The room dims as though the shadows themselves are drawing closer, thickening in the corners, pulsing like a heartbeat. My vision sharpens unnaturally, details etching themselves into painful clarity. I see the uneven rise and fall of Darius’s chest, the faint scorch marks marring the edges of the floorboards, the flicker of light struggling to pierce the encroaching dark, and it’s mine to manipulate.
Mine to control.
Mine to use.
“Galen won’t let Malric have her,” Darius says, his voice a knife that slices through the silence. “You know he won’t. We can turn them against each other. Divide them.”
The silence grows heavier with each breath, not with magic, but with the quiet, simmering intent of violence barely contained. My knuckles whiten, my body taut, poised not with the power of a storm unleashed but the razor-edged control of one waiting to strike.
“How’s your magic, Kade?” Darius asks.
My eyebrow rises, and I can’t help the sharp laugh that escapes, bitter and hollow.
“Fading,” I admit, my voice flat. “It’s been fading for days. Ever since—”
I stop, the words catching in my throat. Ever since Zara.
Darius tilts his head, his expression cautious but curious.
“The blood weave,” he says, almost reverently. “You never explained what happened. Not fully.”
Because I couldn’t. Because I still don’t understand it entirely.
“The blood weave wasn’t meant to exist,” I say slowly, the words coming as though I’m piecing them together for the first time. “It’s ancient magic, raw and unstable. It ties us together, but we didn’t agree to it. The fucking chain got cast as we fought, and now we’re both bound by it.It’s supposed to strengthen us. But it’s weakening me.”
Darius studies me, his gaze steady but not unkind. “You think it’s weakening you, but that’s not how it works.”
I narrow my eyes. “Who made you a fucking expert?”
He exhales, dragging a hand through his hair as though searching for the right words.
“The blood weave is old magic. Powerful magic. And it doesn’t weaken one to strengthen the other. It balances. Power flows between the two, you cunt. Malric and Galen have been using their magic against her, draining her, and when she fights back and tries to resist, the blood weave pulls from you because she needs it. And when you fight for her, it will pull from her. That’s how it works, Kade. That’s how relationships work, you fuckwit. You take when you need it, and share in return.”
My fists unclench slightly, but the tension in my shoulders remains. “And what if I don’t want to share?”
Darius’s mouth quirks into a faint smile.
“Then the weave wouldn’t have formed. It couldn’t have taken hold. Not unless you both were receptive to it.” He trails off, shaking his head. “And you think I’ve been stupid. Fuck me, Kade. You’ve got something most of us would kill for and you’re too fucking stupid to see it for what it is.”
His words settle over me, cold and unrelenting. “You’re saying I’m fading because I care about her?”
“I’m saying you’re fading because you’re keeping her alive,” Darius counters, his voice firm. “Because some part of you knows she needs you to hold her up right now, even if you don’t want to admit it. Even if she doesn't know she needs you right now. But when the time comes, when you need her, she’ll do the same for you. Because that little witch cares about you as much as you care about her.”
I try to absorb his words, but the reality of them is harder to grasp than smoke, burning through me like a bonfire of my vanities. I want to deny it, to argue, to push against him, but I can’t. The truth sits too deeply, too painfully.
I’ve run from any connection, but now there’s her, and she is the dark in my sky, the shadow cast by the moon. She’s the pull of the night and the stars bend in her orbit. Zara isn’t justa part of me now. She’s everything. She’s the earth, the fire, the magic that runs deeper than blood. The witch makes the world come alive in ways I can’t describe, as if I’ve been stumbling in the darkness and she’s the shadow that protects me from the flames.
“You believe that?” I ask, my voice quieter than I intended it to be.
“I do,” Darius says simply.
“When the fuck did you become so smart about women?”
My brother’s face changes, lined with something I can’t quite place. Regret, maybe. Perhaps remorse. There’s hope there too. And even something deeper. A softness in his eyes I’ve never seen before. It could be guilt for things he’s done, or things he’s failed to do. Whatever it is, I don’t have time to dwell on it now. Not when Zara’s life is at risk.
“We don’t have time for that discussion, Kade,” he replies.
His jaw clenches, his voice thick with something unsaid. His jaw clenches, a familiar tic, but this time it’s different. It’s not just anger. It’s resolve.
“We don’t have the luxury of time or hesitation if you want to save Zara. We’re the only ones who can stop Galen, and we can’t afford any more second chances, Kade. No more doubts. No more mistakes. We do this now, or everything burns.”
I nod.
I’ve been playing a game for far too long. One I didn’t even know I was participating in. The time for reluctance is over. There’s only one choice left: fight or let everything I want slip away.
I don’t have a choice. Not anymore.
Not when it’s her.
