In life, we share the light.
This oath cannot be broken.
This bond cannot be severed.
From this moment until the last star dies,
we are one.”
The bowl explodes with light. The burst of light isn’t merely bright, it is a cataclysm, a supernova blooming from the bowl and spearing upward in a column of radiance that engulfs us both before threading itself through my very existence. The brilliance floods the connection, not as sensation alone but as an onslaught of lives and memories layered over instincts, histories crashing into awareness, fragments of identity slamming together until they fuse with brutal, undeniable clarity.
Crave’s eternal years pour into me in an unending cascade, moments of violence, quiet, victories, and regrets, centuriesspent wandering through the endless dark with nothing but hunger and shadows for company. I am hit with images of every life he ever touched, everyone he ever ended, the hollow ache of immortality stretching around him. But beneath all of that, buried deep in the places even he never dared examine, I find everything softer. The fierce devotion he tries to hide, the loyalty that has carried him through wars and centuries, the impossible tenderness he reserves only for me, and the fragile, stubborn flicker of hope he never allowed himself to acknowledge until the moment our paths collided.
At the same time, he is struck by me, my fears, and the weight of the losses that shaped me, my determination never to be powerless again, the wildfire strength that has always burned inside me even before the magic woke. He feels the fractured pieces of my heart, the raw potential humming through my veins, the instinct to fight for every inch of freedom I’ve ever earned. My soul presses against his in a way that feels both intimate and overwhelming, expanding until the boundaries between us dissolve into something vast and undefinable.
The Oath settles into place with a force so profound it vibrates through the entire clubhouse, a seismic jolt that ripples outward as though the universe itself is acknowledging the binding.
We are no longer two separate beings standing in the same room.
We are one life shared between two bodies.
One power.
One will.
One destiny.
When the supernova finally burns itself out, the world returns in unsteady fragments, shifting shadows, drifting dust, the dim echo of magic reverberating through the walls, thunderous and fading after a sky remade by force. My legs are unsteady beneath me, the ground tilting in a slow, dizzying sway, but Crave isalready pulling me into his arms, bracing me against the solid, familiar strength of his body. Through the deepened bond, his awe surges into me, warm and consuming, wrapping around my senses. A love so fierce and unguarded steals the breath from my lungs.
For the first time, he truly sees me.
And for the first time, I truly see him.
Not as creatures walking parallel paths, but as a single force that fate itself will have to reckon with.
“It’s done,” Hades murmurs, his voice hushed. “The Blood Oath is sealed. You are truly one now. In all ways that matter.” I look up at Crave, and in his eyes, I see my own reflection, changed, powerful, no longer the frightened nurse who stumbled into Sins & Spirits looking for answers.
I’ve become something else.
Something dangerous.
Something that might be strong enough to help save them all.
“Together,” I whisper again.
“Always,” Crave answers and seals it with a kiss that tastes of promises and a future we’ll fight like hell to claim.
Chapter Seventeen
CRAVE
The Next Night
We know the Coven is coming.
Coming for me.
So, we wanted to bring the fight somewhere that we know well. Somewhere that plays to our advantage. Somewhere we all feel at home.
