Flirting with the dark, p.6
Flirting With the Dark, page 6
A flicker of unease curled through Rowan’s stomach.
The stones pulsed again — brighter this time — and Rowan felt something deep inside her respond, a warm bloom under her ribs that felt like recognition. Like home.
Elias felt it too; she could see the tension ripple through him.
“It knows you,” he said softly.
“How can it know me?”
“Because it’s seen your kind before.”
Rowan tightened her grip on his hand. “My kind. You keep saying that. Flares. Light-born. I need to know exactly what that means.”
Elias hesitated... then exhaled.
“You deserve the truth.”
She nodded, bracing herself as he gently guided her to sit on one of the old, half-buried stones. He sat beside her but turned his body toward her, close enough she could feel the warmth of him even in the cold rain.
“Flares,” he began, voice lower, steadier, “are extremely rare. Only a handful have appeared in the last few centuries. They’re born human — ordinary — but carry a dormant light inside them. Light that can heal, shield, repel the dark... or burn it away entirely.”
Rowan swallowed. “And that’s... what I did?”
“That was only the beginning,” he said. “A flare’s full awakening can change everything in a region — rebalance the dark, revive the land, even call other forces of light out of hiding.”
“That sounds... big.”
“It is.”
He met her eyes.
“And it paints a target on your back.”
Rowan’s breath caught.
“The dark sees you as fuel,” Elias continued. “Something to consume. Something to extinguish before you become too powerful.”
His jaw clenched.
“And I—shadow-born or not—am bound to protect that light.”
She studied him, the bruises, the cuts, the fatigue in his eyes.
“You risked a lot for me tonight,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “No. I risked what I had to.”
“That doesn’t make it small.”
The storm outside the sanctuary clearing quieted further, as if listening.
Elias looked down at their intertwined hands — his thumb brushing her knuckles slowly, almost unconsciously.
“There’s something else you need to know,” he said.
Rowan’s breath stilled. “Tell me.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, dark and conflicted and unbearably soft at the edges.
“Flares don’t awaken randomly,” he said. “Their power ignites when it meets something strong enough to pull it out.”
“What kind of something?”
“Connection,” he murmured. “Bond. Emotion. Sometimes... fate.”
Heat crept up Rowan’s neck. “Are you saying—”
“Yes.”
He didn’t make her finish the question.
“You awakened because of me.”
Her heartbeat stuttered.
“But that doesn’t mean your power belongs to me,” he said quickly, fiercely. “It’s yours. Always yours.”
He swallowed hard.
“I was just the spark.”
Rowan’s chest tightened. “You sound like you regret it.”
His eyes flickered.
Not regret.
Fear.
“I don’t regret you,” he said, voice raw. “But I regret the danger it brought down on you.”
Before she could respond, the sanctuary pulsed again — this time with a low, harmonic tone that vibrated through the stones beneath them.
“What was that?” Rowan whispered.
Elias stood abruptly, pulling her gently with him.
“The sanctuary is testing your light,” he said. “It needs to know if you belong.”
“Belong?” Rowan echoed. “How do I prove that?”
“You don’t prove it.”
He shook his head, eyes scanning the glowing stones.
“You feel it.”
As if on cue, a faint golden mist rose from the ground, swirling around Rowan’s feet like warm wind. It drifted upward, brushing her arms, her shoulders, her face—
And everywhere it touched, she felt heat.
Soft.
Calm.
Ancient.
Elias watched her closely, expression tightening.
“How do you feel?” he asked quietly.
Rowan inhaled.
And the light inside her responded — a warm pulse that echoed the sanctuary’s hum.
“I feel...” She searched for the right word.
“Seen.”
Elias exhaled slowly — something like relief loosening his shoulders.
“Good,” he said. “That means you’re accepted.”
“And if I wasn’t?”
“Then the sanctuary would have pushed you out.”
“How hard—”
“Hard enough.”
The mist coiled upward again, gathering around Rowan’s chest. A soft glow formed over the charm, wrapping her in warm light.
Elias stepped closer, jaw tight. “It’s marking you.”
“Marking me for what?”
