Page 45

Story: Bitten By Prophecy

KAIA

B reath slams into my lungs like I’ve been dragged up from the bottom of the ocean.

I jolt upright, gasping, heart pounding so hard it rattles my goddamn bones.

The world spins—too bright, too sharp —the colors bleeding together into something otherworldly.

I can feel everything—the ground humming under me, the crackling tear of the Veil nearby, the thread of magic in the very air twisting around me like a lover’s hand.

It’s like waking up in someone else’s skin.

No, something else’s .

“Kaia?”

Elias’s voice cuts through the chaos, ragged and desperate, grounding me better than anything else ever could.

His hands are on my face, trembling, bloodied, real .

His eyes are wide and wild, flickering between that piercing ice-blue and molten gold, like he can’t figure out which half of him is more terrified.

“Elias?” My voice comes out wrecked, broken and new at the same time.

His breath hitches. His forehead drops against mine like he can’t stand upright anymore. “I thought—I thought I lost you.”

I grip the front of his shirt, pulling him closer because the ache in my chest, the emptiness that was there seconds ago, is gone now, replaced by this overwhelming pull —to him, to the world, to everything .

“What happened?” I whisper.

He flinches like I slapped him.

“I… I used the ritual,” he says hoarsely, his eyes sliding shut like he can’t bear to look at me when he says it.

“The bloodbinding I was going to do before your father– I just, I couldn’t lose you.

So… I gave up part of my soul to pull you back.

I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d fucking hate me for it.

But now, in this case, I hope you’d understand why I had to. ”

My heart cracks wide open.

Not because I’m angry.

Because he chose me . Over himself. Over everything. Again.

I cup his jaw, forcing him to look at me. His skin is cold under my touch, like the magic hasn’t finished bleeding through him yet.

“You stupid, stubborn, idiot,” I murmur, tears pricking my eyes. “You think I wouldn’t have done the same for you?”

His mouth trembles like he’s about to say something smartass, something cutting to protect himself, but the words die in his throat. His eyes burn into mine— real and raw and aching —and it guts me.

And then it hits me.

My father.

The memory slams back in brutal technicolor—the fight, the betrayal, the dagger in my chest.

My hand drifts instinctively to the place where he stabbed me, expecting blood, a wound. But all I find is smooth, unmarred skin. A faint shimmer of golden light pulses under my fingertips.

I meet Elias’s gaze.

“Where is he?” I rasp, though part of me already knows. Feels it.

“Dead,” Elias says, voice low and lethal. “I made sure of it.”

Something shudders through me—a tremor of grief, relief, and something uglier. Something like freedom.

I nod once, shaky, but I don't cry. Not for Jareth Draven.

He made his choice. And so have I.

The Veil stirs against my skin, a living thing made of hope and terror and endless memory. I can feel its jagged edges, its bleeding seams. It’s dying.

But it can be healed .

And I know now, in my bones, in my blood, what I have to do.

I turn back to Elias, brushing my fingers through his long black hair, feeling the way he leans into the touch like he’s starving for it.

“You with me?” I whisper.

His smile is a wrecked, broken thing—but it’s real. “Always, Kaia.”

I lace my fingers with his, feeling the blood magic still thrumming faintly under his skin— our magic now—and pull him toward the center of the chamber.

The Veil Heart crystal pulses there, hovering above the cracked altar.

Waiting.

I step forward, and the Veil rushes around me, through me, singing in a voice only I can hear.

Mend us. Bind us. Save us.

I squeeze Elias’s hand tighter.

We don’t need words. We never have.

He steps up beside me, his free hand brushing the side of my waist, steadying me like he always does without even thinking about it.

Together, we raise our joined hands to the crystal.

Magic floods the room, ancient, wild, furious . It screams against my skin, against the part of me that’s still human, but I don't flinch. I embrace it.

Elias grits his teeth, his body straining against the force, but he doesn’t let go.

Not once.

The ritual burns through us, golden and red, like veins of molten power threading our bodies together. I feel it latch onto my soul—onto his —and knit us into one unbreakable bond.

The Veil shudders, tearing, screaming—and then, slowly, healing .

I cry out, the sound ripped from my throat, but it’s not pain.

It’s rebirth .

Elias presses his forehead to mine, whispering broken promises and cursing like he’s bleeding out every fear he’s ever had.

“I got you,” he growls, voice wrecked. “I got you, Kaia.”

“I know,” I whisper back, tears running hot down my cheeks. “I got you too.”

The crystal flares, one final blinding surge—and then shatters into a thousand points of light, scattering through the ruins like stars.

The Veil hums, whole again.

Alive.

And so are we.

I collapse against Elias, trembling, laughing and crying all at once as he catches me, his arms wrapping around me like a fortress.

It’s over.

But it’s also just the beginning.