The thorn crown

It started with heat.

A low hum under Kael's skin, like a storm pacing in a cage.

He didn't speak. Didn't blink.

He just stood there, breath coming faster, gold veins lighting up beneath the surface of his arms.

"What's happening?" I asked.

He clenched his fists.

Didn't answer.

But the ground under his boots cracked.

"Kael"

"Don't touch me," he choked out. "Not now."

But I'd seen this before.

That day in the ruins. When he'd almost burned.

Back then, I hadn't felt it.

Now?

Now the emotion poured off him like fire.

Pain. Guilt. Grief.

Want.

I felt it all like it was mine.

My heart pounded with his panic.

My lungs burned with his rage.

And I couldn't stop it. Couldn't block it.

I was absorbing him.

"Kael"

He turned to me, eyes molten. Wild.

"You need to get away."

But I didn't.

I stepped closer.

Because something in me ached for it.

His power. His emotion. The raw, unfiltered truth of him.

The world around us began to warp.

Leaves lifted.

Rocks vibrated.

A soft, golden pulse throbbed from his chest reaching for me.

My knees buckled.

It hurt.

Like a thousand emotions slamming into my skull all at once.

And still, I reached for him.

I had to.

"Ariya," he gasped. "You don't understand. If you take it, if you feel it all....."

"I already am."

And then I touched him.

It hit like lightning.

No....worse.

Like drowning in every buried thing he'd ever felt.

His mother's last breath.

His father's silence.

His sister's scream.

My mouth opened in a silent cry. My back arched.

But I didn't let go.

His magic poured into me.

Not flames.

Not lightning.

But feeling.

Too much.

Too fast.

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't think.

But somehow, I held it.

Contained it.

And then....

Boom.

A silent explosion.

Gold light rippling out from me in waves.

And with it.....

Silence.

The tension broke.

The air cleared.

Kael collapsed to his knees.

And I stood there, shaking, glowing faintly from beneath my skin.

His magic was gone.

In me.

Still burning.

Still alive.

He looked up, eyes wide.

"You took it," he whispered.

"I didn't mean to."

"You shouldn't be able to."

"I know."

We stared at each other, wrecked.

Something had changed.

I could feel it.

Not just the magic.

Us.

Bonded now.

Not by accident.

But by choice.

And maybe that was the most dangerous part.