“For protection,” he said. “For awakening. For what comes next.”
Rowan looked up at him. “And what comes next?”
He hesitated.
Reached out.
And for the first time, he took her face in both hands — gently, reverently, something dark and bright at the same time burning in his eyes.
“What comes next,” he said softly, “is the part I don’t know how to protect you from.”
Rowan’s breath caught.
“Tell me.”
Elias’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“The sanctuary is going to show you what you really are.”
The light surged.
The ground trembled.
Rowan gasped as a wave of warmth pulled her forward, toward the center of the clearing—
toward the heart of the sanctuary—
toward the truth Elias couldn’t tell her.
The awakening had begun.
And it wanted her now.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The sanctuary didn’t ask Rowan if she was ready.
It simply took her.
Light rushed over her like a silent wave — warm, ancient, powerful — dragging her toward the center of the clearing. Her boots scraped against moss, her breath caught, and for one terrifying heartbeat she wasn’t sure her feet were touching the ground at all.
“Rowan!”
Elias’s voice sounded distant, distorted by the humming air.
She reached for him instinctively—
—but her hand passed through empty space.
Like the light had separated them into two different worlds.
“Elias!” she called.
She saw him lunge forward, desperate, but an invisible wall stopped him inches from the glowing circle. His palms hit an unseen force, shadows sparking around his hands as he tried to push through.
“Rowan—listen to me!” Elias shouted. “You’re inside the awakening field. You’ll be safe—just don’t fight it!”
She wasn’t sure she could fight it if she tried.
The glow intensified, swirling around her in spirals of gold and pale silver. Her hair lifted around her face. Her skin tingled like fire under her ribs. Her heart thudded so hard it hurt.
“What is it doing?” she whispered.
The sanctuary answered with another pulse — one that went straight through her bones.
Elias pressed both hands against the unseen barrier, eyes blazing with fear and awe. “It’s opening your light.”
Rowan stumbled as the ground beneath her shifted — not physically, but in her senses. The world around her blurred, then sharpened, as if the colors were more vivid, the air richer, the sounds clearer.
She could feel the sanctuary.
Feel its history.
Its wounds.
Its watchfulness.
And deeper still... she felt something inside herself she’d never touched before.
A small spark.
Glowing.
Waiting.
Alive.
It flared.
Rowan gasped, clutching her chest.
Her knees buckled.
“Rowan!” Elias shouted. “Talk to me—what’s happening?”
“I—” She choked on the words. “I can feel everything.”
Light surged through her limbs, up her neck, across her scalp. It wasn’t painful — but it was overwhelming, swallowing her whole.
Images flashed behind her eyes, too quick to understand:
A stone circle blazing in a distant past.
A woman wrapped in light, whispering something Rowan couldn’t hear.
A shadow-born kneeling in front of her, head bowed.
A forest burning with darkness.
A mark carved into the sky.
Rowan staggered, tears spilling as the visions collided in her mind.
“Elias!” she cried. “It’s too much—”
“Rowan, look at me!”
She forced her gaze toward him.
He pressed himself against the barrier like he could break it if he tried hard enough.
His eyes glowed faintly — not from shadow this time, but something else. Something raw.
“You’re not alone,” he said fiercely. “Stay with me. Stay in your body. Breathe.”
She tried.
Her breath hitched.
But she inhaled again.
The sanctuary light wrapped tighter around her like a cocoon.
“Elias,” she whispered. “It hurts.”
His voice cracked. “I know. I know. You’re almost through it.”
The glow built into a white-hot crescendo.
Rowan squeezed her eyes shut—
And suddenly—
Silence.
Total silence.
The light vanished.
Rowan dropped to her knees, gasping, gripping the damp earth with trembling fingers. Sweat mixed with rain on her skin.
Elias smashed through the barrier the moment it faded—literally shattered it—shadow peeling off his arms in violent streaks as he rushed to her.
He dropped to his knees in front of her, hands cupping her face, frantic.
“Rowan—Rowan, look at me—are you—?”
She lifted her gaze.
His breath caught.
It wasn’t her tears that stunned him.
