The instant Rhaelle activated the final runes, the collar around Ariaxa’s throat erupted.
Not with fire.
Not with light.
With both—Sun-magic inverted by shadow-binding.
A shriek of magic tore through the temple, vibrating stone, cracking pillars, rattling bones.
Ariaxa’s scream cut through the roar.
Her back arched violently.
Her wrists bled as she fought the thorns.
Gold and black light poured from her skin in wild, uncontrollable waves.
The collar wasn’t just burning.
It was detonating.
Kaedan’s head snapped toward her.
His expression—terror, fury, heartbreak—shattered him open.
“ARIA—”
The explosion ripped outward.
Kaedan didn’t hesitate.
He threw himself over her, covering her body with his own, wrapping his arms around her like he could cage the sun itself.
The blast struck him first.
Sun-magic.
Shadow-magic.
The collision of both forces tore into his back, burning through muscle, ripping open fresh wounds.
He screamed.
But he didn’t move away.
Not an inch.
Not even when the flames scorched his skin.
Not even when the runes shattered.
Not even when the shockwave hurled Rhaelle across the chamber.
Kaedan held Ariaxa tighter.
“It’s me,” he rasped through the agony. “I’m here.”
The temple walls cracked like dry bones.
Marble split.
Statues fell.
The altar crumbled beneath their feet.
Brakus lunged forward, half-beast, snarling—
The next wave of magic hit.
A solar storm.
Pure, uncontrolled, ancient.
It incinerated him instantly.
Nothing remained but ash drifting through the collapsing air.
Ariaxa sobbed, eyes wild, clawing at the collar as her magic whipped around them in spirals—sun-fire, gold lightning, and shadow-flame fused into a storm that tore the room apart.
Kaedan pressed his forehead to hers, his breath shaking, his voice rough and desperate.
“Ariaxa—look at me.”
Her eyes flicked up, unfocused.
He tightened his grip.
“Come back to me.”
Her magic blasted outward again, catching Rhaelle and slamming her into a pillar hard enough to crack her ribs.
Ariaxa trembled violently, her hands clutching Kaedan’s cloak.
“It—it hurts—I can’t stop—Kaedan—I can’t—”
“I know,” he whispered. “I know. Don’t fight alone.”
She sobbed harder.
“You’re safe,” he whispered, even as the storm burned him. “You’re not alone. I’ve got you. I’ve always had you.”
Ariaxa buried her face in his shoulder, screaming as another pulse ripped through her.
Kaedan held her tighter, voice breaking.
“Come back to me, Ariaxa. Come back.”
The collar cracked.
Once.
Twice.
Magic surged—sun and shadow colliding, merging, exploding.
The temple floor lifted off its foundation.
The roof buckled.
Riven shouted from somewhere behind them, voice drowned in the roar of destruction.
Kaedan whispered one last time:
“I’m here.”
Ariaxa’s power erupted.
Together, they were swallowed whole.
In a blinding golden flash.