Aria's POV
We crash-land in complete darkness.
I hit solid ground hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. The connection to Kael's hand breaks, and immediately I feel empty, like someone just ripped away a part of me I didn't know existed. The five elements still swirl around my body, but they're weaker now, flickering like candles in wind.
"Where—" I gasp, trying to sit up.
"Don't move." Kael's voice comes from somewhere in the darkness. "Your power is unstable. One wrong move and you could bring this whole place down on our heads."
My eyes adjust slowly. We're in some kind of stone chamber with walls made of black volcanic glass that shimmer with trapped starlight. No windows. One door. And absolutely no way for me to know where we are or how we got here.
"What did you do to me?" I demand, and my voice cracks with fear. "When you touched me, I felt—"
"Soul Bond," Kael interrupts, and he sounds angry about it. "A magical connection that shouldn't be possible. My Spirit element recognized something in your power and linked us together without permission."
He steps into view, and I can finally see his face. He looks shaken, which is terrifying because someone like Kael Nightshade shouldn't be afraid of anything. His violet eyes glow faintly in the darkness, studying me like I'm a bomb that might explode.
"Can we break it?" I ask desperately.
"No." The word is final. "Soul Bonds are permanent. Which means I'm stuck with you, and you're stuck with me." He runs a hand through his black hair, frustrated. "This complicates everything."
"Where are we?"
"The Obsidian Tower. My private residence." He gestures at the room. "You're in protective custody."
"You mean I'm your prisoner."
"I mean you're alive," he snaps. "Do you have any idea what you are? What you just manifested in front of three thousand witnesses? The last Pentaelemental killed fifty thousand people in a single day. Entire cities turned to ash. Rivers boiled. Mountains crumbled. And you think the council will just let you walk free?"
The weight of his words crushes me. I knew the stories—every child in the five kingdoms grows up hearing about the Cataclysm, the terrible day when one person's power nearly destroyed the world. But I never imagined I could be like that monster.
"I didn't ask for this," I whisper.
"No one ever does." Kael moves to the window—a thin slit in the volcanic glass—and stares out at something I can't see. "But you have it anyway, and now I have to figure out what to do with you."
"You could let me go."
He laughs, but there's no humor in it. "Where would you go? Your family won't take you back. The academy wants you dead. The five kingdoms will unite just to hunt you down. You're safer here than anywhere else in the world."
"Safe in a cage is still a cage."
"Better than dead in a grave."
We glare at each other, and I feel that strange connection pulse between us—his anger mixing with my fear, creating something electric and dangerous.
Then my stomach growls loudly, breaking the tension.
Kael's expression shifts to something almost like surprise. "When did you last eat?"
I have to think about it. "Yesterday morning, maybe? Lyanna threw away my lunch, and I didn't have money for dinner."
He mutters something under his breath that sounds like a curse. "Wait here."
"Like I have a choice," I mutter back.
He disappears through the door, and I hear a lock click into place. Of course. Can't let the dangerous Pentaelemental wander around unsupervised.
I try to stand, but my legs shake so badly I collapse back to the floor. The elements around me flicker and fade, until only tiny wisps remain—a small flame dancing on my palm, a droplet of water suspended in air, a pebble floating near my shoulder.
I stare at the fire. For nineteen years, I would have given anything to create even a spark. Now I'm wrapped in power I don't understand and terrified of what it means.
The door opens again. Kael returns carrying a tray with bread, cheese, and soup that smells like heaven. He sets it down carefully, keeping his distance.
"Eat," he commands. "You need strength."
I want to refuse out of pride, but I'm starving. I grab the bread and tear into it, barely tasting it as I shove food into my mouth. It's only when I finish the entire bowl of soup that I realize Kael has been watching me the whole time with an expression I can't read.
"What?" I ask defensively.
"You're not what I expected."
"What did you expect? Horns and fangs?"
"Something like that." He sits down across from me, keeping several feet of distance between us. "The prophecies describe Pentaelementals as power-hungry monsters consumed by their own abilities. But you're just... scared."
"I am scared," I admit. "I spent my whole life being told I was nothing. Now everyone thinks I'm going to destroy the world. I don't even know which is worse."
Kael is quiet for a long moment. Then he says something that makes my blood run cold.
"I've been dreaming about you."
I freeze. "What?"
"For two years. Ever since I came to the academy." His violet eyes bore into mine. "A girl with mismatched eyes, standing in the center of a storm. Sometimes you're saving the world. Sometimes you're burning it down. I could never tell which vision was real."
My hands start to shake. "That's impossible. We've never even met before today."
"I know." He leans forward, and the intensity in his gaze makes me want to run. "Which is why, when I saw you in that amphitheater, when the ritual started and I realized you were the girl from my dreams—I had a choice. Follow my orders and let you die, or save you and risk everything."
"Why did you save me?" I whisper.
Kael stands abruptly, turning away. "I'm still trying to figure that out."
Before I can respond, a deafening explosion rocks the tower. The walls shake. Dust rains from the ceiling. Through the narrow window, I see flames erupting in the distance—massive pillars of fire that light up the night sky.
"What's happening?" I gasp.
Kael's face goes hard as stone. "Someone's attacking the academy."
Another explosion, closer this time. The floor tilts beneath us.
"They're coming for you," Kael says grimly, and I hear him moving toward the door. "The Purge Coalition. Extremists who believe all aberrant magic must be destroyed. They've been waiting for a Pentaelemental to appear so they can make an example."
Terror floods through me. "What do we do?"
He looks back at me, and in his eyes I see a war being fought—duty versus something else, something he won't name.
"We run," he finally says. "Or we fight. But either way, Aria Thornheart, your life just became a lot more complicated."
The tower shakes again, and through our Soul Bond, I feel Kael's emotions: determination, fear, and underneath it all, a fierce protectiveness that shouldn't exist between a captor and prisoner.
Something crashes through the door—not Kael's door, but somewhere else in the tower. I hear voices shouting, footsteps pounding.
"They're inside," Kael breathes.
And then I hear it. A voice I recognize, echoing through the halls with magical amplification.
"ARIA THORNHEART! We know you're here! Come out and face justice, or we'll burn this tower down with everyone inside!"
My sister's voice. Lyanna.
She's leading the attack.