The violent flare settles into something steady, rhythmic, matching my heartbeat exactly. Which is creepy as hell, by the way.
But I can’t look away.
The group circles me instinctively. Kaia reaches me first, standing close enough that I can feel the warmth of her. Aspen and Torric flank her. Malrik hangs back, observing. Kieran watches with something like understanding in his eyes.
Darian stays at the edge. Watching from a distance.
“Finn?” Kaia says softly.
I don’t answer. I’m already moving.
The air crackles as I step into the tunnel. My magic surges in response, rising to meet whatever the hell is calling to it.
The carvings are different from the others.
Where Malrik’s hall is ordered and regal, mine is… chaos. Literally. Swirling patterns that never repeat, symbols that seem to shift when I blink, energy captured in wood that feels like it’s about to burst free at any moment.
And at the center of it all — a Valkyrie.
She stands in the eye of the storm, chaos swirling around her but never touching her. Not controlling it. Not fighting it.Wieldingit. Like chaos was always meant to be hers.
It should be weird.
It’s not.
For the first time in my life, my magic doesn’t feel like a glitch in the system. It feels like a key.
I reach out before I can talk myself out of it, and the wall reaches back. The wood is warm under my fingers, thrumming with power that echoes the chaos in my blood. The carvings pulse brighter, welcoming, and something in my chest does something uncomfortable.
Because the thing I’ve never talked about? I’ve never belonged anywhere.
Not really. Not completely. I’ve always been too much — too loud, too chaotic, too likely to accidentally set something on fire or say the wrong thing or make a joke when everyone else is being serious. Even with Kaia, even with the others, there’s always been a part of me that wondered if I was really wanted or just… tolerated. The comic relief. The one they keep around because someone has to lighten the mood.
But this place…
This place was waiting for me. Specifically me. Chaos and all.
“Finn?”
I blink, and Kaia is there. Right beside me, inside my hall, her shadows curling around both of us.
She doesn’t ask if I’m okay. She just stands near me, close enough that I can feel the warmth of her, and lets me have this moment. It’s annoying. And also the reason I’m probably in love with her, but we’re not thinking about that right now.
“You feel it too,” I say quietly. “Don’t you?”
She nods.
Behind her, the others have gathered at the entrance to my hall. Aspen and Torric, shoulder to shoulder. Kieran, raw but steady. Malrik, watching with that quiet intensity.
They’re all here. For me.
Something cracks in my chest. Something I’ve been holding together for a very long time.
Kaia turns to face me fully. Her violet eyes are soft, steady, certain.
“I see you, Finn,” she says quietly. “I always have.” She pauses, something flickering across her face — regret, maybe. Recognition. “Even when I didn’t know it.”
She holds out her hand.
