When the Body Answers First
1588 Words
“I can’t feel my hands.”
The words hit Kael harder than any spell.
He slid closer, gripping her wrists gently, thumbs brushing her palms. Her skin was warm too warm but when he pressed, her fingers barely moved.
“Look at me,” he said, forcing calm into his voice. “Lena. Stay with me.”
“I am,” she whispered, but her eyes were unfocused, glassy with pain. “It’s just… everything is buzzing.”
The tunnel around them pulsed with deep blue light, the walls breathing slowly like a living thing. The air smelled sharp and clean, nothing like the heavy magic above.
The Underway.
Safe for now.
Kael closed his eyes and reached inward, toward the bond.
Pain answered immediately. Not hers. His.
He gasped softly, jaw tightening. Easy, he told himself. Don’t pull too hard.
“I can carry you,” he said. “We’ll stop the change once we’re clear.”
She shook her head weakly. “No. If you carry me, I’ll pass out.”
He hesitated. She was right. The bond fed on proximity, touch, emotion. If she slipped into unconsciousness now
No. He wouldn’t finish that thought.
“Okay,” he said. “Then we move slow. Step by step.”
He wrapped one arm around her waist, keeping his other hand clasped tightly around hers. The moment their fingers touched fully, heat surged between them.
Lena gasped.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“Don’t be,” she said faintly. “It hurts less when you’re touching me.”
That terrified him more than anything else.
They began to walk.
The Underway stretched ahead like a vein of light, curving gently downward. With each step, Lena’s breathing steadied but the glow beneath her skin spread farther, threading down her arms, up her neck.
“Kael,” she murmured after a few steps. “Am I… changing too much?”
He swallowed. “You’re changing fast.”
She gave a weak laugh. “That’s not comforting.”
“I won’t lie to you,” he said quietly. “The court designed bonds to break humans. Slowly. You accelerated it.”
“By saving you.”
“Yes.”
She stopped walking.
He stopped too, instantly turning to face her. “What is it?”
She looked up at him, fear naked in her eyes. “If this kills me… was it worth it?”
The question sliced through him.
“Don’t,” he said sharply. “Don’t talk like that.”
“I need to know,” she insisted softly. “Kael.”
He cupped her face without thinking, his thumb brushing her cheek. The bond flared hot, urgent.
“It was worth it,” he said hoarsely. “But it won’t kill you. I won’t let it.”
Her lips trembled. “You sound very sure.”
“I’m not,” he admitted. “But I’m stubborn.”
A small smile flickered across her face, then faded as pain rippled through her body again. She doubled over slightly, clutching his shirt.
Kael swore under his breath. “Okay. That’s it. We stop here.”
He guided her to sit against the tunnel wall. The blue light softened around them, responding to stillness.
Lena stared at her hands. “They’re coming back,” she whispered. “A little.”
He followed her gaze.
The glow in her veins pulsed gently now, not violently. Like a heartbeat learning a new rhythm.
“That’s good,” he said, though uncertainty gnawed at him. “That means your body is adjusting.”
“To what?” she asked.
He didn’t answer right away.
“Kael.”
He sighed. “To the realm. To me. To the curse.”
Her breath caught. “All of that at once?”
“Yes.”
She let out a shaky laugh. “I barely survived learning to pay rent.”
Despite himself, a quiet huff of amusement escaped him. “You’re doing better than most royals.”
Silence settled between them.
Not empty. Heavy.
Then
A tremor ran through the tunnel.
Not violent. Distant. Like thunder far away.
Lena stiffened. “That wasn’t the Queen, was it?”
“No,” Kael said slowly. “That was the guardian.”
Her eyes widened. “The creature?”
“Yes.”
Another tremor.
Then another.
“What’s it doing?” she asked.
Kael closed his eyes, listening through the bond, through the realm itself. “Buying us time,” he said grimly.
Her throat tightened. “They’ll kill it.”
“They’ll try.”
The Underway pulsed brighter, the blue light intensifying. Symbols began to appear along the walls old, sharp edged runes that hummed softly.
Lena squinted. “Those weren’t here before.”
