The air in the throne room crackled like lightning trapped beneath the stone. I could still feel them their heat, their scent, the echo of their touch imprinted against my skin. It was as if the world itself held its breath, waiting to see which of them would strike first.
Kael paced before the fire, gold eyes glinting in the flicker. "You feel it too," he said softly. "The bond is alive again."
Lucian's expression was unreadable. He leaned against the wall, hands clasped loosely behind his back, but his voice was tight when he spoke. "It shouldn't be possible. She ended it the night we died."
"She tried," Riven said. His gaze locked with mine. "But you cannot destroy what was born in blood."
Something pulsed deep beneath my skin faint at first, then stronger, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to me. I staggered, clutching the edge of the table. Shadows rippled across the floor, curling like smoke around my boots.
Lucian's head snapped up. "It's starting."
Kael's smirk faltered. "No. Not again."
"What's happening?" I demanded, but my voice shook.
Riven stepped forward. "You woke us. You tied yourself to us again. The bond doesn't just link our lives." His hand hovered inches from my chest, as if he could feel the heat rising through my body. "It ties our hunger… our rage… and everything we once were."
I flinched back. "Then sever it."
Kael laughed bitterly. "You think it works that way? You killed us once, darling. Do you want to see what happens when you try it again?"
The shadows coiled tighter, spreading from my feet to the walls, devouring the torchlight. I could feel their hearts now, beating in rhythm with mine three perfect echoes in the dark. Each throb sent a pulse of heat through me, too strong to fight.
Lucian moved first, his voice low, steady, the calm before a storm. "She's fighting it. You'll burn her alive if you keep pushing."
Riven's eyes gleamed like moonlight on steel. "She'll survive. She always does."
Kael stepped closer, circling me like a wolf stalking prey. "Tell me, little queen," he murmured. "Do you want to fight us… or do you want to know what comes next?"
I tried to speak, but the words caught. The bond was pulling tighter, weaving between us like invisible chains, humming with a strange, dangerous energy that tasted of blood and desire.
Riven stopped in front of me, his breath brushing my lips. "We were kings once," he whispered. "And you were our undoing. Now you will be our rebirth."
The torches flared, then died all at once.
And in the darkness, something ancient and powerful surged through the keep a force that belonged to none of us, and yet to all.
The keep was silent again.
Only the wind moved sighing through the broken arrow slits, brushing the ashes in the hearth into faint spirals of smoke. I hadn't realized I was trembling until Lucian's hand found mine. His touch was cool, steady, grounding.
"You should rest," he said quietly.
"I can't." My voice sounded hollow even to me.
He didn't argue. Lucian never did. He simply watched me for a long moment, eyes catching what little light remained. There was something unreadable in them warmth, maybe, or hunger disguised as patience.
"Then sit," he murmured, guiding me toward the chair by the fire. When I resisted, he tilted his head slightly. "It's not a request."
There was no threat in his tone, only certainty. The kind that made obedience feel like surrender.
I sat.
Lucian crouched before me, his movements slow, deliberate. His hands rested on his knees, not touching me yet, but close enough that I could feel the pull that strange magnetic hum between us.
"They'll push you," he said softly. "Kael and Riven. They'll tear at you until you either break or give in."
"And you?"
He smiled faintly, the kind of smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'll wait.
His gaze slipped lower, tracing the line of my throat. "You don't remember what waiting did to me, do you? The way I burned while you forgot us."
"I didn't forget."
"No," he agreed. "You buried us."
I looked away, but his hand came up, fingertips brushing my jaw. His touch was barely there gentle, reverent, dangerous. "You've always been too brave," he murmured. "Even when you were terrified."
His thumb grazed my lower lip. The room felt smaller, the air too thick.
"Lucian," I whispered.
He leaned closer until I could feel his breath ghost against my skin. "Don't speak my name like that," he said softly. "It makes me remember what I shouldn't."
"What's that?
He smiled, slow and devastating. "How it felt to be yours."
The shadows seemed to stir at the edge of the room. The bond pulsed again, that same rhythm from before three heartbeats layered over mine.
Lucian's voice dropped to a whisper. "Do you feel them too?"
"Yes."
"Good." His hand moved to the back of my neck, his thumb tracing small circles against my skin. "Then you know this isn't over. What's between us it's waking up."
His words sank deep, and for a heartbeat I thought I saw something else flicker behind his calm a brief flash of gold in his eyes, something ancient and hungry. Then it was gone.
He stood slowly, his touch leaving my skin cold in its absence. "Sleep if you can," he said, his voice gentle again. "You'll need your strength."
"Why?"
Lucian paused at the doorway, half turned toward me. "Because Kael doesn't wait."
And then he was gone, leaving only the faint echo of his heartbeat beneath mine.