The Cursed Bond: Bound By Ruin

Three days.

That's what her mother said.

Three days before the fracture.

Seraphina didn't know what exactly would break. Was it magic, the bond, her own mind, but the weight of that countdown sat heavy in her chest.

Like thunder just out of sight.

The palace welcomed them back with silence. No fanfare. No messengers. No questions.

But everyone knew something had happened.

---

She didn't see Elion for the rest of the day.

Which was fine.

Fine, except for the fact that the bond kept aching for him, like a phantom limb trying to find its body. Her skin prickled. Her thoughts wandered. And at night, her bed felt too large.

So she walked.

Through the west halls. Past the broken mirror, now covered with silk. Past the portrait gallery where Lysandra's frame still hung, burned at the corners.

Until she found herself outside the eastern sanctum.

The door to the Star Grid chamber.

Locked.

Warded.

Waiting.

---

She pressed her palm against it.

The mark on her collarbone flared, and the door opened.

She had come to understand why the mark seemed to open all magical seals, but it also made her question what price was paid to make something this… powerful.

The chamber inside was vast, domed, lined with glass and floating light. Stars moved across the ceiling, not real, not yet, but mapped and mirrored in orbit. The core of Lunaris magic lived here. The Star Grid held the ley lines steady, kept the city's heart from folding in on itself.

And right now, it pulsed like a wound.

She stepped into the room.

Magic surged in response.

The bond flared, nearly throwing her off her feet, and a single thread of golden light snaked out of the grid and touched her.

Not softly.

Like a probe.

A test.

A question.

---

Her vision blurred.

And suddenly...

She wasn't in the chamber anymore.

She was somewhere else.

Floating. Weightless.

Surrounded by stars.

No, not stars...memories.

Not hers.

His.

---

She saw Elion as a boy, sobbing over a cold body.

A hand reaching for a ring that hovered, waiting.

A scream as he put it on.

Then Lysandra. Her mouth on his. Her eyes burning with fury. A fight that ended in broken glass and blood.

Then Seraphina.

Laughing. Crying. Fighting him in a hallway. Kissing him in a dream.

And at the center of it all...

The bond.

Twisting.

Feeding.

Growing.

Watching.

---

She gasped, and the vision shattered.

The golden thread withdrew, and she fell to her knees in the center of the chamber, panting like she'd run a mile in fire.

A voice echoed from behind.

"You shouldn't be here."

Elion.

Of course.

He helped her up, but his eyes were already scanning the chamber. He looked less furious than… rattled.

"You felt it too, didn't you?" she asked.

He nodded once. "The grid is syncing with the bond."

"And the bond is syncing with us."

"Which means when one breaks..."

"They all break."

They stood in silence, side by side, in the heart of the storm.

Then Seraphina said, "I saw your memories."

He didn't move.

"I saw you choose the ring."

"I didn't have a choice."

"I know."

Another pause.

"I saw Lysandra."

Elion flinched.

"I saw the fight. The last one."

"She was trying to sever the bond. I stopped her. I didn't mean to hurt her."

"You didn't," Seraphina said softly.

"But I didn't save her either."

---

They left the chamber together, walking side by side through the dark halls.

When they reached her room, she stopped him with a touch to the wrist.

"I'm not Lysandra," she said.

"I know that."

"And I'm not here to be saved."

He finally looked at her then, truly looked.

The bond surged like a drumbeat between them.

"I'm not here to save anyone," he said.

"Then what are you here for?"

He didn't answer.

Not with words.

---

They kissed again.

Not like before.

Not desperate. Not because they were afraid they wouldn't get another chance.

This kiss was patient. Confident.

Like two people finally admitting something they'd already known.

Her hands slipped into his coat. His mouth mapped a slow path down her neck. The bond burned hot and gold, sparking with every touch. They moved as if guided by something ancient and inevitable.

They didn't sleep.

They didn't need to.

---

When dawn came, they were still tangled together in her bed, skin warm, breath synced.

Seraphina traced the mark on his chest.

He caught her wrist.

"Do you think we're doomed?" she whispered.

"I think we were born knowing the end."

"And we did this anyway."

"We always do."

---

The next day, the fracture arrived.

It didn't come with fire or lightning.

It came with silence.

The Star Grid shut down at noon.

Every magical device in the palace flickered, then went dark. The sky turned gray. The air thickened.

And every ring-bearer in the court fell to their knees, clutching their chests.

Except Elion.

Except Seraphina.

Because the bond wasn't draining them.

It was protecting them.

---

The Queen called an emergency session of the inner court.

Mages, generals, spies, all summoned at once.

The hall was chaos.

And when Elion and Seraphina walked in, silence followed them like a stormcloud.

"The fracture is magical," the Queen said, eyes on the two of them. "It's drawn directly from the bond's signature. Which means it's no longer localized. It's spreading."

Seraphina stepped forward.

"It's not trying to break us. It's trying to reform."

Elion added, "Into something new. Or someone new."

The court shifted uneasily.

"Can it be stopped?" asked one mage.

"No," Seraphina said.

"But it can be understood," Elion finished.

---

Later, in the Queen's garden, Seraphina sat with a map sprawled across her knees.

It wasn't a political map.

It was magical.

And the fracture lines ran across it like lightning bolts, zigzagging between ley points and ring-bearer bloodlines.

"This isn't a curse anymore," she whispered.

"It's a pattern."

Elion crouched beside her. "Then we follow it."

She looked up at him, eyes wide.

"You mean leave the palace?"

"I mean find the source."

"The god?"

"Or the weapon."

---

That night, before they slept, Seraphina opened the scroll her mother had given her.

Inside was a single phrase, written in silver ink:

"When you reach the last ruin, speak his true name."

She showed it to Elion.

He didn't speak for a long time.

Then.

"There are names even I've forgotten."

"Then we'll have to remember together."