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Chapter Forty-Three

A elia

A battle raged before me, a chaotic blur of light and shadow clashing in endless carnage. The air reeked of scorched earth, of blood spilled too freely, of something deeper—something wrong. My heart thundered against my ribs, but it was not fear that drove me. It was something darker, something insatiable.

A Light Fae warrior lunged at me, his blade glowing like the sun itself. I moved without thought, my body no longer my own. Shadows erupted from my hands, tendrils slithering through the air like screaming vipers. They wrapped around his throat, tightening, twisting. His mouth opened in a silent scream, but no sound came. His radiance flickered, then dimmed entirely.

He crumpled.

Gone.

A breath shuddered from my lips, but there was no time for reflection. Another enemy came at me, this one a Shadow Fae, his darkness as familiar as my own. He sneered, his twin blades slicing toward me in a deadly arc. I barely lifted my hand before fire burst from my palm—my rais , molten and wild. The flames licked up his arms, devouring him in a blaze of gold and crimson. He howled, but it was already too late. The scent of burning flesh choked me, but I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t stop.

More came. I met them all with the same ferocity, the same hunger. Their blades clashed against my own, but they were nothing. Insignificant. I was beyond them. My body was pure instinct, pure destruction, and gods, it felt good.

A laugh tore from my throat—low, vicious. Was that my voice? It sounded foreign, monstrous.

Somewhere in the chaos, I caught a glimpse of a familiar face—Heaton. His golden hair was streaked with blood, his blue eyes wide with something that sent ice through my veins. Horror.

At me.

He said my name. Not in warning, not in anger.

In fear.

The sound of it hit me harder than any blade ever could. I staggered back, my pulse hammering.

What had I done?

What was happening?

How had I gotten there?

The ground beneath me cracked, pulsing with power I couldn’t control. My hands trembled. My breath came in ragged gasps. The battlefield blurred, but the bodies… oh gods, the bodies.

Light and Shadow alike.

All fallen by my hand.

A scream tore from my lips, raw and unrecognizable.

I was the monster now.

I woke with a gasp, my skin slick with sweat, my heart a relentless drumbeat in my chest. The scent of blood still clung to me, just as it had the last time I’d had these nightmares, the echoes of their dying cries rattling in my skull.

And worst of all… I wasn’t sure if it was only a dream.

“Aelia!” A frenzied voice tore through the chaos, the familiar timbre immediately quieting the turmoil. Reign raced through the door of our adjoining rooms, his bare torso glistening beneath the moonlight spilling through the window. His hands framed my face, the callouses rough against my cheeks. “Are you all right?”

No . “Yes…” I whispered all the same. “It was only a nightmare.”

“Noxus, I heard you scream, and I thought the worst.” He folded down beside me, the mattress dipping beneath his weight. It was only then I noticed his chest heaving, the wild flutter of his heart beneath his breastbone. My gaze flickered to the angry slashes and swirls engraved over his heart, the mark of the banished.

A memory surged to the surface. To Reign and I alone in my chambers at the academy. Pain thrummed along the edges of the memory, his and mine, as he confessed the truth of the vow his father, the king, had forced upon him. How he’d engraved the mark on his own son to fool everyone into believing he’d truly been banished from Shadow lands. And how he’d fought every instinct to destroy me once he’d discovered the truth of who I was.

“You must know that despite keeping the truth from you, I’ve also kept all my theories from my father. From the moment I met you, I suspected, but I would never betray you to him.”

“Why not? Isn’t that what you were bred for? To find this child and put an end to the threat to our realm?”

“Because, Aelia, you are everything. You are the light that banishes the darkness within me, the hope I never thought I could find. You are my reason, my anchor, and I will protect you with every fiber of my being, until I no longer draw breath.”

The memory faded as quickly as it had appeared, leaving my heart a ravenous beast in my chest and my gaze fixed to the male who stared upon me as if I still truly was all those things to him.

“Aelia?” he whispered, as if he could sense my insides shattering. “Where did you go? It seemed as if you vanished for a moment.”

“I remembered something…”

“From the nightmare?”

Gods, no. I blinked quickly, hoping to permanently erase the horrifying images. Except for Heaton. Raysa, it had been good to see him again, even if it hadn’t been real. I had to find him… once we determined what was happening to me, I would turn all our resources on scouring the Wilds until we recovered Rue’s brother.

“No, not from the nightmare,” I finally murmured. “About us.”

The sullen twist of his lips softened as he regarded me, hands still framing my face. “What did you remember, princess?”

“Besides that nickname”—I grinned— “it was when you confessed the truth of who you were.”

“Ah, not my finest moment, I’m sure.” His expression turned sheepish, his hands sliding off my face to rest in his lap. “I never wanted to lie to you, Aelia. It wasn’t my intent, but when you arrived at the Conservatory, I never counted on falling in love with you.”

“I know. I remember.”

His face lit up with so much hope, I reconsidered the words that should have come next. The nightmares… they were coming more often now, and each one seemed more real than the last. I despised the idea of even bringing it up, but I had to know, especially after my leisurely jaunts into the bodies of Rue and the housemaid.

