The Shadows price

The words hung in the air, heavy as a blade poised to strike.

"Blood. Oath. Fire."

Kael's grip on Rhia didn't loosen. If anything, it tightened. He could feel the pulse beneath her skin, steady despite the cold that curled around them. Despite the weight of what they had just done.

The shadow did not move. It did not have to. Its presence pressed against them like an unseen tide, waiting for the inevitable.

Garran exhaled sharply. "You should have walked away."

Kael didn't look at him. "Was that ever an option?"

Silence.

The shadow flickered, its form shifting between solidity and smoke. "Your oath is given. Your fate entwined. Now…" A pause, deliberate. "Bleed."

Kael barely had time to react before pain flared across his palm. A thin, invisible force had sliced into him, crimson welling up against his skin.

And then—Rhia gasped.

He turned, horror gripping his spine as a matching wound bloomed on her hand.

No.

Not just an oath.

A bond.

The shadow's laughter came again, curling in the air like smoke. "One does not stand in another's place without consequence."

Kael swallowed hard, his free hand clenching into a fist. This wasn't just about him anymore.

It never had been.

Garran swore under his breath. "This isn't just any blood price." His voice was low, urgent. "It's a tether."

Kael forced himself to breathe. "Explain."

Garran's jaw tightened. "You and her? You don't just share the wound. You share the consequence. The shadow's mark is on both of you now. Whatever it demands…" He hesitated. "You'll both feel it."

Kael looked at Rhia. At the way she held her hand, blood slipping between her fingers. She wasn't trembling. She wasn't afraid.

But she should be.

"You shouldn't have done this," he murmured.

Her eyes met his, unwavering. "Neither should you."

And yet, here they were.

The ruins shifted again, the torches sputtering. The shadow loomed closer.

"The oath is sealed."

Kael exhaled. Whatever came next, there was no turning back.

And for the first time, he wasn't sure if that terrified him—or if it felt like fate.