But Mira shook her head. "Not in the way you're thinking. It's not physical pain. It's the ache of walls coming down, of armor you've worn so long you forgot it wasn't part of your skin. It's scary and wonderful and exhausting and freeing all at once." Her smile was sad and knowing. "And when it's over, when you come back to adult space, you'll be different. Not broken—never that. But softer. More able to accept care. More able to be loved."
"How long?" I asked Sereis, latching onto practical details because I needed something concrete to hold onto.
"A week of regression minimum, maybe longer depending on how stubborn the mark is. The corruption should start receding within three to four days as it loses its food source. By day seven, it should be weak enough that the bond can finish burning it out." His expression was carefully neutral, but I caught the flicker of concern underneath. "It's not a comfortable process. The mark will fight back, try to trigger adult fears to pull youout of regression. Caelus will need to be vigilant, help you stay in littlespace when the mark tries to drag you back to terror."
Through the bond, I felt Caelus's fierce protectiveness surge. He would keep me there, I understood. Would hold me in that safe space through whatever the mark tried, through my own resistance, through everything.
Lark touched my arm gently. "When you're Little, you won't understand all of this. Won't remember why it's important or what's at stake. You'll just know that Daddy makes the rules and following them makes you safe. That's okay. That's how it's supposed to work. Trust him with the remembering, and just focus on being small."
The simplicity of it made something in my chest unclench slightly. I wouldn't have to carry everything. Wouldn't have to understand or plan or fight. Just be Little, and let Caelus handle the rest.
"Okay," I said, and my voice only shook a little.
Davoren moved forward, and the temperature in the chamber climbed several degrees. His presence was different from the others—less patient, more direct, fire burning away any comfort we might have been building. When he spoke, his voice carried the weight of someone delivering news that would hurt but refusing to soften the blow.
"After the regression, you must seal the caretaker pact," he said, looking directly at Caelus. "This is not negotiable, and the reasons are fundamental to how bond-magic works."
I watched Caelus's jaw tighten, felt through the bond how he was already seeing where this was going and dreading it.
"The Pact requires consent between equals," Davoren continued, each word deliberate. "Adult Wren agreeing to the terms with full understanding of what she's accepting. It's a sacred contract, witnessed by magic older than our kind, and itdemands that both parties enter it with clear minds and mature comprehension."
"But if she's in deep regression—" Caelus started.
"She won't be capable of that consent," Davoren finished. "She'll be Little, operating from a different headspace that can't grasp the full implications of permanent power exchange. If you try to perform the Pact ceremony while she's regressed, it won't take properly. At best, it will fail to seal. At worst, it will create a corrupted version that hurts you both."
The truth of it sat heavy in the chamber. I'd felt it myself during Lark's explanation—the idea that while Little, I wouldn't understand or remember the stakes. How could I possibly consent to something permanent if I couldn't even hold adult reasoning in my head?
"So the order must be," Davoren laid it out like battle strategy, uncompromising in its logic, "regression to purge the mark, return to adult headspace, negotiate and sign the Pact contract, perform the bonding ceremony, then and only then can you consummate safely."
Garruk stepped forward, his presence grounding where Davoren's had been heated. "And you cannot have sex during the regression. That would be the worst possible outcome." His moss-agate eyes moved between Caelus and me, making sure we both understood. "Wren would be too vulnerable, too open, her defenses completely down. The mark would corrupt everything instantly—not just the bond, but her regression itself. She'd be trapped in a nightmare version of littlespace with the Unnamed wearing her skin."
I felt cold fingers of horror trace down my spine. The image he painted was worse than anything else—being Little and helpless while something else moved my body, spoke with my voice, looked at Caelus with eyes that weren't mine anymore.
"It won't come to that," Caelus said, and his voice was iron. Through the bond, I felt him taking Garruk's warning and forging it into unbreakable law, just like he'd done with Kara's command earlier. He would rather die than let that happen.
"We start tomorrow," Caelus said, and his voice strained but steady. "I'll prepare the Nursery tonight. Wren needs to rest, eat properly, regain what strength she can before we begin."
The Dragon Lords nodded, already shifting into planning mode. They'd coordinate watches, maintain the monastery's wards, continue investigating the cult's activities. Give us the space and time to do what needed to be done.
But it was Lark who approached me as the meeting began to break up, Mica still clutched in her arms. She touched my hand gently, her earth-sense reading something in me that made her eyes sad and knowing.
"It's going to be okay," she said softly. "It won't feel like it sometimes. The mark will try to make you scared, try to pull you out of regression with nightmares and compulsions. But Caelus will keep you safe. And when it's over, when you come back—" She smiled, and it was full of hard-won peace. "When you come back, you'll be free. Really free. Not just surviving anymore."
I wanted to believe her. Standing there feeling the mark pulse and the bond ache and the impossible timeline stretch ahead of us, I desperately wanted to believe that two weeks from now, I'd be on the other side of this darkness.
Caelus's hand found the small of my back—not quite touching, but close enough that I felt his warmth. Through the bond, his determination wrapped around me like armor.
"We're going to make it," he said quietly, for my ears alone. "I've waited thousands of years for you, Wren. I can wait two more weeks to have you properly."
The certainty in his voice made something in my chest settle. The Dragon Lords filed out, taking their mates with them. Planswere being made, support structures put in place. By tomorrow, everything would change.
Tonight, I was still adult. Still aware of the full weight of what was coming.
Tomorrow, I'd start learning to let go.
Chapter 5
Themorningcamewrappedin mist that pressed against my window like it was trying to crawl inside, and with it came Caelus—silver hair still damp from his bath, storm-gray eyes shadowed with the weight of what we were about to attempt. He knocked once, a courtesy more than necessity since the bond had already told me he was coming, and entered carrying clothes that looked softer than anything I'd worn since my abduction.
