The tunnels beneath the sanctum twisted like veins through the earth, narrow and choking, lit only by flickers of dying crystal. Kael ran through them with Lira in his arms, every breath burning, every echo a threat.
Behind them, the Umbracast tore through stone like wolves hunting wounded prey.
Lira stirred against his chest.
Her voice was soft, slurred. "Kael… the bond is pulling… too hard…"
"I know," he whispered, tightening his grip. "Hold on."
She trembled. "I'm… afraid I'll hurt you."
He didn't slow.
"You won't."
"You don't know that."
He stopped—
turned her face toward his—
and for a heartbeat, the world shrank to the space between them.
"Lira," he said softly, "I trust you with my life."
Her eyes glistened, vulnerable in a way that broke him.
Then the ground shook.
Kael whipped around—
—just in time to see a massive blast of purple sigils explode down the corridor behind them.
"Dammit."
He ducked into a side tunnel just as the impact hit the walls, raining stone and shards of crystal. He shielded Lira with his body, taking the brunt of the debris.
When the dust settled, his back burned and blood dripped down his side, but he barely felt it.
Lira reached up weakly. "You're hurt."
"I'm fine."
He wasn't—but she mattered more.
He eased her to her feet. She swayed, clutching his sleeve.
Her power thrummed beneath her skin, sharp and restless.
Kael lowered his forehead to hers. "Don't push it. Let me carry the weight right now."
Her eyes softened. "That's not how this bond works."
Footsteps echoed behind them—too many.
Kael pulled her close. "We have to move."
---
They ran, deeper into the undercity, until the tunnels widened into an abandoned chamber carved with old symbols—ancient, sealed, forgotten.
Lira stumbled. Kael caught her.
Her breath trembled. "Kael… something's wrong."
He sank to his knees with her, cradling her face.
"What do you feel?"
"Everything," she whispered.
Her fingers trembled against his chest.
"Your fear… your rage… your pain… it's all—bleeding into me."
He froze.
"Lira—"
"It hurts," she whimpered. "Not my body. My heart."
His chest tightened.
He hadn't realized how open he'd become through the bond—how exposed.
"Look at me," he said, voice low.
Her eyes lifted, full of stormlight.
"I can't tell where you end and I begin."
Kael cupped her cheeks gently.
"That's not the bond. That's us."
Her breath caught.
For a moment—just one—her expression softened, longing flickering through her fear.
Then the air shifted.
A cold gust swept through the chamber.
Kael instantly pulled Lira behind him.
A figure emerged from the shadows—
hooded, cloaked in deep violet sigils.
Kael stiffened. "Not possible…"
Lira whispered, "Who—"
The figure lowered her hood.
Marra.
The woman who had warned them.
Helped them.
Protected Kael since childhood.
And her eyes were wrong now—
too bright, too empty, too loyal to someone else.
"Kael," she said softly, almost mournfully. "You shouldn't have run."
Kael's jaw clenched. "You sold us out."
Marra stepped forward slowly.
"The Council needed you contained. I tried to guide you gently—before your father reclaimed his place."
"He's dead," Kael snapped.
"No," she said quietly. "He's reborn. And he's right. The Shadow Queen's return was prophecy. Lira was made for this. And you were born to complete her."
Lira flinched.
Kael stepped in front of her.
Marra sighed. "Move aside. I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't touch her," Kael growled.
Her eyes dimmed with regret.
"You were like a son to me. Don't make this harder."
But when she lifted her hand—
Lira saw it first.
"Kael—she's using binding sigils—!"
Glasslight erupted.
Kael reacted instantly—pulling Lira into his arms and twisting, taking the blast across his back.
He hit the ground hard.
Pain tore through him—hot, blinding, consuming.
Lira screamed.
Not in fear.
In fury.
"Stop hurting him!"
Her voice cracked—then deepened, layered with something older, darker.
The chamber pulsed.
Marra stepped back, eyes widening. "No… not yet—"
Lira rose to her feet, trembling violently, blue fire flickering across her skin.
Kael pushed himself up, reaching toward her.
"Lira—don't—"
But she didn't hear him.
Couldn't.
Her power burst outward—shattering the walls, shaking the earth, filling the air with shimmering, deadly light.
Marra shielded her face. "She's awakening too fast—stop her!"
Kael crawled toward Lira, ignoring the blood running down his arms.
"Lira, listen to me. Look at me—"
Her eyes snapped open.
They weren't her eyes anymore.
They glowed like a newborn star.
A goddess stirring.
Marra whispered, horrified, "The Queen is rising—"
"No."
Kael forced himself to his feet, staggering toward her.
"She's not. Lira—stay with me."
Her breath came in ragged bursts.
Her body convulsed.
Kael grabbed her shoulders—
and the bond ignited like wildfire.
Visions slammed into him—
her memories, her fear, her loneliness, the echo of her creation—
and her pain. So much pain.
"Kael," she choked, tears streaming down her glowing face, "I don't want to be this—"
He pulled her into his arms.
Tight.
Fierce.
"You're not her," he whispered into her hair, voice breaking. "You're Lira. You're mine."
Her body fought against itself—power warring with soul.
Kael cupped the back of her neck.
"Come back to me. Come back."
The bond pulsed—
then snapped into perfect sync.
Lira inhaled sharply—
and the Queen's echo shattered inside her like glass.
The light faded.
Her knees buckled.
Kael caught her before she fell.
She looked up at him, tears streaking her cheeks.
"I'm sorry."
He pressed his forehead to hers.
"You have nothing to be sorry for."
Behind them, Marra rose—injured but alive.
Her expression twisted with conflict.
"You don't understand," she whispered. "The city will tear itself apart if the pact isn't completed. If she doesn't ascend—everything burns."
Kael picked Lira up into his arms again.
He didn't bother hiding the threat in his voice.
"Then we'll burn something else first."
Marra's eyes widened.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"You don't know what you're up against," she warned.
Kael turned, shadows flaring around him.
"I know exactly what I'm up against."
He looked at Lira, fragile but conscious in his arms.
"And I'm not losing her."
He disappeared into the dark—
leaving Marra trembling, torn, and alone.
Above them, Nocturne City trembled with the first signs of open war.