The silence that followed their oath was different from any silence Selena had experienced before. It was not empty—the void had never been truly empty—but rather pregnant with anticipation, as if reality itself were holding its breath, waiting to see what would emerge from the binding they'd just created.
Selena sat upon the throne beside Dante, their hands still clasped, their powers still humming in harmony where flame met storm. The oath thrummed through her like a second heartbeat, steady and constant, a reminder of what they'd chosen and what they'd surrendered. She felt strangely at peace despite—or perhaps because of—the permanence of what they'd done.
Then, in the distance where the Bone Gate had collapsed, where the Watcher's eyes had burned out one by one, where nothing should have remained but the absolute absence left by total annihilation, something stirred.
"Do you see that?" Selena whispered, afraid to disturb whatever was happening.
