smoke.
Ariaxa pulled Kaedan into her lap, cradling him against her chest. His forehead pressed into her collarbone, his breath ghosting weakly against her skin.
She pressed her palm over his heart, her voice shaking.
“Don’t you dare leave me. Don’t you dare.”
Her power surged down her arm — gold and black merging — pouring into his chest like molten lifeblood.
His back arched in pain.
His fingers twitched.
The bond flared, then flickered, then flared again.
“Kaedan—” she whispered. “Follow the bond. Follow me.”
She leaned down and pressed her forehead to his, their breaths merging, magic crackling violently between their mouths.
“Come back to me,” she breathed. “Come back, Kaedan. I’m not finishing this alone.”
Her power roared into him.
His heartbeat faltered.
Then caught.
Then beat.
Once.
Twice.
Harder.
Kaedan gasped — air slamming back into his lungs like he’d been drowning for centuries.
“Ariaxa…” he rasped, voice raw.
She let out a sob of relief, pulling him tighter, her forehead pressed to his cheek, her wings curling around them.
“Gods, Kaedan, you scared me—”
He raised a weak hand, fingertips brushing her jaw.
“Ariaxa… don’t look behind you.”
Her blood ran cold.
Her wings flexed.
Her magic tensed like a drawn bow.
Slowly, she lifted her head—
and turned.