Page 54 of Stormvein

The silver light surrounding us pulses with increasing intensity, growing stronger,brighter, with each cycle. Each flare sheds another thread of darkness. The filaments gather around his still form, weaving through the light.

Each pulse tears something from me—not just light, but pieces of myself. Memory. Breath. Sensation. The boundaries between us blur until I can’t tell where I end and he begins.

Is this what dying feels like? This slow dissolution, this emptying out? Or is this what it means to truly give yourself to someone?

I’ve never belonged to anyone before. Never wanted to. But now, as my essence pours into him, I wonder if this is what self-sacrifice is, and what will remain of me when this is over.

Shadow and light. Darkness and brightness. His power and mine. Mingling in ways that shouldn’t be possible.

The restraints around his wrists crack, hairline fractures appearing in metal that wouldn’t yield to our strongest tools. The symbols etched into their surface begin to flicker erratically.

The shadows grow stronger, separating further from the stream of silver, flowing across Sacha’s body like water seeking its level. They concentrate around his worst wounds in his side, on his chest, the brands, the raw flesh of his back. Where they touch, the angry red of infection seems to recede slightly, the dark lines of blood poisoning fading at their edges. Not healing,not yet, but fighting back against the death that was claiming him.

I watch in stunned wonder as the shadows multiply, growing more substantial with each pulse of light. No longer wisps, now they braid into structure, winding tight around the manacles binding his wrists.

One of them shatters with a loud crack, chunks of metal scattering across the ground. The symbols flare once more, then fade to nothing. The shadows rush toward his newly freed wrist, wrapping around it like a living bandage.

And then his fingers twitch against mine, and my breath stalls. It’s the first voluntary movement I’ve seen since we rescued him.

“Sacha?” Hope blooms painfully in my chest. “That’s it. Come back.”

The second restraint cracks but doesn’t break completely. Shadows gather around it, pressing against the weakened metal with increasing pressure. His breathing changes. It’s still shallow, still labored, but more regular.

The restraint finally gives way, metal splitting along fault lines created by those strange shadows. The moment it breaks, something changes in Sacha. His body relaxes infinitesimally, his chest rising in a steadier rhythm, and a deep sigh escapes him.

“Sacha?” I lift my head to study his face.

One eyelid flutters, but his eye doesn’t open. The shallow rise and fall of his chest becomes more regular, more normal. The deathly chill of his skin begins to recede, warmth returning wherever the shadows spread.

My entire body is shaking, three days of unrelenting fear crashing over me in waves. I press my face against his shoulder, careful to avoid his wounds, and let tears fall freely. His skin is warm again. He no longer sounds like every breath will be hislast. The broken restraints lie scattered in twisted shards around us, utterly destroyed.

“Don’t you dare die on me now!” My voice wobbles, and I thread my fingers gently between his. “Not when I just found you.”

Shadows coil over his skin, following the black lines creeping outward from the sword wound in his side. Where the shadows touch, the dead flesh turns from black to the pink of healing, pushing away the death that was claiming him minutes ago.

I curve my body around his, light and shadow pulsing out of me in waves, syncing to my heartbeat. Tohis. Something has changed between us. Something irreversible. I can feel his pain as if it were my own, and I can sense the shadows working through his broken body.

The mist stalker settles at our feet, its huge head resting on the edge of the blankets. Its eyes reflect the silver pouring from me, creating twin pools of mercurial brightness in the cave. For the first time since it formed, the creature seems to be at peace, as though some purpose has been fulfilled.

And then Sacha’s eye flutters open, the one that isn’t swollen shut, revealing a sliver of awareness beneath the bruised lid. Recognition flickers there, followed by confusion, then understanding.

“Ellie.” My name is barely audible, rough, raspy, more breath than voice, but unmistakable.

My heart stutters, then restarts with painful force. “I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

His eye closes again almost immediately, the effort of remaining conscious too much for his damaged body. But his fingers tighten fractionally around mine. The smallest movement.

“I thought I’d lost you.” My voice breaks on a sob. “I thought they’d taken you from me.”

The words feel inadequate for the chasm that had opened inside me at River Crossing, watching him fall. It wasn’t just grief, it was vertigo, the sensation of the ground disappearing beneath my feet. Without him, what am I in this world? A stranger with inexplicable powers, hunted by people I don’t understand, fighting for a cause that isn’t mine. He’s the only thing that makes any of this make sense. The only reason I have to stay.

The shadows weave around us now, passing through silver light in shapes that grow more complex, more beautiful with each cycle. They flow through him, around him, between us, connecting us with bonds that transcend the physical. Where they touch my skin, I feel an echo of him—his determination, his pain, his fierce will to survive. And I wonder if he feels me too, if the silver carries my hope, my fear, my refusal to let him go.

I press my lips to his forehead, tasting salt and copper and something else. Something that speaks of power and potential, of futures not yet written. My body moves closer to his, my warmth seeping into his cold skin, his shadows wrapping around me like a cocoon.

For the first time since arriving in the desert, since entering the tower, since that first flicker of strange power ignited beneath my skin, I’m not afraid of what I might become. The Authority might hate it, this force that runs through both of us, but lying here, feeling life return to Sacha’s body, I finally understand the truth.

This is what I was meant to find. This connection. This man. This cause. I came to Meridian a stranger, but I’ll fight for it as though I was born here.