“They respond to threat,” Kael said. “And to you.”
She swallowed. “Everything responds to me now.”
“Yes,” he said. “That’s what scares the court.”
Another wave of pain hit her suddenly hot, twisting. She cried out, fingers digging into his arm.
Kael reacted instantly, pulling her against his chest, one hand cradling the back of her head.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered fiercely. “Breathe. Just breathe.”
“I can’t” Her voice broke. “It feels like something is tearing and building at the same time.”
His jaw clenched. He knew that feeling.
“Listen to me,” he said urgently. “Don’t fight it.”
She stared up at him in disbelief. “You said—”
“I know,” he cut in. “But this part? This part you let pass. If you resist now, it’ll hurt worse.”
Her breath hitched. “And if I let it happen?”
“Then it will choose what stays,” he said softly. “And what changes.”
Tears slid down her temples. “I don’t want to lose myself.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “You won’t. Not if you anchor.”
“Anchor to what?”
“Me.”
The word hung between them.
She searched his face, fear and trust warring in her eyes. “And what if I lose you?”
His voice dropped to a whisper. “Then I’m already lost.”
Another tremor shook the tunnel stronger this time. A distant roar echoed through the stone, followed by the unmistakable clash of magic.
The guardian was fighting.
Lena gasped as the pain peaked, her body arching slightly. Light flared beneath her skin, blinding for a heartbeat.
Kael held her tighter, shadows wrapping around them both instinctively, shielding, absorbing.
“Kael,” she cried, voice breaking. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” he said, throat tight. “I am too.”
The light surged once more
Then snapped inward.
Lena went limp.
“Lena!” Kael barked, panic ripping through him.
He checked her pulse.
Strong.
Breathing.
But her eyes were closed, lashes dark against her cheeks. The glow beneath her skin dimmed to a faint shimmer.
“She passed out,” he whispered. “Damn it.”
The Underway reacted immediately.
The walls flared bright blue, runes igniting in alarm. The tunnel began to move.
Stone shifted, reshaping itself beneath Kael’s feet.
“What no,” he muttered. “Not now.”
The Underway didn’t care.
It flowed forward, carrying them like a current, pulling them deeper, faster.
Kael scooped Lena up without hesitation, cradling her against his chest as the tunnel sped beneath them.
“Easy,” he murmured, brushing her hair back. “Stay with me. You don’t get to disappear on me.”
Her brow furrowed slightly, as if she heard him.
The blue light ahead brightened suddenly.
An opening.
The tunnel expelled them forward
and Kael stumbled out onto solid ground, barely keeping his footing as the Underway sealed behind them with a sharp crack.
Silence.
Kael looked up.
They were no longer underground.
They stood in a vast, open space beneath a dark sky filled with unfamiliar stars. Tall, broken arches surrounded them, remnants of something ancient and ruined. Magic hung in the air like fog.
A sanctuary.
Or a grave.
Kael lowered Lena carefully to the ground, kneeling beside her.
“Please,” he whispered, brushing his thumb over the mark on her wrist. “Wake up.”
Her eyes fluttered.
Then opened.
For a heartbeat, they weren’t brown anymore.
They shimmered flecked with silver and violet, like starlight caught in dark water.
Kael froze.
Lena blinked slowly. “Kael?” she whispered.
“I’m here,” he said instantly. “How do you feel?”
She lifted her hands, staring at them in wonder. “Whole,” she said. “Different. But… whole.”
Relief flooded him so hard his vision blurred.
Then her gaze shifted past him.
Her expression changed.
“Kael,” she said quietly.
He turned.
Figures stood at the edge of the ruins three of them cloaked, unmoving.
Not court guards.
Not shadows.
Something older.
The tallest figure stepped forward.
“Well,” a voice said calmly, echoing across the stones, “the Queen will be furious.”
Kael rose slowly, placing himself in front of Lena.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
The figure tilted its head, eyes glowing faintly beneath the hood.
“We are what the court buried,” it replied. “And what you just woke.”
Behind them, the stars flickered
and began to go out, one by one.
- Writer
