The air in the sanctum felt like glass—thin, fragile, and ready to shatter. Aria stood frozen, magic binding her limbs like chains of ice. Evelyn’s smile flickered in the torchlight as she stepped back from the crystalline prison, where the child’s eyes now glowed like twin moons.
Then the sound came.
A low hum, vibrating through the floor—steady, rhythmic. The magic holding Aria began to flicker.
From the hallway, footsteps pounded—heavy, desperate.
Kael burst into the chamber, blood splattered across his shirt, sword still glowing from the wards he’d cleaved through. “Aria!”
Her eyes snapped to his.
“I’m fine,” she said, voice raw. “Get the child.”
But Kael had stopped mid-step.
He wasn’t looking at Aria. He was staring at a glowing panel on the wall—something pulsing in rhythm with the hum.
“What is that?” Zara asked, appearing just behind him.
Kael stepped toward it slowly. “My father’s crest.”
The wolf sigil etched in gold glowed faintly, waiting. Kael reached out and pressed his palm to it.
The wall slid open.
Inside: a crystal orb resting on a pedestal, swirling with light.
A voice echoed in the chamber.
“Kael. If you’re hearing this, then everything I feared has come to pass.”
It was his father’s voice.
Kael stumbled back. “No…”
But the orb continued.
“I tried to keep the council from finding the truth. About the bloodlines. About Aria Vale. About your child. But they’re too powerful now, too embedded in fear. They see prophecy and legacy as weapons. And they’ll use you—my son—to uphold their lies.”
Kael’s hands trembled.
Aria felt her pulse spike. “Your father knew.”
He nodded, pale. “He knew and said nothing.”
“If they sever the bond,” the voice said, “they’ll think they’ve won. But listen, Kael. This isn’t about you. This is about what comes next. The girl—the heir—must survive. She must lead.”
Zara whispered, “The child in the crystal… is she theirs too?”
Kael’s eyes never left the orb.
“We made a pact,” his father continued. “With Elira Vale. You were promised to her daughter. Not for politics, but to fulfill something older. Something buried beneath council lies and ancient fear.”
Kael’s knees buckled. “All of it. All of it was arranged…”
Aria’s breath caught. “So you were meant to choose me.”
“Not by force,” Kael murmured. “By fate. My father knew… and he hid it. And when Evelyn returned—when I thought the choice was mine…”
Evelyn’s voice sliced through the tension. “You were always going to fail the test.”
Kael turned to her slowly.
“You think you’re strong,” Evelyn hissed. “But you’re a boy in a crown handed down by dead men. You would’ve chosen the bond if it came with a manual. But Aria made you bleed for it. That’s why you ran.”
Kael didn’t flinch.
“I didn’t run from the bond,” he said, voice low. “I ran from the part of me that wanted her. That still does.”
The orb pulsed again.
“Don’t let her go, Kael,” his father said. “When the time comes—stand beside her, or stand aside. But don’t repeat my mistake. I chose the council over love. Over truth. And it cost us all.”
The orb flickered once. Then went dark.
Silence fell over the sanctum.
Then Aria spoke.
“I don’t need your guilt, Kael. Or your grief.”
He nodded. “But you have my truth.”
“For what?” she asked bitterly. “To rewrite the past?”
“No,” he said. “To help you shape the future.”
Zara approached the crystal wall. The child inside was watching now—silent, but alert.
“I don’t think this one belongs to either of you,” she said softly. “Not by blood.”
Aria walked closer.
The child pressed a small hand to the crystal. Not pleading. Not afraid. Just… watching.
“We get them out,” Aria said. “Then we bury this sanctum in salt and ash.”
Kael stepped beside her.
“I’ll help you finish what our parents started,” he said. “Not because it’s fate. Because it’s right.”
Aria glanced at him. And for once, she didn’t feel the weight of the broken bond. Only the pull of something new—something earned.
Outside, the storm had returned, battering the mountainside.
Zara and Elias worked on dismantling the last of the ward seals. Calia whispered runes under her breath, anchoring their magic to the floor. The sanctum groaned as its foundations began to fracture.
Kael and Aria stood in the center, facing Evelyn.
“You can still walk out of here,” Aria offered.
Evelyn laughed. “You think I built this place to leave it?”
She stepped back into the shadows.
The crystal cracked again.
A shockwave erupted through the chamber.
Calia screamed, “She’s trying to collapse the whole level!”
Aria turned to Kael. “Get the child.”
He rushed forward, slicing at the crystal with his blade. It resisted. Then shattered.
He caught the girl in his arms as rubble began to fall.
They fled through the tunnels, magic collapsing behind them. Aria guided the others, her instincts sharper than steel. Every heartbeat felt like a countdown.
Outside, the forest lit with fire—Kael’s team had kept the distraction going, fighting back wave after wave of guards.
When they finally burst into the clearing, the girl still in Kael’s arms, the sun was rising through the trees.
Behind them, the sanctum imploded.
Gone.
They didn’t speak again until they reached the ridge overlooking SilverCrest.
The girl stood beside Aria, clutching her cloak.
“She doesn’t talk,” Kael said. “Not yet.”
“She’s seen too much,” Zara added. “But she’s listening.”
Aria knelt in front of the girl.
“What’s your name?” she asked softly.
No answer.
“That’s okay,” Aria said, brushing her hair back gently. “You don’t have to tell me now.”
The girl looked up. Her eyes flicked to Kael, then to the ridge.
Then she whispered, voice faint as dawn mist—
“Aria.”
Aria froze. “What?”
The girl repeated it. Not as a question. As a statement.
Aria looked up at Kael.
“She knows you,” he said.
“No,” Aria whispered. “She remembers me.”