It wasn’t her shaking hands.
It was her eyes.
They glowed faintly—soft gold ripples dancing in her irises, fading slowly like the last embers of a flame.
Rowan blinked. “Elias?”
He exhaled a ragged breath, forehead resting against hers briefly in unrestrained relief.
“You’re awake,” he whispered. “Fully awake.”
“I feel... different,” she said softly.
“How?” His hands still cupped her face, thumbs brushing her cheeks unconsciously.
She swallowed, a tremor running through her shoulders.
“Like I can feel the dark,” she murmured. “Not see it. Not hear it. But... sense it.”
She shivered. “It’s watching.”
Elias’s jaw tightened. “They won’t cross the sanctuary boundary tonight.”
“Is that why they’re waiting out there?”
“Yes.”
She lifted her hand.
Golden light flickered faintly in her palm before fading again.
She gasped. “Elias—”
His eyes widened. “You’re stronger than I expected. Faster than I expected.”
“Is that good?”
He hesitated.
“Rowan,” he said slowly, “most flares don’t reach your level until months after their awakening.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your power isn’t just opening,” he said, voice low and filled with something that sounded like fear and reverence intertwined.
“It’s remembering.”
Rowan’s breath stilled. “...Remembering what?”
But Elias didn’t get to answer.
The sanctuary stones suddenly pulsed again — harder, brighter — sending a shockwave through the clearing.
Elias grabbed Rowan instinctively, pulling her into his arms and shielding her as the light flared.
Rowan pressed her face into his shoulder, heart racing.
“Elias—what’s happening?!”
His voice was tight, urgent.
“The sanctuary isn’t done with you.”
The ground trembled beneath them.
A glowing symbol formed in the air above Rowan’s head—three interlocking crescents, the same mark as Elias’s charm.
Rowan’s breath hitched. “That symbol—”
Elias’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“It’s the mark of a chosen flare.”
Rowan stared up at him, trembling.
“A chosen... for what?”
Elias looked at her with a mixture of awe, fear, and something else—something deeper.
“For the light,” he said softly.
“And for me.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The symbol hovered above Rowan’s head like a crown forged of moonlight.
Three interlocking crescents, glowing in a slow, steady pulse.
Not harsh.
Not threatening.
Just... claiming.
Rowan stared up at it, breath shallow.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Why me?”
Elias didn’t answer immediately.
He knelt in front of her, still close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her damp skin. Rain dripped from his hair, shadows flickering faintly around him like restless smoke.
His eyes, though—
They were steady.
Focused on her like she was the only thing anchoring him to the earth.
“Rowan,” he said softly, “the sanctuary didn’t choose you. It recognized you.”
She swallowed hard. “Recognized me as what?”
Elias exhaled, as if this answer cost him something.
“As the flare who was foretold.”
Her pulse skittered. “Foretold?”
“Yes.”
“Foretold for what?”
His jaw tightened.
And for the first time, Rowan saw something raw flicker across his face—fear, reverence, something like grief.
“Foretold to restore the balance,” he said. “To push the dark back. To tear out whatever corruption has been spreading through the Hollow and beyond. To awaken light in others.”
Rowan held her breath.
“And,” Elias added, voice deepening, “to bind herself—willingly—to a guardian of shadow.”
Her heart jumped. “Bind? Elias, what—”
His gaze locked with hers, intense enough to make her chest tighten.
“It means you’re not meant to walk this path alone,” he said. “It means your light was never meant to grow without a counterpart. Without someone who can stand where you can’t. Walk where you shouldn’t.”
She understood instantly.
“Someone like you.”
Elias froze.
The shadows at his shoulders flickered violently, like they wanted to reach for her but held back.
His voice dropped to almost nothing. “Yes.”
Rowan breathed in slowly. “And that’s why the sanctuary marked me.”
“No,” Elias corrected gently. “It marked you because you accepted your light.”
“And the binding?”
“That,” he murmured, “is something only you can choose.”
Rowan’s heart twisted. “And you? Do you choose it?”
Elias let out the faintest, broken laugh.
