Kael's POV
The bond screams.
Lyra's terror slams into me like a physical blow, so powerful it drops me to my knees. Through our connection, I feel everything: rough hands dragging her, cloth over her mouth, darkness swallowing her consciousness.
Then nothing. The bond goes cold and empty.
"No!" I roar, my power exploding outward. The walls of the fortress crack. Windows shatter. "LYRA!"
Zara grabs my shoulder. "Kael, what happened?"
"She's gone. Someone took her." I reach for the bond, trying to track her location, but something is blocking it—powerful magic that shouldn't exist. "I can't feel where she is. They're using a suppression spell."
"Who would dare kidnap someone under the Reaper's protection?"
My mind races through possibilities, but I already know the answer. "Calista. She couldn't execute Lyra openly, so she's doing it in secret."
I summon my sword—black metal that drinks light—and open a portal to the Celestial Court. "Stay here in case I'm wrong about the location."
"Kael, wait!" Zara calls after me. "If you attack the Court directly, they'll call it treason. You'll be executed too!"
"Then I'll take as many of them with me as I can."
I step through the portal.
I emerge in the throne room of the Celestial Court. It's the middle of the night, so the massive chamber should be empty.
It's not.
Hundreds of divine beings fill the space—warriors, priestesses, council members. All of them armed. All of them waiting for me.
At the far end of the room, Lyra kneels on the crystal floor, her hands bound with silver chains that glow with suppression magic. She's awake now, struggling against the guards holding her down.
And standing over her, looking triumphant, is High Priestess Calista.
"Kael Nightborne," Calista's voice echoes through the chamber. "How kind of you to join us. We were just about to proceed with the execution you so rudely delayed earlier."
"You violated sacred law." My voice comes out as a growl. "She's under my protection. The bond is absolute."
"The bond is void." Calista smiles. "We discovered evidence that the girl has been corrupted by shadow magic—the same dark power that possessed the Shadow King three centuries ago. Under sacred law, any being touched by shadow corruption must be executed immediately. Your protection means nothing against that."
Lies. All lies. But spoken in front of the entire Court, her words become official truth.
"Show me this evidence," I demand.
"We don't need to show you anything, Reaper. You're a weapon, not a judge." Calista turns to the guards. "Execute her. Now."
"NO!" Lyra screams. Through the weakened bond, I feel her panic, her desperate desire to live. "I didn't do anything! Please, I just want to go home!"
A guard raises his sword above her neck.
I move faster than thought itself, crossing the massive throne room in a heartbeat. My blade meets his, stopping the execution strike an inch from Lyra's throat.
Every warrior in the room draws their weapon and points it at me.
"Stand down, Reaper," Calista orders. "Or we'll execute you both for treason."
"Try it." My power floods the room like a rising tide. Shadows pour from my body, and the temperature drops so fast that frost forms on the crystal floor. "Anyone who touches her dies. Starting with you, Priestess."
For the first time, fear flickers across Calista's face.
But she recovers quickly. "You would declare war on the entire Celestial Court for one half-breed girl? Have you gone mad?"
"I'm honoring a debt. Something you wouldn't understand." I reach down and break Lyra's chains with my bare hands. The suppression magic shatters. "Get behind me."
Lyra scrambles to her feet and presses against my back. Through the bond, I feel her fear mixing with desperate hope. She trusts me to save her.
Gods help me, I can't let her down.
"This is your last warning," I say to the Court. "Let us leave peacefully, or I'll kill everyone between me and that door."
"You can't fight all of us," a council member says. "Even you have limits, Reaper."
"Want to test that theory?"
Before anyone can answer, the massive doors of the throne room explode inward.
A figure walks through the smoke and debris—a man dressed in silver armor that shines like captured starlight. His presence is so powerful that even the council members step back.
"That's enough," the man's voice booms with authority. "This trial is a farce, and we all know it."
Calista's face goes white. "Commander Darius. This doesn't concern you."
"It concerns me when the High Priestess kidnaps a protected prisoner and tries to execute her in the middle of the night without proper trial." Darius walks toward us slowly. His hand rests on his sword, but he's not threatening—he's making a statement. "I'm invoking the Right of Fair Judgment. This girl deserves a real trial before the full council, not a secret execution."
Darius is one of the few people in this Court I trust. We fought together in the Shadow War. He's seen me at my worst and never judged.
"We have evidence of corruption!" Calista protests.
"Then present it in daylight, before witnesses, where it can be examined properly." Darius stops next to me and Lyra. "Or are you afraid of what a real investigation might reveal?"
