The moment the heavy dining doors shut behind them, the golden flicker of the chandelier dimmed—as if even light dared not chase Pond and Phuwin down the marble hallway.
The silence they'd left behind cracked open.
Santa let out a slow breath, one hand bracing his belly while Perth pulled his chair back gently.
"He's not... completely gone," Santa murmured, voice strained. "You saw it. When Phuwin touched him."
"He only listens to *Phuwin*," Dunk whispered. "No one else."
Joong pushed his chair back violently. "You're all afraid of him. Admit it."
"No one said we weren't," Gemini said quietly. "But being afraid doesn't mean we stop loving him."
Gun, who hadn't spoken again since Pond dismissed him, finally broke. His voice trembled.
"He spoke with *the voice.* That wasn't just Pond."
Off nodded grimly. "That was the *Iris Enigma.*"
,Outside, in the East Wing Garden
The air shimmered around Pond like heat off sun-scorched metal.
Phuwin held his hand tightly.
The moment they were far enough from the others, Pond stopped and turned. His hands cupped Phuwin's face—not roughly, not desperately. Just... full of a yearning that split through centuries.
🜂 *"You asked me to be gentle."*
Phuwin nodded.
🜂 *"I tried."*
He pressed their foreheads together.
🜂 *"But the Enigma inside me—he remembers every life we failed. Every death you died in my arms. This time... I cannot be soft."*
Phuwin swallowed. "I know. But that doesn't mean you have to disappear, Pond."
🜂 *"What if Pond was just a cocoon? And I was what always lived beneath?"*
Phuwin smiled sadly, brushing his thumb under Pond's eye. "Then I love the cocoon and the monster inside."
Pond shuddered. He pressed a kiss to Phuwin's cheek—then jaw—then neck. His teeth grazed the mark gently.
🜂 *"Say it again."*
"I love all of you," Phuwin whispered. "And you're not alone anymore."
,Meanwhile, in the Forgotten Garden
Pond had knelt before Phuwin, resting his head against his mate's stomach.
🜂 *"They still plot. They still fear me."*
"I know."
🜂 *"They will come for you again."*
Phuwin touched his hair, threading his fingers through it. "Then let them."
Pond looked up, eyes glowing with a dangerous calm.
🜂 *"Next time... I will not show mercy."*
Phuwin kissed his forehead.
"You never had to," he said. "Because now—we're stronger *together.*"
And from the heart of the Enigma, the garden bloomed.
A thousand silver flowers bursting open in a ring around them—each one pulsing with the same magic that lived inside Pond's heart.
It was a new beginning.
But it would come with a *reckoning.*
The night fell heavy and still over the Naravit estate.
From the outside, it looked peaceful—silver moonlight washing over rooftops, laughter still echoing faintly from the east wing where the younger ones stayed up late teasing Joong and Dunk. Someone was making tea. Someone else was tuning a broken radio for background music. It felt like a fragile kind of normal.
But under the surface, something shifted.
The wards trembled.
And inside the main parlor—where the heart of their family had gathered—**the Enigma spoke.**
Pond stood by the window, back to the room. He hadn't spoken in hours.
Phuwin sat beside Off and Gun, who refused to leave his side, even though they were still shaken. Santa rubbed slow circles over his belly while Perth leaned protectively near him. Joong sat beside Dunk, whose fingers fidgeted constantly with the hem of his sleeve.
Gemini watched Pond like one might watch a caged god—praying the bars were still strong.
And then, without turning, **he spoke.**
🜂 *"Santa."*
Santa startled. "Y-Yeah?"
🜂 *"You still blame yourself for your sister's death. You think if you love this child too much, you'll lose it too."*
Silence choked the room. Santa's hand stopped over his belly.
🜂 *"Stop bargaining with fate. Your grief does not make you guilty. And this child—*will* be born in joy, if you let them."*
Santa's eyes glistened. He nodded once, speechless.
🜂 *"Dunk."*
Dunk flinched, jaw tight.
