I wasn’t bound to the shadows anymore.
The curse was… gone.
I let out a ragged breath, a half-sob, half-laugh. “Then I suppose we match.”
My gaze would no longer be something that marked me as the Shadow King—but a silver that mirrored her own.
A testament to the magic we had shared, the love that now bound us together.
Elena’s smile deepened, fragile but real, and for a moment, nothing else existed but her—the woman who had chosen me, and the miracle of her return.
But then an invisible voice—soft, ethereal,godly—whisperedthrough the chamber, a sound that seemed to echo from the very shadows themselves.
“Well done, mortal.”
I stiffened. Nyx.
Her voice was no longer sharp with mockery, nor heavy with condemnation. It resonated with something I hadn’t expected—pride.
“You gave your shadow freely,”she whispered, her tone curling like velvet around the silence.“And in her true light, the curse unraveled. She has burned herself anew, and in doing so, freed you.”
The presence faded away, leaving me sitting in stunned silence.
Elena’s fingers tightened in mine. “She freed you because you chose love over power,” she murmured, her voice filled with awe.
I shook my head, overwhelmed. “No, Elena. It was you. You’ve always been the one. You saved me.”
The words I had buried for so long clawed up from the depths, raw and unstoppable. I cupped her face, my thumb brushing away a tear that shimmered silver in the torchlight.
“I thought I’d never love again,” I confessed, my voice hoarse. “I thought I was nothing but darkness. But you—” My throat closed, and I forced the words out anyway. “I love you, Elena. More than I thought I was capable of. More than I deserve.”
Her silvery eyes shone, her breath trembling as she leaned closer. “I love you too, Dario,” she whispered, her words a vow that burned brighter than fire. “I always have. Even when I fought it.”
The relief was a flood, fierce and consuming, and I closed the distance, pressing my forehead to hers, drinking in the warmth of her, the certainty of her.
For the first time in a century, I felt whole. Not bound by shadows, not cursed by gods, but anchored by love.
Her hand slid to my chest, over my heart, and I felt her warmth there, mingling with the remnants of my shadows. Not light. Not dark. Something new. Something ours.
“We’ll face it together,” I whispered.
“Together,” she echoed.
And as the dawn broke beyond the Temple walls, I knew the truth with a certainty deeper than magic: Elena Serrano and Dario Morelli were reborn—not as phoenix and shadow, but as one.
And I knew, with a certainty that went beyond magic, beyond life and death, that I would always love her. I had loved her since the moment I had seen her, since the first time I had felt the warmth of her light in my cold, dark world.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I whispered, my voice thick with emotion as I buried my face in her hair, breathing in the faint, familiar scent of her. “When I saw you fading, when I thought you would burn yourself out… I would have givenanythingto take your place. Anything.”
She pulled back slightly, her eyes searching mine, her expression fierce, unyielding. “I wasn’t going to leave you, Dario,” she said softly. “I would do it again if it meant saving you.”
She had sacrificed everything for me, given up her light, her power, just to save me.
I would spend the rest of my life—every moment I had left—trying to be worthy of that sacrifice.
I leaned down, my forehead resting against hers, our breaths mingling in the stillness as I held her close, my hands tangled in her hair, anchoring myself in the warmth of her presence.
I could feel the faint tremor in her body, the residual strain of the power she had unleashed, and I felt a surge of guilt, a fierce, burning regret that I had ever allowed her to risk herself for me.
