His own funeral came next. Her silent vow at his coffin.I’ll love you forever.
Her nights at his grave. Freezing and broken.I won’t leave him. Not again.
Tobias’s voice. Talking of Sebastian’s mother.If I could go back, I’d have a healer in Thorne.
The spark of desperate hope those words had lit in her. Her begging the Arcanth to go back, just once, whilst her body burned with golden magic. That she would pay any cost. The smoke that had wrapped around her, dragging her into shadow. The soldier she’d hunted down and killed so they would never be torn apart. She showed him it all. And Sebastian staggered under it.
“You – you broke time for me?”
“I would do anything for you,” she answered fiercely.
And he believed her.
“Thank you,” he managed, although it hardly seemed enough.
She just kissed him again.
When they broke apart, Sebastian brushed his fingers through the black streaks in her magic. “But Kara, what is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted, unflinching. “It burns a little. And I feel... weaker.”
He didn’t think. Didn’t hesitate. He reached through their bond – not with words but with will – and pulled. Not gently. Not carefully. He dragged half the corruption into himself, wrenching it across their souls. The blackness writhed, fighting, then split. It shot up his veins, dark and angry, latching onto his own magic until it mirrored hers. He hissed with pain but endured it. Their golden light roared through them, defiant and furious, forcing the shadows back – not destroying them, but containing them. The light was brighter than it had ever been – until suddenly it calmed and settled around them. Their power was gold again. Pure. Whole. But both their arms now bore scars: thin black veins brandedbeneath the skin. He knew without casting any magic that they were permanent.
She gasped. “Sebastian–”
“I won’t let you carry this alone,” he said firmly, even as the darkness gnawed at his strength.
It doesn’t matter.
“Whatever it is, we’ll bear it together,” he told her.
She traced the scars on her arm, then lifted his to her lips and kissed his matching ones.
“Worth it,” she whispered against his skin. “I thought I’d never see you again. I buried you.” Tears spilled down her cheeks unchecked. “I wanted to die. I wanted to go with you.”
Sebastian went utterly still. Absorbing the horror of her words. “Don’t you ever say that, Kara. Not to me – you hear me?”
Her expression crumpled. “But it’s true. I couldn’t breathe without you. I didn’t want to. My heart – mysoul–” She broke off, shuddering. “I knew you’d want me to live. It was the only thing that kept me standing.”
“Gods above.” He pulled her into his arms, unable to bear it. “I’m sorry, Kara, I’m so fucking sorry.”
She shook her head against his chest. “Don’t say that, you didn’t–”
Shame burned in him. “I should have been quicker. Stronger. You never should have suffered like this.”
Kara looked up. “It wasn’t your fault,” she insisted.
“I’m still sorry.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “If it’d been me, if I’d lost you – I wouldn’t have survived it.”
“Let’s neither of us die then, okay?” She tried to laugh, but the shaky sound that escaped was more a sob than anything else.
“Deal,” he promised.
Kara buried her face in his chest, completely overcome. He gathered her closer, their bond shaking violently as more cries tore out of her. Every emotion she felt surging through him.
Fuck, this hurts.
But he didn’t stop her. Gods knew she needed to let it out, and he wasn’t about to take that from her. He didn’t deserve to. Not after what she’d gone through.
