Midnight Thorns

PART 2 - THE STRANGER WITHOUT A SOUL

The rose felt heavier than it should have.

Not because of its size.

Because of what it meant.

Soraya had spent years studying forbidden magic. She knew the difference between ordinary enchantments and things that belonged in forgotten corners of history.

This rose belonged to the latter.

She held it carefully between two fingers, examining the dark petals.

"No one grows these anymore."

Elias watched her closely.

"I know."

Her eyes lifted.

"Then you know what it is."

"Yes."

"You're not going to tell me?"

A pause.

Then, quietly:

"I was hoping you'd remember."

The words struck harder than they should have.

Remember.

Not learn.

Not discover.

Remember.

Soraya's expression changed instantly.

The warmth that had briefly appeared vanished.

"Careful."

Her voice became colder.

"People who pretend to know me usually end up regretting it."

Elias didn't step back.

"Maybe because they only knew the version you wanted them to see."

The room went still.

She hated that he was right.

Everyone knew Soraya.

The woman in red.

The woman who walked through danger like it belonged to her.

The woman whose name was whispered in dark rooms by people who feared what she could become.

Nobody knew the girl beneath all of that.

Not anymore.

"You came here to talk in riddles?" she asked.

"No."

"Then why are you here?"

Elias looked toward the city beyond her windows.

Ashveldt burned beneath them, beautiful and broken.

"Because people are dying."

Her face remained unreadable.

"People die every day."

"Not like this."

The air shifted.

Soraya noticed immediately.

The change in his voice.

The weight behind his words.

"What do you mean?"

Elias looked back at her.

"The deaths connected to you."

Silence.

The kind that carried a warning.

The flame in her hand returned.

Small.

Controlled.

But there.

"Choose your next words carefully."

"I know about the men."

Her jaw tightened.

"The ones who came too close."

"I know about the roses."

The flame flickered.

"I know about the blood."

The apartment suddenly felt colder.

"Who told you?"

"No one."

"That's impossible."

"Why?"

"Because the people who know those things are either dead..."

She stepped closer.

"...or too afraid to speak."

Elias studied her face.

And then he said the one thing nobody had ever dared say.

"I know what you are."

The words were quiet.

But they landed like a blade.

For a moment, Soraya forgot how to breathe.

Everyone had called her names.

Monster.

Witch.

Demon.

Curse.

But no one had ever looked at her like they actually understood.

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know enough."

"No."

Her voice sharpened.

"You know stories."

Elias shook his head.

"I know the pain behind them."

That stopped her.

Just for a second.

A crack in the armor.

And he saw it.

Of course he did.

Soraya hated that.

"You think understanding me makes you different?" she whispered.

"No."

He stepped closer.

"I think it makes me dangerous."

The honesty of it surprised her.

Not a promise.

Not a declaration.

A warning.

Soraya looked at him carefully.

"What are you?"

The question hung between them.

Elias looked down at the black rose in her hand.

Then back into her eyes.

"Someone who should have died a long time ago."

The candles around them flickered.

A chill moved through the room.

And for the first time since Elias arrived...

Soraya felt something she hadn't allowed herself to feel in years.

Not attraction.

Not fear.

Recognition.

Like some forgotten part of her soul had been waiting...

For him.

Soraya hated the feeling.

That strange pull.

That impossible sense that somehow, somewhere, their paths had already crossed.

She trusted instincts.

They had kept her alive when magic failed her, when allies betrayed her, and when love became the sharpest weapon anyone had ever placed in her hands.

Her instincts were screaming now.

Not to run.

Not to fight.

But to listen.

And that terrified her more than anything.

"Someone who should have died a long time ago," she repeated.

Her voice was quieter now.

"What does that mean?"

Elias looked away.

For the first time since entering her apartment, he seemed uncertain.

Not afraid.

Not nervous.

Just...

Tired.

"I made a mistake."

Soraya crossed her arms.

"Everyone says that after they destroy something."

A shadow passed through his expression.

"Mine destroyed more than something."

The candles around them dimmed slightly.

The magic in the room reacted to him.

Soraya noticed.

Of course she noticed.

Magic always revealed what people tried to hide.

"You carry death with you."

Elias looked back at her.

"And you carry it too."

The words should have angered her.

Instead, they felt like a mirror.

She looked away first.

"Don't compare us."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not like you."

"No?"

His voice was gentle.

"How many times have you woken up wondering if the person beside you would still be alive by morning?"

Her silence answered for her.

Elias continued.

"How many times have you pushed people away because you thought distance was the only way to protect them?"

Her fingers curled slightly.

"How many times have you told yourself you don't need anyone because needing someone means giving them the power to hurt you?"

The fire in her palm vanished.

Not because she wanted it to.

Because she didn't have the strength to keep pretending.

"Stop."

The word came out softer than she intended.

Elias immediately stopped.

That surprised her.

Most people didn't listen when she asked.

They either challenged her or tried to break through her walls like they had a right to.

Elias simply respected the boundary.

And somehow, that was worse.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he slowly removed his coat.

Soraya watched carefully as he turned slightly, revealing the side of his ribs.

At first, she saw nothing.

Then the magic appeared.

Silver lines slowly surfaced beneath his skin.

Not scars.

