That got a weak smile. But as we pressed forward, I saw her reach for her ribs — for the wound — and then pause. Her fingers trembled… and shifted up to her shoulder.
Where the mark still burned beneath her skin.
And I knew we were running out of time.
Rheon
Shadowed flame
It burned again.
Low, slow at first — like the drag of smoldering coal across my chest — and then itroared.
My back arched from where I crouched atop the crumbling rooftop of the outer district. Clawed fingers dug into stone as I hissed through clenched teeth.
She’s hurt.
The mark —ourmark — seared brighter than it had since that night beneath the ruined moon. I clutched at it, snarling as if that could dull the agony it carried.
Seori.
I closed my eyes and reached through the tether. Not fully. Not enough for her to feel me. But enough tosee.
Blood.
Not much. But enough to draw panic clawing through my gut. I should’ve followed her sooner. Should’veneverlet her walk into the night without me at her side. Damn the Guild. Damn their creed.
My mate was bleeding, and there was nothing I could do.
I tracked her from the shadows. Always careful. Always distant. I wasn’t ready to break the pact — not yet — not when I’d barely tasted what it meant tohaveher. But I followed every move like her shadow had become mine.
I watched her stagger through the tree line with Minji braced beneath one arm and Yuna at her back. Watched the way her hand trembled over her ribs, fresh blood drying against black fabric. Her eyes were dazed, dull with exhaustion and confusion — and still, she held her head high when the Guild’s towers came into view.
Gods, she was fire. Even while burning. Even while breaking.
When she passed the threshold of the Guild gates, I finally let myself breathe. Just once. Relief cracked through my chest like lightning. But it didn’t last.
Because even now — perched on this forgotten rooftop, hiding in shadow and silence — I wasn’t thinking about the Guild. Or their rules. Or her ridiculous loyalty to a creed that would kill her before ever setting her free.
I was thinking of the demon that touched her. The one that cut her. The one that made her bleed, and my flames flared bright behind my eyes as I whispered into the night:
"Whoever hurt her… will burn."
I would find them. I would tear through every lair and shadowed den until I carved my fury into their bones. Because I felt her pain as my own. And that meantvengeance was mine to take.
Rheon
Ashes for her
The scent of blood was still on the wind. Not hers. Not anymore. But the bastard's who dared touch what was mine. Taeyang tracked ahead, silent and brutal as ever, his great blade strapped across his back like a promise. Jisoo walked beside me, his steps slower, more measured — like he thought he could still talk me down.
He couldn't.
None of them could.
“I’m only going to ask once,” Jisoo said as we reached the mouth of the crumbling crypt where the scent thickened like rot. “What are you going to do when you find him?”
I didn’t answer.