Like he’d been waiting years to say the next words—and dreading them, too.
“I chose it the moment I saw you,” he whispered.
“Long before I realized what you were.”
The world seemed to still.
Rowan felt her throat tighten.
“Then why do you look terrified?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, jaw clenched.
“Because binding yourself to a flare is the highest vow a shadow-born can make.”
He opened his eyes again—dark, earnest, unraveling.
“And binding yourself to a shadow-born is the most dangerous thing a flare can do.”
Rowan stepped closer.
So close his breath warmed her lips.
“Dangerous how?”
His fingers curled at his sides, fighting the urge to touch her.
“Because it merges power,” he murmured. “Light and shadow intertwined. Strength doubled. Bonds... deepened.”
Her breath hitched.
“And what does that mean for us?”
Elias’s voice shook.
“It means I couldn’t let you die even if I wanted to.”
“Even if you wanted to?” she echoed.
He huffed a soft, bitter breath. “I’m supposed to be neutral. Detached. A watcher. A keeper of balance. But you—”
He swallowed, looking at her with something fierce and unguarded.
“You make that impossible.”
Rowan lifted a hand, touching his jaw gently.
He inhaled sharply—like the mere brush of her fingers fractured every wall he’d built.
“Elias,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to be neutral. Or detached. I want you here.”
His eyes fluttered closed for a heartbeat.
When he opened them—
The shadows behind him stilled.
The storm beyond the sanctuary eased.
Even the stones seemed to quiet.
“Rowan...”
Her name came out like a confession.
“I’m afraid of what I’ll do if I let myself stay.”
“Stay anyway,” she said.
He shook his head once—slow, tortured.
“You don’t understand. The dark isn’t our only problem anymore. There’s another force at play.”
“Another force?” Rowan pulled back slightly. “What do you mean?”
He stood slowly, helping her up with a gentle hand on her elbow.
The sanctuary’s glow cast pale gold across his cheekbones as he stepped away from her—only a few inches, but the distance felt like a canyon.
“The dark-born that attacked us...” Elias began, voice low, “it came too quickly. Too strong. Too soon.”
The stones pulsed again — brighter this time — and Rowan felt something deep inside her respond, a warm bloom under her ribs that felt like recognition. Like home.
Elias felt it too; she could see the tension ripple through him.
“It knows you,” he said softly.
“How can it know me?”
“Because it’s seen your kind before.”
Rowan tightened her grip on his hand. “My kind. You keep saying that. Flares. Light-born. I need to know exactly what that means.”
Elias hesitated... then exhaled.
“You deserve the truth.”
She nodded, bracing herself as he gently guided her to sit on one of the old, half-buried stones. He sat beside her but turned his body toward her, close enough she could feel the warmth of him even in the cold rain.
“Flares,” he began, voice lower, steadier, “are extremely rare. Only a handful have appeared in the last few centuries. They’re born human — ordinary — but carry a dormant light inside them. Light that can heal, shield, repel the dark... or burn it away entirely.”
Rowan swallowed. “And that’s... what I did?”
“That was only the beginning,” he said. “A flare’s full awakening can change everything in a region — rebalance the dark, revive the land, even call other forces of light out of hiding.”
“That sounds... big.”
“It is.”
He met her eyes.
“And it paints a target on your back.”
Rowan’s breath caught.
“The dark sees you as fuel,” Elias continued. “Something to consume. Something to extinguish before you become too powerful.”
His jaw clenched.
“And I—shadow-born or not—am bound to protect that light.”
She studied him, the bruises, the cuts, the fatigue in his eyes.
“You risked a lot for me tonight,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “No. I risked what I had to.”
“That doesn’t make it small.”
The storm outside the sanctuary clearing quieted further, as if listening.
Elias looked down at their intertwined hands — his thumb brushing her knuckles slowly, almost unconsciously.
“There’s something else you need to know,” he said.
Rowan’s breath stilled. “Tell me.”
He lifted his gaze to hers, dark and conflicted and unbearably soft at the edges.
“Flares don’t awaken randomly,” he said. “Their power ignites when it meets something strong enough to pull it out.”
