Chapter 115
*Nathaniel*
I don’t remember how long we stayed like that.
Her body pressed against mine, heat bleeding from her skin like aftershock, her breathing shallow but steady. I held her as if the moment I let go, the fire would claim her again. Her magic had quieted–barely. The flames curled low around us like a tired warning, as if her power was watching, waiting for a reason to rise again.
Jiselle didn’t speak right away. She trembled every few breaths, like her body was fighting to stay here, like part of her was still in that gate.
That place.
That name she wouldn’t say yet.
I adjusted my grip and shifted her weight into my lap, easing us both down until I was seated against the stone wall of the chamber, her back against my chest. She didn’t resist. That scared me more than anything.
The Jiselle I knew–before the fire, before the prophecy–would’ve fought me off with a snarl and a glare.
But this version?
This one barely moved.
My hand found hers, and I pressed her fingers between mine, grounding her, grounding me. She didn’t pull away.
That scar inside me–where the bond used to live–flared again. Not like before. Not the sharp pull of rejection or the emptiness of absence.
This was something new.
It ached.
Not because it hurt, but because it wasn’t finished.
I exhaled through clenched teeth. My magic responded, trying to stabilize, to calm–but it only triggered hers. Heat shimmered through her body in a wave so sudden I nearly dropped her.
“Jiselle-”
She hissed, clutching at her chest, her body curling tight. Flames danced over her shoulder blades, but they didn’t lash out -they clung. Like they were afraid too.
I reached for my side, unwrapping the leather sheath instinctively.
The Mirror Fang pulsed through the cloth.
The runes on the blade flared bright enough to burn lines through the leather.
It recognized her.
It recognized me.
And it didn’t like the tether forming between us.
It wanted to cut.
I stared down at it, at the edge humming like it already knew what I was thinking.
Could I do it?
Use the Fang?
Sever the connection before it killed her–or worse, consumed her?
Her body jerked again, flame racing up her spine, out her palms. The scar in my chest howled, sending me to one knee.
I gritted my teeth, wrapped both hands around the hilt.
One motion.
One clean arc.
I could sever the tether.
Save her.
Stop her.
She turned toward me–eyes wild, scared, blazing.
“Don’t,” she choked.
I froze.
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Chapter 115
Her voice cracked again. “Please. Nate. Don’t.”
I loosened my grip.
But I didn’t drop the blade.
“Your power-” I said.
“I know.” She coughed, barely holding herself upright. “But it’s mine. I won’t let it decide who I am.” “You’re burning from the inside out.”
“I’m still me,” she said, reaching out, hand trembling. “I’m still here. I chose to come back.”
My fingers faltered.
The blade dimmed.
Just slightly.
Enough to let me breathe.
I tucked it back into the sheath, then tossed it across the chamber–far enough that I wouldn’t reach for it again without thinking.
Jiselle collapsed into my arms, panting.
And I held her tighter than before.
Moments passed. I didn’t count them. I just listened to the crackling remnants of her flame, the uneven thud of her heart against mine, and the ghost of my own bond flaring like an echo.
Then I heard footsteps.
I turned fast, hand already halfway to the Fang again before I saw them.
Eva.
Maximus.
And behind them–two of the rogue wolves who had defected with information about Kael’s leyline manipulation. All of them were covered in soot and travel dust, Eva’s braid half–undone, Maximus’s shirt torn at the shoulder.
Eva was the first to drop to her knees beside us.
“Oh gods,” she whispered. “You found her.”
“She found herself,” I said.
Eva’s hands moved gently over Jiselle’s arms, checking for injuries, for burns, for rupture. Her eyes widened when her fingers hovered over Jiselle’s chest.
“She’s tethered again.”
“Something like it,” I said.
Maximus approached slower, more measured. His expression was unreadable, his eyes flicking from me to Jiselle and back again.
“She stable?” he asked.
“No,” I said honestly.
“But she’s here.”
He nodded.
Then his voice dropped. “Kael’s coming.”
My stomach turned.
“How soon?”
“Less than a day. He felt the flare. Your arrival didn’t go unnoticed.”
I stood carefully, Jiselle leaning into me as I pulled her upright.
“We can’t fight him here,” Eva said. “The gate’s too volatile.”
I nodded. “We move underground. Through the tunnels. She needs time.”
“She’ll never get enough time,” Maximus muttered. “Not with what’s coming.”
I didn’t disagree.
But I wasn’t leaving her behind again.
“Go,” I said. “Lead the others. We’ll follow.”
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Chapter 115
Eva hesitated.
Then kissed Jiselle’s forehead. “We’ll hold the path.”
They left.
It took all my strength to guide Jiselle into the tunnels. The air was cooler here. Darker. But her flames still flickered faintly across the stone, lighting the way.
Eventually, we stopped to rest in a hollow carved near the leyline’s edge. She leaned back, eyes closed, still trembling
“I wasn’t alone,” she whispered.
I froze.
“What?”
“In the gate. It spoke. Not in words. In names.”
I moved closer.
“What name?”
She opened her eyes slowly, meeting mine.
“It said… “Eira.”
The name was unfamiliar.
Wrong.
Ancient.
And it chilled me more than any prophecy.
“I don’t know who that is,” I said carefully.
“I think she’s who I would’ve become if I walked through.”
She touched her chest, fingers tracing her ribs.
“She’s still waiting. Not just at the gate. Inside me.”
My throat tightened.
“But I chose me,” she said, voice cracking. “I chose this. Even if I don’t know what I’m becoming, I chose not to become her.”
I reached for her hand.
She let me hold it.
“You chose not to run,” I said.
“No,” she murmured. “I just finally stopped pretending I could.”
Her head dropped to my shoulder.
The flames didn’t rise.
The bond didn’t break.
And in the dark beneath the mountain, we breathed together.
Not healed.
Not whole.
But together.
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