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It did hurt. God, it hurts. Like he was burning me from the inside out, his shadows cauterizing the wound even as they fought the foreign shadow magic trying to claim me. I couldn’t hold back the scream this time, the sound tearing from my throat with animal intensity.

I’m sorry , he whispered through our bond, genuine anguish bleeding through. I’m sorry, Ada .

Hakan's free hand found mine without hesitation, and I clutched it with desperate need, squeezing with what little strength remained to me. His skin was ice-frozen against my fevered palm.

“Pathetic,” he muttered, the cruel word completely at odds with how his thumb gently stroked across my knuckles, how his body curved protectively over mine. “Stay awake. Don’t you fucking dare die on me or I’ll end you myself.”

The threat became a plea. Through our bond, I felt his fear—raw and unfiltered, terrifying in its intensity. The fear of losing me echoed between us, amplified by the magical connection, impossible to disguise or deny.

I won’t let you go , he promised silently, the words carrying more truth than anything he’d said aloud.

Beyond the alcove, echoes of combat reached us. Shouts, the clash of weapons, horrible wet noise of tearing flesh. Hakan's guards, engaging the remaining assassins. But Hakan himself didn't shift from my side, his focus entirely on the wound, on keeping the shadow poison at bay.

“Hakan,” I managed, my voice barely a whisper. “They knew…Who I was. They Called me…light-bearer.”

His expression darkened further, if such a thing were possible. The air around us grew so cold that ice crystals formed on my eyelashes, on the blood drying on my skin.

“Did they speak?” he demanded. “Did they say anything else?”

I tried to focus through the haze of pain and encroaching unconsciousness. "Some bridges must be burned before others can be built. You'll understand soon enough."

The temperature dropped impossibly further. Plants shattered around us, frozen so quickly they turned to brittle glass. Hakan’s eyes flared brighter, and for a moment, I saw something moving behind them, something ancient and terrible, watching through his gaze.

“I will find them,” he promised, and it was the promise of an apex predator, not a man. “Every last one. And they will beg for death long before I grant it.”

The echoes of fighting had ceased. Either the guards had prevailed, or…

From the corner of my eye, I spotted a flash of auburn hair—Martha, watching from behind a distant hedge, her expression unreadable before she melted back into the shadows.

Sarp knelt at the entrance to the alcove, his face a careful mask. “The remaining assassins are down. We’ve found tracks from two more who escaped through a shadow-gate. They were well-prepared. The timing, right after Midas’s visit… I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“And Melo?” I managed to ask, though the effort sent fresh pain through my chest.

Sarp's eyes softened slightly. "We found her. She's wounded but fighting the bindings. My men are striving to free her now."

Hakan didn't look away from me, his hands still battling to contain the shadow poison. "The healers?" His tone was deadly quiet.

“On their way,” Sarp confirmed, “but your binding with her is doing most of the work. The shadow poison is responding to your power better than any healer could manage.”

Hakan’s jaw tightened. “Then we proceed. Gather the war council once she’s stable. Someone will answer for this breach in security.”

With a nod to me that might have held something like respect, Sarp melted back into the shadows, leaving us alone again.

“Hakan,” I whispered, desperate to stay conscious, to understand what was happening. “Why…would they…”

“Shh,” he soothed, surprising gentleness in his touch while he brushed hair from my face. “Save your strength. I will handle this.”

“But—”

“They will not touch you again,” he vowed, and power resonated in his words. “I will burn this kingdom to the ground before I let that happen.”

The ferocity in his voice should have frightened me. This was Hakan the Shadow Lord at his most dangerous, his most inhuman. The Primal of Shadow and Ashes unbridled, wrath incarnate.

But when consciousness finally, mercifully began to fade, I found myself unafraid. Whatever monster lurked behind Hakan’s burning eyes, whatever ancient power surged through his veins—in this moment, it was focused entirely on keeping me alive, on avenging the wrong done to me.

His arms encircled me, lifting me with impossible care. The last thing I felt was his heartbeat pressed to my cheek, racing but strong. The last thing I heard was his voice, no longer layered with inhuman harmonics but rough with emotion.

"Stay with me, Ada. Please."

When the void claimed me, I thought I heard him add, "I can't lose you. Not again. Not through this."

As shadow enveloped me, his presence remained in my mind, a tether anchoring me to life, his thoughts wrapping around mine as a protective shield opposing the encroaching oblivion.

I've got you , his voice promised in the depths. I won't let you go.