“What kind of something?”
“Connection,” he murmured. “Bond. Emotion. Sometimes... fate.”
Heat crept up Rowan’s neck. “Are you saying—”
“Yes.”
He didn’t make her finish the question.
“You awakened because of me.”
Her heartbeat stuttered.
“But that doesn’t mean your power belongs to me,” he said quickly, fiercely. “It’s yours. Always yours.”
He swallowed hard.
“I was just the spark.”
Rowan’s chest tightened. “You sound like you regret it.”
His eyes flickered.
Not regret.
Fear.
“I don’t regret you,” he said, voice raw. “But I regret the danger it brought down on you.”
Before she could respond, the sanctuary pulsed again — this time with a low, harmonic tone that vibrated through the stones beneath them.
“What was that?” Rowan whispered.
Elias stood abruptly, pulling her gently with him.
“The sanctuary is testing your light,” he said. “It needs to know if you belong.”
“Belong?” Rowan echoed. “How do I prove that?”
“You don’t prove it.”
He shook his head, eyes scanning the glowing stones.
“You feel it.”
As if on cue, a faint golden mist rose from the ground, swirling around Rowan’s feet like warm wind. It drifted upward, brushing her arms, her shoulders, her face—
And everywhere it touched, she felt heat.
Soft.
Calm.
Ancient.
Elias watched her closely, expression tightening.
“How do you feel?” he asked quietly.
Rowan inhaled.
And the light inside her responded — a warm pulse that echoed the sanctuary’s hum.
“I feel...” She searched for the right word.
“Seen.”
Elias exhaled slowly — something like relief loosening his shoulders.
“Good,” he said. “That means you’re accepted.”
“And if I wasn’t?”
“Then the sanctuary would have pushed you out.”
“How hard—”
“Hard enough.”
The mist coiled upward again, gathering around Rowan’s chest. A soft glow formed over the charm, wrapping her in warm light.
Elias stepped closer, jaw tight. “It’s marking you.”
“Marking me for what?”
“For protection,” he said. “For awakening. For what comes next.”
Rowan looked up at him. “And what comes next?”
He hesitated.
Reached out.
And for the first time, he took her face in both hands — gently, reverently, something dark and bright at the same time burning in his eyes.
“What comes next,” he said softly, “is the part I don’t know how to protect you from.”
Rowan’s breath caught.
“Tell me.”
Elias’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“The sanctuary is going to show you what you really are.”
The light surged.
The ground trembled.
Rowan gasped as a wave of warmth pulled her forward, toward the center of the clearing—
toward the heart of the sanctuary—
toward the truth Elias couldn’t tell her.
The awakening had begun.
And it wanted her now.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The sanctuary didn’t ask Rowan if she was ready.
It simply took her.
Light rushed over her like a silent wave — warm, ancient, powerful — dragging her toward the center of the clearing. Her boots scraped against moss, her breath caught, and for one terrifying heartbeat she wasn’t sure her feet were touching the ground at all.
“Rowan!”
Elias’s voice sounded distant, distorted by the humming air.
She reached for him instinctively—
—but her hand passed through empty space.
Like the light had separated them into two different worlds.
“Elias!” she called.
She saw him lunge forward, desperate, but an invisible wall stopped him inches from the glowing circle. His palms hit an unseen force, shadows sparking around his hands as he tried to push through.
“Rowan—listen to me!” Elias shouted. “You’re inside the awakening field. You’ll be safe—just don’t fight it!”
She wasn’t sure she could fight it if she tried.
The glow intensified, swirling around her in spirals of gold and pale silver. Her hair lifted around her face. Her skin tingled like fire under her ribs. Her heart thudded so hard it hurt.
“What is it doing?” she whispered.
The sanctuary answered with another pulse — one that went straight through her bones.
Elias pressed both hands against the unseen barrier, eyes blazing with fear and awe. “It’s opening your light.”
Rowan stumbled as the ground beneath her shifted — not physically, but in her senses. The world around her blurred, then sharpened, as if the colors were more vivid, the air richer, the sounds clearer.