It's a direct challenge. The other council members are watching now, interested. Calista has overplayed her hand.
"Fine," Calista says through gritted teeth. "The girl will be held in the prison cells until a proper trial can be arranged. But she stays HERE, in the Court's custody, not with the Reaper."
"Absolutely not," I growl.
"Kael." Darius puts a hand on my shoulder and speaks quietly. "Choose your battles. She'll be safe in the cells—I'll guard her myself. But if you fight here, now, you'll both die. Let them have this small victory while we prepare for the real war."
Everything in me screams to refuse. To grab Lyra and fight our way out. But Darius is right. I can't win against the entire Court, and Lyra will die if I try.
I turn to Lyra. Her eyes are huge, terrified. "Trust me," I say quietly. "This isn't over."
"But—"
"Trust me."
Through the bond, I push every ounce of certainty I have into her mind. I will get her out. I will keep her safe. I will not let Calista win.
Lyra's fear calms slightly. She nods.
"Take her to the cells," Calista orders. "And place the strongest suppression spell on her. I don't want her powers activating unexpectedly."
Guards move forward and grab Lyra. She doesn't fight as they lead her away. But her eyes stay locked on mine until she disappears through a side door.
The moment she's gone, the bond goes quiet again—blocked by the prison's magic.
"You're making a mistake," I tell Calista.
"The only mistake was letting you claim her in the first place." Calista steps closer, her voice dropping so only I can hear. "That girl is more dangerous than you realize, Reaper. She carries the Shadow King's power in her blood. When it fully awakens, she'll destroy everything—including you. I'm trying to save us all."
"By murdering an innocent girl?"
"By preventing another war." Calista's eyes are cold. "Twenty-five years ago, I did what needed to be done. I'll do it again if I must. And if you get in my way, even your legendary power won't save you."
She walks away, leaving me standing in the throne room with Darius.
"She just confessed to killing Selene," Darius says quietly.
"I know. But we can't prove it without evidence." I clench my fists. "I need to get Lyra out of here before Calista finds a way to execute her 'legally.'"
"Then we need to work fast. The trial is set for three days from now." Darius looks at me seriously. "Kael, I need to know—why are you doing this? Why risk everything for this girl?"
I think about Lyra's gentle hands on my face. The way she looked at me like I was worth saving. The few seconds of peace she gave me from my curse.
"Because she's the first person in three hundred years who made me want to live instead of die," I admit. "And I'm not letting Calista take that away from me."
Darius nods slowly. "Then we fight. But we need allies. And evidence."
"I know where to start." I open a portal back to my fortress. "There's someone who knows the truth about Selene's death. Someone who's been hiding for twenty-five years, waiting for the right moment."
"Who?"
"The Oracle who cursed me. She sees all possible futures—including the one where Calista murders the Moon Goddess and gets away with it." I step toward the portal. "Time to make her talk."
Three hours later, I'm deep in the Forbidden Forest, standing before a cave that normal people can't find. Magic older than the Court itself guards this place.
"Oracle!" I call into the darkness. "I know you're here. I need answers about Selene's death."
Silence.
Then a laugh—ancient, knowing, terrifying.
"Oh, little Reaper," a voice echoes from the cave. "You've finally come asking the right questions. But are you prepared for the answers?"
"Tell me how to save Lyra. Tell me how to prove Calista killed Selene."
"I can do better than that." The Oracle emerges from the shadows—an old woman whose eyes contain entire galaxies. "I can tell you what that girl REALLY is. What she'll become when her power fully awakens."
"What do you mean?"
The Oracle's smile is sad. "Lyra isn't just the Moon Goddess's daughter, Kael. She's something that hasn't existed since the dawn of creation. She's the balance between light and shadow. Life and death. Divine and mortal." The Oracle steps closer. "And in three days, during her trial, her power will awaken fully. When that happens, she'll have to choose: save the world, or destroy it. And you, bound to her by soul and fate, will have no choice but to follow her into whichever path she picks."
My blood runs cold. "You're saying she could become like the Shadow King."
"I'm saying she could become WORSE. Or infinitely better. It all depends on one thing."
"What?"
"Whether she believes she's worth saving." The Oracle looks at me with ancient eyes. "You told her to trust you. But Kael Nightborne—can you trust HER when the darkness calls her name?"
Before I can answer, the bond suddenly flares to life with such intensity it brings me to my knees.
Lyra is screaming.
And through our connection, I feel something impossible: her power is waking up early, exploding outward in waves of silver light and shadow.
The prison cells can't contain it.
And everyone inside the Celestial Court is about to discover exactly how powerful the Moon Goddess's daughter really is.