It had been three days since Kael touched her.
Three days since the bond throbbed with heat that never found release.Three days of sparring, silence, and pretending not to look at each other when they passed too close.
Lyra had had enough.
She stood barefoot on the sparring floor — a smooth stretch of earth beside the outer cave, where their training sessions had turned to careful rituals of tension and testing.
Kael approached with slow, quiet steps. Sleeves rolled up, blades tucked away.
"We don't have to do this today," he said.
Lyra smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You're afraid I'll win?"
"I'm afraid I'll touch you."
That stopped her breath for half a second.
Then, she lifted her hands. "Then don't lose."
They began slow.
A flick of her wrist. A pulse of flame from his palm. A dodge. A parry. Controlled magic — nothing too deep, nothing that touched the Echo Bond.
But Kael's eyes never left hers.
And Lyra's pulse wouldn't slow down.
Every strike was a temptation. Every dodge, a spark. Her body was already humming — not from adrenaline, but from suppressed magic, echoing through her blood like wildfire waiting for wind.
She leapt forward — spun, cast, slammed the ground with a blinding glyph.
Kael shielded just in time, sliding back on scorched boots. "You're pushing too hard."
"You're pulling away," she snapped.
Another pulse — this one reckless.
He deflected it, barely.
"Lyra—"
"I'm not your weakness," she growled, launching another bolt.
He caught it. Absorbed it.
But then her magic surged.
Unbidden. Wild. Starborn.
A burst of energy erupted from her core — too bright, too fast, too dangerous. Her shield cracked, and the air trembled as a vortex of light whipped around her, out of control.
Kael's eyes widened.
"Lyra—!"
But she was already falling, magic sparking from her fingertips like broken lightning.
She couldn't breathe.
Her power was consuming itself.
She was going to collapse — or worse.
Until—
Arms. Around her. Heat. A voice.
"I've got you—breathe, dammit!"
Kael had broken his vow.
He held her.
And the second his skin touched hers—
The bond roared.
She gasped.
Magic seared through both of them in a blinding flash.
Kael growled, holding her tighter, grounding her — as if his body could hold back a storm made of galaxies and grief.
Lyra's hands fisted in his shirt. Her forehead pressed to his chest. Her legs buckled — and he caught her like she weighed nothing.
"Breathe, starfire. I'm here."
The light faded slowly.
Her body trembled. Her throat ached.
But she was alive.
And safe.
In his arms.
She looked up, eyes glassy.
Kael's face was close — too close.
"What the hell was that?" he whispered.
"My power," she rasped. "When it's suppressed… it turns on me."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"You were too busy running."
That broke something in his face.
Without thinking, he pressed his forehead to hers.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Her hands trembled against his chest.
"Don't be," she whispered back. "Just… don't leave again."
His breath hitched.
And for one suspended moment—
They simply breathed.
Kael didn't kiss her.
But gods, it was close.
So close her lips burned with the promise of it.
But instead, he pulled her tighter, whispering:
"I'm not going anywhere. Not while you burn like this."
And in that moment, Lyra stopped fearing her magic.
Because someone finally held her through the fire—
And didn't let go.
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Trailer – Chapter 10: The Kiss That Shouldn't Happen
She saved his life.He held her through a storm that nearly killed them both.They swore they wouldn't fall.
But in the quiet after the chaos…One touch becomes two.One breath becomes a plea.And one look — just one — is all it takes to unravel everything.
The bond is no longer a whisper.It's a roar.
And this time…They don't pull away.
But when lips meet — it's not soft.It's desperate.It's earned.And it might just cost them everything.
Because love wasn't part of the plan.But this kiss?It was always inevitable.
Chapter 10 — Coming NextWhere desire bleeds into destiny.