Chapter 4 – Lessons in Control

The bond had rules. They were about to learn all of them the hard way.

The next morning, Lira woke to a sharp, stabbing pain behind her eyes.

She sat up too fast.

The room tilted.

Across from her, Kael stood at the window, already fully dressed in his combat uniform—black-on-black again, layered with spell-etched armor. His silhouette was a shadow cut clean against the morning light.

"You felt that too?" she asked, voice raw.

He didn't look at her. "You're late."

She glanced at the clock rune on the wall. Training was in ten minutes. Her head pounded like someone had etched a sigil across her skull with a dull knife.

"I had a dream," she murmured.

His shoulders shifted almost imperceptibly. "So did I."

They didn't say more.

The training arena wasn't empty this time.

Three instructors waited in the upper gallery, surrounded by scrolls, floating crystal recorders, and a full diagnostic circle etched into the center of the floor. And now, a fourth figure had joined them—tall, cloaked in storm-colored robes, with long silver hair tied at the nape and unreadable violet eyes.

Master Veylan.

Lira had seen him only once before—briefly, during the Binding Rite, standing just beyond the dome, face hidden by shadows. Now he watched her without blinking.

Kael noticed too. "They're bringing in Veylan?"

"That bad?" she asked under her breath.

"He teaches Binding Theory. But he hasn't taken a student in five years."

"Maybe he missed the smell of failure."

He glanced at her sideways. "Your sarcasm isn't helping your credibility."

"Good thing I don't have any left to protect."

They stepped into the center ring.

Master Veylan's voice echoed down, smooth and dry. "Today's objective is synchronization stability. Proximity tests. Emotional triggers. Spell harmonics. Side effects may include pain, nausea, hallucination, and death."

Lira raised a hand. "Clarification—death as in temporary or forever?"

"Let's find out."

Wonderful.

They started simple: Kael casting a basic binding rune while Lira stood ten feet away.

It didn't work.

He pushed more power into the spell; the bond resisted. Lira's vision blurred. Her knees buckled.

"Closer," Veylan called down.

Six feet. Then four.

Lira exhaled shakily. The pressure lifted slightly, but her head still throbbed.

Kael looked… annoyed. But not at her. At the bond. At being out of control.

The moment she stepped within arm's reach, the spell snapped into place. The rune glowed solid white for three seconds before flaring out.

"Better," Veylan said. "Now—soul mirroring."

Lira frowned. "That sounds—"

Kael grabbed her wrist.

Her breath hitched.

He didn't hold it tightly, but the moment his skin touched hers, something surged. Not magic. Not exactly. It was more like… awareness. She could feel his heartbeat. Hear it in her chest.

Kael let go immediately.

She stumbled back, shaking.

"Fascinating," Veylan murmured. "She mirrors his emotional state instantly. No resistance. That's rare."

Kael shook his head. "It's not her. The bond is too strong. It's forcing bleed."

Lira looked up sharply. "Bleed?"

"You're getting impressions from me. My emotions. My magic. Maybe more."

She opened her mouth.

Stopped.

Because she remembered the dream from the night before. A boy standing in a field of black roses. His hands were covered in blood. He looked up and said, Run.

She had assumed it was just a dream.

Now, she wasn't so sure.

Veylan clapped once. "Break. Ten minutes. Then we try combat triggers."

Kael walked toward the far edge of the arena, rubbing the inside of his wrist like it burned.

Lira sat on the steps, pulling her legs up and watching him.

"Why are you here?" she asked without thinking.

He didn't turn.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't need to train. You're already better than everyone else. You could coast to graduation. But you're still here at dawn, being told to stand next to me like I'm a cursed mirror."

Kael was quiet for a long time.

Then: "I'm not here to be the best. I'm here to make sure no one surpasses me."

She laughed once, sharp and hollow. "And I'm your biggest threat now?"

"You're my biggest problem."

"Is that your way of flirting?"

He looked over his shoulder, eyes hard. "I don't flirt."

"Pity. You might be good at it if you stopped scowling."

His mouth twitched. Just slightly.

Then the signal chime rang.

Veylan called them back.

The next test was worse.

They were instructed to stand at opposite ends of the ring and channel spells at the same time—Kael, shadows; Lira, light.

She hesitated. She'd never summoned light before. She wasn't even sure she could.

"Just feel it," Veylan said. "Feel the bond. Use him as a source."

That sounded like a terrible idea.

But she did it anyway.

She reached inward, toward the place where the Mark pulsed, and then outward, through the thread that connected her to Kael.

He was already casting. Shadows erupted around him in elegant, fluid arcs.

She felt cold. Cold in her chest. Her ribs. Her spine.

Then she inhaled, and that cold turned to clarity.

And light spilled from her palms.

The instructors murmured among themselves.

Veylan's eyes narrowed.

Kael dropped his spell.

Lira's light flickered and died.

She collapsed onto one knee, gasping.

Kael didn't move toward her, but he didn't look away.

Veylan finally said, "You're not from Briarhelm."

It wasn't a question.

Lira didn't answer.

The instructor beside him whispered something. Veylan shook his head. "Not yet."

He turned to Kael.

"Her magic is reactive. It amplifies based on emotional exposure. You'll level faster. You'll burn hotter. But if your control slips—"

"It won't."

"She'll take the hit."

Kael's jaw tightened. "Then I won't let it slip."

Lira looked up.

And saw something she didn't expect in his eyes.

Not kindness.

Not guilt.

But commitment.

Not to her.

To the bond.

To what it meant.

That night, back in the room, she sat by the window while he stripped off his gloves and set them beside his bed.

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

Then he said, quietly, "The next time they try to push the bond, tell me first."

She looked at him. "Why?"

"I need to know what you're feeling before you collapse."

She blinked. "That almost sounds like concern."

"It's strategy."

She nodded slowly. "Sure."

A pause.

Kael looked at her. Really looked.

"I had a bond once. When I was thirteen."

Her heart jumped. "What happened?"

"She died."

A longer pause.

He didn't elaborate.

He turned off the lights with a flick of his fingers and got into bed.

Lira stayed by the window long after his breathing went still.

Her mark was still warm.

She wasn't sure if it would ever cool again.