“There’s something important I must ask you,” I forced out.

“Anything.”

“Has there been fighting along the borders, between Light and Shadow Fae?”

His dark brows drew together as they scrutinized me. “Not that I know of, but I daresay, my focus has been elsewhere as of late.” He paused, his hand inching toward mine until only our pinkies touched. A thousand tiny sparks kindled at just that faint contact, and a smile crept across my jaw, matching the one overtaking his. “Why do you ask?”

“The dreams… they feel so real. Light and Shadow Fae locked in battle, and I’m there, right along with them.”

His mouth puckered, the line between his brows deepening, and a flash of something like fear streaked across those midnight irises. “…You’re there ?” he finally breathed, the insinuation clear. We’d already discussed the first two times I’d taken over unwilling bodies, much to my mortification.

“I’m not certain, but I could be.”

“As in astral possession?”

My head slowly dipped. “I just cannot tell, Reign. What if it is real? What if I’m the one out there on the battlefield in someone else’s body doing all those terrible things?” My voice hitched, an unstoppable sob thickening my throat.

Gods, what if I’d actually killed all those Fae?

Reign’s arms curled around me, drawing me into his body before my chest heaved and the first tear fell. “Shh, starlight, I’ve got you.” He rocked me gently, the feel of his unyielding strength pressed against me lessening the building panic. “I swear to you we’ll discover the truth, and if it is you, we’ll find a way to stop it.”

“How?” My eyes lifted to meet his as dread unfurled in my gut. “I don’t even know how I’m doing it.”

“Together, Aelia. We will stop it together.”

The cuorem surged to life with his vow, the happy thrumming swirling across the oncoming swell of dread. Reign’s hand cupped my nape, drawing me against the safety of his firm chest. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, the soft niche within the landscape of hard planes a perfect fit, as if it were made for me. Because, I realized, it was…

As he continued rocking me, a tune filled my mind, and I hummed along. He paused, dark brows furrowed as he glanced down at me. “Where did you hear that song?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure, why?”

His lips pursed as he regarded me. “It’s the same one I remembered my mother would sing to me as a child.”

At first, I couldn’t quite place it, but closing my eyes, my mind traveled back to the horrible days at Helspire Keep. “Vaelora,” I murmured.

“Who?”

“She was a Night Fae at Helroth’s fortress who tended to my room, helped me dress and what-not. She sang it to me a few times when Kaelith’s training had—” I allowed the words to fall away as fury raged across Reign’s dark irises. He already hated the male enough. There was no need to relive the nightmarish memories of training when my newly unbound powers were unleashed. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” I reached for his face, tentatively, cupping his cheek with a trembling hand. “Perhaps it was a common tune for Night and Shadow Fae alike?”

“Perhaps…” he murmured, but I could feel a twinge of trepidation sail through our re-blossoming bond.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered against his warm skin, leaning against his chest once more.

“For what?” His head dipped, lips brushing my forehead as he spoke.

“For not remembering us. For allowing Helroth to steal you from my memories. For not being strong enough to fight it.”

“Oh, gods, Aelia, never apologize to a Fae.” A rueful chuckle split his lips, likely at memories of all the times he’d chastised me for that same thing before. Reign not Ruhl . “And most of all, never apologize to me. You could never do anything unforgiveable in my eyes. Don’t you understand that?”

I was starting to. My head tipped back, meeting star-flecked eyes, and the cuorem pulsed happily. My heartbeat quickened, my entire soul trapped by that mesmerizing gaze. So full of understanding, desire, and love…

I could feel it through the glittering strands that connected us.

After everything I’d put this male through, Reign still loved me. With everything he was.

He’d confessed it numerous times since my return, and yet somehow, I had never truly felt it. Not until this very moment. Words were one thing, but allowing myself to feel it through our bond was like nothing else.

It hit me all at once—like the breaking of a dam, like the first breath after drowning.

Reign’s love wasn’t just words whispered in desperation, lies to bring about my downfall or fierce declarations forged in battle. It was the steady, unwavering force beneath it all, the thing that had carried me through the weeks locked in interminable darkness, even when I hadn’t known he was there. It was the way he held me now, as if I were something precious, something irreplaceable. As if losing me had been his greatest agony and finding me again his only salvation.

My fingers curled into his tunic, anchoring myself to him, to the bond thrumming powerfully between us. “How?” My voice was barely a breath. “…How can you still love me after everything?”

His lips parted, and I saw it—saw the raw, unyielding devotion etched into every line of his face. “Because you’re mine, Aelia.” The words weren’t a claim, but a truth, a vow. “Because I was made for this—for you. And I will love you in every lifetime, in every world, no matter what comes.”

The threat of hot tears burned my throat, but they didn’t fall. Instead, I erased the breath of air between us and crushed my mouth to his. The kiss was fierce, unrelenting, like the bond itself—a promise, a reckoning. His arms tightened around me, drawing me impossibly closer, his breath mingling with mine, his heartbeat hammering against my own.

I melted into him, into us.

For the first time since my return, I didn’t feel lost.

I was home.