BOND BY BLOOD AND CURSE

Chapter 2: The Immortal

Kaelen didn't move his hand from her face.

Lira stared at him. Eighteen years of isolation. Eighteen years of no human touch. And now this stranger stood in her tower with his fingers on her cheek.

"You should be dead," she said.

"I know."

"The curse kills anyone who touches me."

"My curse doesn't care about yours."

He dropped his hand. Stepped back. Gave her space.

Lira's cheek burned where he touched her. Warm. Strange. She wanted him to do it again.

"How did you find me?"

"I followed the darkness."

"What darkness?"

Kaelen pointed at her chest. "The curse in your blood. It calls to mine. Like calls to like."

Lira looked down at her hands. Pale. Thin. The veins under her skin looked almost black in the moonlight.

"I didn't ask for this."

"No one asks for a curse."

He walked to the window. Looked out at the forest below. The trees stretched for miles. Dark. Ancient.

"Your father sealed you in here to protect himself. Not you."

"I know."

"If the curse touched him, he would die. So he buried you alive."

Lira felt anger rise in her chest. Hot. Familiar.

"Why are you here, Kaelen?"

He turned to face her.

"Because the witch who cursed you also cursed me. Morwen. She took everything from me. My family. My home. My mortality."

"And you want revenge."

"I want freedom. Same as you."

Lira crossed her arms. "How do we break the curses?"

"I don't know yet. But together, we might find out."

"What makes you so sure?"

Kaelen walked to the wall. The stone where the door used to be.

"Because no one else can touch you. No one else can touch me without killing them. We're meant to find each other."

Lira didn't believe in fate. Fate locked her in a tower when she was five years old.

But something about him made her want to believe.

"The door is sealed with magic," she said.

Kaelen put his hand on the stone. Closed his eyes.

"I know."

"Can you break it?"

He opened his eyes. The stone cracked. A line. Then another. Then the wall crumbled.

Dust filled the air. Moonlight poured in.

Kaelen held out his hand.

"Come with me."

Lira looked at his hand. The hand that touched her face and didn't die.

She took it.

His fingers closed around hers. Warm. Strong.

Together, they walked out of the tower.

For the first time in eighteen years, Lira breathed free air.

Behind them, the tower stood empty.

Ahead, the forest waited.

And somewhere in the dark, Morwen was watching.