She could feel the sanctuary.
Feel its history.
Its wounds.
Its watchfulness.
And deeper still... she felt something inside herself she’d never touched before.
A small spark.
Glowing.
Waiting.
Alive.
It flared.
Rowan gasped, clutching her chest.
Her knees buckled.
“Rowan!” Elias shouted. “Talk to me—what’s happening?”
“I—” She choked on the words. “I can feel everything.”
Light surged through her limbs, up her neck, across her scalp. It wasn’t painful — but it was overwhelming, swallowing her whole.
Images flashed behind her eyes, too quick to understand:
A stone circle blazing in a distant past.
A woman wrapped in light, whispering something Rowan couldn’t hear.
A shadow-born kneeling in front of her, head bowed.
A forest burning with darkness.
A mark carved into the sky.
Rowan staggered, tears spilling as the visions collided in her mind.
“Elias!” she cried. “It’s too much—”
“Rowan, look at me!”
She forced her gaze toward him.
He pressed himself against the barrier like he could break it if he tried hard enough.
His eyes glowed faintly — not from shadow this time, but something else. Something raw.
“You’re not alone,” he said fiercely. “Stay with me. Stay in your body. Breathe.”
She tried.
Her breath hitched.
But she inhaled again.
The sanctuary light wrapped tighter around her like a cocoon.
“Elias,” she whispered. “It hurts.”
His voice cracked. “I know. I know. You’re almost through it.”
The glow built into a white-hot crescendo.
Rowan squeezed her eyes shut—
And suddenly—
Silence.
Total silence.
The light vanished.
Rowan dropped to her knees, gasping, gripping the damp earth with trembling fingers. Sweat mixed with rain on her skin.
Elias smashed through the barrier the moment it faded—literally shattered it—shadow peeling off his arms in violent streaks as he rushed to her.
He dropped to his knees in front of her, hands cupping her face, frantic.
“Rowan—Rowan, look at me—are you—?”
She lifted her gaze.
His breath caught.
It wasn’t her tears that stunned him.
It wasn’t her shaking hands.
It was her eyes.
They glowed faintly—soft gold ripples dancing in her irises, fading slowly like the last embers of a flame.
Rowan blinked. “Elias?”
He exhaled a ragged breath, forehead resting against hers briefly in unrestrained relief.
“You’re awake,” he whispered. “Fully awake.”
“I feel... different,” she said softly.
“How?” His hands still cupped her face, thumbs brushing her cheeks unconsciously.
She swallowed, a tremor running through her shoulders.
“Like I can feel the dark,” she murmured. “Not see it. Not hear it. But... sense it.”
She shivered. “It’s watching.”
Elias’s jaw tightened. “They won’t cross the sanctuary boundary tonight.”
“Is that why they’re waiting out there?”
“Yes.”
She lifted her hand.
Golden light flickered faintly in her palm before fading again.
She gasped. “Elias—”
His eyes widened. “You’re stronger than I expected. Faster than I expected.”
“Is that good?”
He hesitated.
“Rowan,” he said slowly, “most flares don’t reach your level until months after their awakening.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your power isn’t just opening,” he said, voice low and filled with something that sounded like fear and reverence intertwined.
“It’s remembering.”
Rowan’s breath stilled. “...Remembering what?”
But Elias didn’t get to answer.
The sanctuary stones suddenly pulsed again — harder, brighter — sending a shockwave through the clearing.
Elias grabbed Rowan instinctively, pulling her into his arms and shielding her as the light flared.
Rowan pressed her face into his shoulder, heart racing.
“Elias—what’s happening?!”
His voice was tight, urgent.
“The sanctuary isn’t done with you.”
The ground trembled beneath them.
A glowing symbol formed in the air above Rowan’s head—three interlocking crescents, the same mark as Elias’s charm.
Rowan’s breath hitched. “That symbol—”
Elias’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“It’s the mark of a chosen flare.”
Rowan stared up at him, trembling.
“A chosen... for what?”
Elias looked at her with a mixture of awe, fear, and something else—something deeper.
“For the light,” he said softly.