Not tattoos.

Something older.

Something alive.

The markings twisted across his body like branches growing from an ancient tree. Symbols she'd seen only in forbidden texts appeared and disappeared with every breath he took.

Her expression changed.

Because she knew exactly what she was looking at.

"No."

Elias watched her reaction.

"You know it."

She stepped closer despite herself.

"Bloodbinding."

The word left her lips like a curse.

The room went silent.

Elias nodded once.

"Yes."

Soraya stared at the mark.

Bloodbinding.

One of the oldest and most dangerous forms of magic.

A ritual that allowed someone to rewrite the laws of life and death.

A ritual that always demanded payment.

"No one survives it."

"I did."

"That's not possible."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

The mark pulsed beneath his skin.

And for a brief moment, Soraya saw something.

Not with her eyes.

With her magic.

A boy standing in a circle of blood.

A desperate voice begging the universe for one more chance.

A soul being torn apart.

Then darkness.

She pulled her hand back quickly.

"What did you sacrifice?"

Elias's expression became unreadable.

"My soul."

The answer was simple.

Too simple.

But the pain behind it wasn't.

Soraya swallowed.

"You traded your soul?"

"Yes."

"For what?"

His eyes met hers.

And for the first time...

She saw the monster he carried.

Not a creature.

Not a demon.

A man who had loved someone enough to destroy himself.

"My brother."

The apartment fell completely silent.

Outside, Ashveldt continued to burn beneath the night sky.

But inside that room...

Two cursed souls stood facing each other.

One woman who feared she would destroy everyone she loved.

One man who already had.

For a moment, Soraya forgot how to speak.

She had heard countless stories about forbidden magic.

She had read the warnings carved into ancient books. She had watched witches destroy themselves chasing power they were never meant to hold.

But Bloodbinding...

That was different.

Bloodbinding wasn't about power.

It was about desperation.

A person had to love something so deeply that they were willing to tear apart the natural order of life itself.

And Elias had done exactly that.

"Your brother," she said quietly.

Elias nodded.

"He was dying."

Soraya watched his face carefully.

There was no pride there.

No regret either.

Only a grief so old it had become part of him.

"He was seventeen."

The words were barely above a whisper.

"We were supposed to have more time."

Something in Soraya's chest tightened.

She knew that feeling.

The cruelty of losing someone before you were ready.

The emptiness left behind when the world continued moving even though yours had stopped.

"What happened?"

Elias looked toward the rain-covered windows.

"I found a ritual."

Soraya's expression darkened.

"Of course you did."

"It promised a second chance."

"They always do."

"I didn't care."

His voice cracked slightly.

"I would have burned the world down if it meant hearing his voice again."

The honesty of it silenced her.

Because she understood.

Not the choice.

Not the magic.

But the pain behind it.

"You brought him back."

Elias nodded.

"Yes."

"And?"

His jaw tightened.

"And I learned something."

"What?"

He looked at her.

"Death doesn't like giving things back."

The candles flickered.

A cold wind moved through the apartment, though every window was closed.

Soraya felt it.

The darkness attached to his magic.

The same way her curse followed her.

"You didn't bring back your brother."

"No."

Elias's voice was quiet.

"I brought back something wearing his face."

The words settled heavily.

Soraya looked away.

For years, she had believed she was the only person trapped by something she couldn't control.

The only person forced to live with consequences she never asked for.

And now Elias was standing in front of her...

Another person carrying a curse.

Another person pretending they weren't breaking.

"Why me?"

The question escaped before she could stop it.

Elias looked confused.

"What?"

"Why come to me?"

She stepped closer.

"Out of everyone in this city. Every witch. Every blood mage. Every creature hiding in the dark..."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Why Soraya?"

For the first time, Elias hesitated.

That bothered her.

Because he had answered everything else.

The death of his brother.

The Bloodbinding.

The mark.

But this?

This made him pause.

"I wasn't looking for you because of what you are."

"Then why?"

His gaze softened.

"Because of what you were."

Her breath caught.

The room seemed colder.

"What does that mean?"

Elias looked at the black rose sitting on the table between them.

"Before the curse, before the stories, before everyone decided you were a monster..."

He looked back at her.

"You were someone who saved people."

Soraya froze.

Nobody knew that.

Nobody remembered that.

Because the world only remembered the aftermath.

The destruction.

The bodies.

The blood.

Not the girl she used to be.

"Who told you that?"

"No one."

"Then how do you know?"

Elias stepped closer.

Close enough that she could feel the warmth of him.

Close enough that her magic stirred.

But instead of reacting violently...

It calmed.

Again.

And she hated that.

"Because I was there."

The words struck harder than anything else he had said.

Soraya stared at him.

"No."

A whisper.

A denial.

A warning.

"You don't know me."

Elias didn't look away.

"Maybe not in this life."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Soraya's heart stopped for a beat.

"This life?"

Before he could answer...

Every candle in the apartment went out.

Not flickered.

Not weakened.

Extinguished.

A deep, ancient voice whispered from somewhere beyond the walls.

A voice Soraya hadn't heard in years.

A voice she had spent a lifetime trying to forget.

"The thorn has found the flame."

Soraya's face went pale.

Because the curse...

Had just spoken.