🜂 *"You don't believe you're worth being chosen. That Joong will grow bored of loving someone who cries in their sleep."*
Dunk's breath hitched, and Joong's hand instantly found his.
🜂 *"But you are not here because you were convenient. You are here because you were strong enough to survive what tried to break you. Don't insult that by hiding your heart now."*
Joong pulled Dunk close, whispering something only he could hear.
🜂 *"Gemini."*
Gemini exhaled sharply.
🜂 *"You keep your distance, not out of fear of me—but because you see too much of yourself in what I've become."*
🜂 *"You buried someone once. You *burned* for them."*
🜂 *"And you still haven't forgiven the gods for surviving it."*
Gemini's eyes flooded. He didn't move, but his grip on the chair was white-knuckled.
🜂 *"You do not have to forgive them. But forgive yourself."*
A beat.
🜂 *"You lived. That is not a betrayal."*
While the room sat stunned in quiet unraveling, **the head of security made their move.**
Krit, loyal since Pond was thirteen. Krit, who trained half the estate's soldiers. Krit, who held every key to every ward.
He moved through the shadows like a ghost, already inside the perimeter of Phuwin's quarters. Already speaking quietly to the figure cloaked in white beside him.
**A Sealing Collar. Ancient. Spiked with blood magic.**
"I'll place it around the omega's throat," Krit said coldly. "Once it locks, his heartbeat will sync with Pond's. If the Enigma resists, it kills them both. The council will be free."
"But what about the others?" the cloaked figure asked.
Krit smirked. "Let the monster lose one more thing. It'll break what's left of him."
Outside in the garden, where petals still glowed silver from the night Pond and Phuwin had bloomed them, the Enigma raised his head slowly.
🜂 *"They move."*
Phuwin stirred beside him. "What?"
🜂 *"Krit. He carries a collar meant for you."*
Phuwin froze. "No. No, Krit would never—"
🜂 *"He already has."*
And then, without warning, Pond *moved.* A blur of violet shimmer, dark coat trailing behind him like wings of smoke. He did not run.
He *vanished.*
Krit had almost reached the inner chamber when the lights blinked once, twice—
—and went dark.
A pulse of pressure filled the room.
Then: a whisper, crawling through the stone.
🜂 *"Krit."*
The guards near him collapsed to their knees, unable to breathe. The cloaked figure shrieked and vanished in ash.
And then Pond stood before Krit, eyes glowing so bright it cast shadows behind him.
Phuwin followed seconds later, barefoot, his presence soft—but his gaze was fire.
Krit drew a blade. "I did what was necessary."
🜂 *"Necessary,"* Pond echoed.
🜂 *"You would collar the one thing keeping me from tearing this world apart."*
"I was loyal to the *boy* I raised!" Krit snarled. "Not the monster wearing his skin!"
Pond stepped forward.
🜂 *"You never raised me. You *caged* me."*
He reached out, and the blade dropped from Krit's hand. Not because he wanted it to—but because it melted to silver smoke.
🜂 *"And now\... I set myself free."*
Krit fell to his knees.
But before Pond could raise a hand, Phuwin stepped between them. He looked down at Krit with a fury that did not shake, did not yell.
"You had his trust," he said. "You had mine."
"And still, you chose fear."
He took the collar and crushed it in his bare hands—**and it shattered like glass.**
🜂 *"Let him live,"* Phuwin said quietly to Pond. *"Let him see what loyalty really means. From the ones who never stopped believing."*
Pond looked at him for a long moment.
🜂 *"You are the only law I obey now."*
And he turned his back on Krit.
No one slept that night.
Santa wept quietly in the nursery. Gemini and Gun reinforced the estate wards. Joong refused to let Dunk out of his sight.
And Pond?
He knelt once more in the garden with Phuwin, their hands pressed together, their bond humming with something ancient.
🜂 *"They will come again."*
"They can come," Phuwin said. "We're ready now."
The silver flowers around them began to *burn*—petal by petal into glowing embers.
Not in destruction.
In transformation.