The gryphion follows me now.
It limps at first, but after the healing, it walks stronger. Like it trusts me.
Like it knows something changed.
I don't know why my touch doesn't burn anymore.
I don't know why Kael didn't pull away.
But something inside me has opened. I can feel it.
It hums in my chest like a sleeping star.
Back in the castle, I walk through the long halls with the gryphion beside me.
The staff stares. No one dares stop me.
Kael is waiting at the end of the hallway.
He stands straight, arms folded. But his eyes soften when he sees me.
He looks at the gryphion.
"It hasn't let anyone near it in years," he says.
"It let me."
He nods. "You're different."
I stop in front of him. "So are you."
We stare at each other for a long moment.
The silence between us isn't awkward anymore. It's full.
Full of things we're not saying.
Full of things we're starting to feel.
"Come with me," Kael says. "There's something I want to show you."
He leads me to the west wing. I've never been there before.
It's quiet. Darker than the rest of the castle.
The walls are lined with old mirrors and broken lanterns. Dust covers the floor.
He opens a heavy door and steps inside.
It's a long room with high ceilings. At the center, there's a pool.
The water glows.
Soft blue light ripples across the walls.
"What is this place?" I ask.
"It's called the Pool of Memory," Kael says. "It shows you what your heart holds. Sometimes the past. Sometimes the future. Sometimes your truth."
I step closer to the water. My reflection shimmers.
Then it shifts.
I see my mother's face. Smiling. Safe.
Then gone.
I step back.
Kael watches me, his expression unreadable.
"It doesn't lie," he says. "Even when it hurts."
I look up at him. "Do you ever look?"
"Once," he says. "It showed me something I wasn't ready for."
"What did it show?"
His throat moves. He looks away.
"Lira," I say softly.
He nods. "The last moment I saw her."
He kneels by the pool.
"I was going to marry her. We were trying to bring peace between kingdoms. But someone didn't want that. The magic used her to reach me."
He dips his fingers in the water. It shimmers again.
I see her now.
Lira.
In a white dress, standing in a circle of fire.
She's screaming. Her eyes are full of pain.
Kael is running toward her, shadows ripping out of him.
And then—
Everything goes dark.
Kael pulls his hand back.
"I never got to save her," he says. "And I never forgave myself."
I kneel beside him. My hand brushes his.
He doesn't move away.
"I'm not her," I say.
"I know."
"But I'm here."
He turns to me. "You are."
And then something strange happens.
The water starts to glow again.
Brighter this time.
A soft wind moves through the room, even though the windows are shut.
The Gryphion growls behind us.
Kael tenses. "Something's coming."
Suddenly, a crack forms on the edge of the pool.
Magic pulses through the room like thunder under the ground.
The shadows twist at Kael's feet.
"Get back," he warns.
But the magic doesn't attack.
It flows toward me.
And it touches my chest.
Right where my heart is.
I don't scream.
I don't fall.
I breathe.
And for the first time, I feel all of it.
The truth.
I can touch Kael because I carry light magic.
Old magic. Forgotten magic.
It lives inside me. It wakes up for him.
"Aria," Kael says, grabbing my arm. "What is this?"
I shake my head. "I don't know. But it doesn't want to hurt me."
The glow around us fades.
The crack in the pool seals itself.
Silence.
Then Kael pulls me into his arms.
Not tight. Not hard.
Just enough.
"I felt it," he whispers. "When the magic touched you. It didn't burn you. It bowed."
"I think it knows I care."
He steps back, searching my face. "Do you?"
"Yes," I whisper. "I do."
He closes his eyes for a moment.
When he opens them, his face is softer.
"I should stay away from you," he says. "You could still get hurt."
"But you won't hurt me," I say. "Not even the shadows will."
He brushes my hair back. His fingers tremble.
"You're the first person I've touched in years without pain," he says.
"And you're the first person who's made me feel safe," I say.
He breathes in.
We don't kiss.
Not yet.
But the air between us changes.
He leads me out of the room. The Gryphion follows behind.
When we return to the main halls, the torches light themselves.
The shadows stay still.
The curse, for now, is quiet.
And my heart is loud with everything we haven't said.
But I know this much:
Something dangerous has awakened.
Not just the magic.
But something deeper.
The beginning of something that might save him.
Or destroy us both.