Chapter 5 THE ESCAPE OF THE FALLEN

The glowing arrows hissed through the air like angry snakes. Seraphina stood at the door, her face twisted with a sick joy. She didn't care that Kael was in the line of fire. She wanted us both dead so her lies could stay buried forever.

"Aria, move!" Kael wheezed. He tried to push me away with his weak, shaking hands. He wanted to take the hits for me.

"Shut up, Kael," I snapped.

I didn't run. I didn't hide. I stood up and spread my arms wide. The power I had just drained from Kael pulsed in my chest. It was a mix of his golden light and my abyssal darkness. It felt like liquid fire.

"Shadow Shield: Devour!" I screamed.

A wall of thick, oily darkness erupted in front of us. When the holy arrows hit the shadow, they didn't explode. They were swallowed. The black wall soaked up the light, turning the arrows into pure energy that flowed back into my body.

I felt a surge of strength. My eyes glowed a fierce, haunting violet.

"Is that all the 'Holy Saintess' can do?" I mocked. I stepped through the fading smoke, my gaze locked on my sister. "You’re getting weak, Seraphina. Is it because I’m taking back what you stole?"

Seraphina’s face turned pale. "Kill her! Why are you standing there? Kill the witch!"

The ten elite knights charged. They were the kingdom’s best, trained to hunt monsters. But they had never fought someone who could eat their magic.

The first knight swung a heavy golden axe at my head. I didn't even blink. I caught the blade with my bare hand. The metal burned my skin, but I didn't let go. I felt the magic in the axe draining away, turning the gold into dull, rusted iron.

I kicked the knight in the chest, sending him flying through the stone wall.

"Aria, stop," Kael groaned from the floor. He was watching me with horror. "This isn't you. Don't let the darkness take over."

"This is me, Kael!" I shouted, turning my head to glare at him. "The girl who cried for mercy is dead! You killed her!"

I turned back to the knights. Two more lunged at me with spears. I danced between them, my movements blurred by shadow. I touched their chest plates, and they collapsed instantly, their life force pulled into my palms.

The room was filled with the sounds of screaming men and breaking stone. Within minutes, the "Elite" knights were nothing but piles of armor on the floor.

Seraphina backed away toward the balcony. She was trembling now. The golden spear in her hand was dimming.

"You think you’ve won?" she hissed, her voice trembling. "The King has already sent for the Grand Inquisitor. You’ll never leave this palace alive."

"Maybe," I said, walking toward her. My shadow-stained fingers reached for her throat. "But you won't be here to see it."

Before I could grab her, a loud horn blasted from outside. The "Dragon's Seal" beneath the palace flared again, much brighter than before. The red light began to sear my skin through the floorboards. It felt like being dipped in boiling oil.

I gasped, falling to one knee. The shadow god's voice whispered in my head: The seal is locking. If you stay another minute, your soul will be trapped in these walls forever. Leave now!

I looked at Seraphina. I could kill her right now, but I would die too.

I looked at Kael. He was unconscious, his body limp and covered in black veins. If I left him here, the King would execute him for "collaborating" with me. And if he died, the bond would kill me anyway.

"Damn it," I hissed.

I lunged for Kael instead of my sister. I threw his heavy arm over my shoulder, hauling him up. He was a dead weight, but my new power gave me the strength of ten men.

"This isn't over, Seraphina!" I yelled over the roaring red light. "I’m coming back for your head. Sleep with one eye open!"

I ran toward the balcony.

"Archers! On the walls!" Seraphina screamed. "Don't let them escape!"

I didn't hesitate. I jumped off the balcony, clutching Kael tightly to my chest.

For a second, we were weightless. Then, the shadows rose from the garden below like a giant black wing, catching us before we hit the ground. I didn't stop running. I vanished into the dark woods surrounding the palace just as a hundred arrows rained down where we had been standing.

We traveled for hours until we reached a hidden cave deep in the Gray Forest. I dropped Kael onto the dry leaves. I was exhausted. My skin was covered in burns from the palace seal, and my head was spinning.

I looked down at the man who had broken my heart. He was still alive, but barely. The black veins were pulsing near his neck.

"Why did I save you?" I whispered to the empty cave. "I should have let you burn."

I sat across from him, watching the entrance of the cave. I was no longer a princess. I was a fugitive. I was a monster. And I had the kingdom’s greatest hero as my prisoner.

Suddenly, Kael’s eyes snapped open. He didn't look at me with love or fear. He looked at me with a strange, glowing hunger.

He lunged across the cave, pinning me against the cold stone wall. His strength was inhuman.

"Aria," he growled. His voice was a deep, gravelly vibration that sent a shiver down my spine. "The hunger... It’s too much."

He didn't draw a sword. He grabbed my wrists and held them above my head. His face came close to mine, his violet eyes burning with a dark obsession.

"Give me more," he whispered against my lips. "The darkness... give me more of it."

My heart hammered against my ribs. He wasn't trying to kill me. He was trying to consume me. The curse had twisted the bond.

Then, I heard footsteps outside the cave.

"Search every inch!" a familiar, cold voice barked.

It was the Grand Inquisitor. And he wasn't alone. I could hear the heavy, metallic footsteps of a "light golem," a massive stone giant that could smell Abyssal magic from miles away.

We were trapped. Kael was losing his mind, and the kingdom's deadliest hunters were right outside.