“And for me.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The symbol hovered above Rowan’s head like a crown forged of moonlight.
Three interlocking crescents, glowing in a slow, steady pulse.
Not harsh.
Not threatening.
Just... claiming.
Rowan stared up at it, breath shallow.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Why me?”
Elias didn’t answer immediately.
He knelt in front of her, still close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath against her damp skin. Rain dripped from his hair, shadows flickering faintly around him like restless smoke.
His eyes, though—
They were steady.
Focused on her like she was the only thing anchoring him to the earth.
“Rowan,” he said softly, “the sanctuary didn’t choose you. It recognized you.”
She swallowed hard. “Recognized me as what?”
Elias exhaled, as if this answer cost him something.
“As the flare who was foretold.”
Her pulse skittered. “Foretold?”
“Yes.”
“Foretold for what?”
His jaw tightened.
And for the first time, Rowan saw something raw flicker across his face—fear, reverence, something like grief.
“Foretold to restore the balance,” he said. “To push the dark back. To tear out whatever corruption has been spreading through the Hollow and beyond. To awaken light in others.”
Rowan held her breath.
“And,” Elias added, voice deepening, “to bind herself—willingly—to a guardian of shadow.”
Her heart jumped. “Bind? Elias, what—”
His gaze locked with hers, intense enough to make her chest tighten.
“It means you’re not meant to walk this path alone,” he said. “It means your light was never meant to grow without a counterpart. Without someone who can stand where you can’t. Walk where you shouldn’t.”
She understood instantly.
“Someone like you.”
Elias froze.
The shadows at his shoulders flickered violently, like they wanted to reach for her but held back.
His voice dropped to almost nothing. “Yes.”
Rowan breathed in slowly. “And that’s why the sanctuary marked me.”
“No,” Elias corrected gently. “It marked you because you accepted your light.”
“And the binding?”
“That,” he murmured, “is something only you can choose.”
Rowan’s heart twisted. “And you? Do you choose it?”
Elias let out the faintest, broken laugh.
Like he’d been waiting years to say the next words—and dreading them, too.
“I chose it the moment I saw you,” he whispered.
“Long before I realized what you were.”
The world seemed to still.
Rowan felt her throat tighten.
“Then why do you look terrified?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, jaw clenched.
“Because binding yourself to a flare is the highest vow a shadow-born can make.”
He opened his eyes again—dark, earnest, unraveling.
“And binding yourself to a shadow-born is the most dangerous thing a flare can do.”
Rowan stepped closer.
So close his breath warmed her lips.
“Dangerous how?”
His fingers curled at his sides, fighting the urge to touch her.
“Because it merges power,” he murmured. “Light and shadow intertwined. Strength doubled. Bonds... deepened.”
Her breath hitched.
“And what does that mean for us?”
Elias’s voice shook.
“It means I couldn’t let you die even if I wanted to.”
“Even if you wanted to?” she echoed.
He huffed a soft, bitter breath. “I’m supposed to be neutral. Detached. A watcher. A keeper of balance. But you—”
He swallowed, looking at her with something fierce and unguarded.
“You make that impossible.”
Rowan lifted a hand, touching his jaw gently.
He inhaled sharply—like the mere brush of her fingers fractured every wall he’d built.
“Elias,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to be neutral. Or detached. I want you here.”
His eyes fluttered closed for a heartbeat.
When he opened them—
The shadows behind him stilled.
The storm beyond the sanctuary eased.
Even the stones seemed to quiet.
“Rowan...”
Her name came out like a confession.
“I’m afraid of what I’ll do if I let myself stay.”
“Stay anyway,” she said.
He shook his head once—slow, tortured.
“You don’t understand. The dark isn’t our only problem anymore. There’s another force at play.”
“Another force?” Rowan pulled back slightly. “What do you mean?”
He stood slowly, helping her up with a gentle hand on her elbow.
The sanctuary’s glow cast pale gold across his cheekbones as he stepped away from her—only a few inches, but the distance felt like a canyon.
“The dark-born that attacked us...” Elias began, voice low, “it came too quickly. Too strong. Too soon.”
