Footsteps echo from the hallway as Stellan appears in the doorway, reading the room with that predatory awareness of his.
Before anyone can ask more questions, Thane's phone rings. He checks the screen, frowns deeply, and steps back outside without a word.
The kitchen holds its breath. Through the glass door, we can see Thane pacing, his free hand gesturing sharply as he speaks in a voice too low to hear.
Then, clear as day:
“Fuck.”
Everyone goes still.
I’m halfway to the door when he steps back in, tension bleeding off him in waves. His face is drawn, his usual calm replaced with something colder. Sharper.
“That didn’t sound good,” Gray says carefully.
Thane doesn’t look at him. He looks at Bree.
“The spells around the sanctuary started unraveling the moment you awakened the Ether,” he says quietly. “Magical surveillance has already started pinging. The Council’s getting closer than I expected.”
He exhales, just once. “It’s not ready. Not the way I planned.”
A long silence.
“Then we don’t go?” Jace asks.
“We still go,” Thane says, his eyes fixed on Bree. “Becauseyoushould see it. Because it’s yours.” His voice softens—just barely—as he adds, “And after that, we’ll find somewhere safe.”
Stellan, who’s been quiet until now, steps into the doorway. “You’re not walking into a trap,” he says. “You’re walking into your inheritance.”
The words land heavy in the kitchen’s charged air.
I watch Bree process them—see the exact moment she stops thinking like someone who isn’t capable, and starts choosing who she wants to be.
The Ether curls higher around her waist, no longer restless but ready. Like it’s responding not to pressure, but to her decision.
“Then we go,” she says simply.
And just like that, everything changes.
Chapter 16
Bree
The blanket feels wrong in my hands. I sit cross-legged on my bed, turning the soft fabric over in my palms. Jace gave it to me along with all those other things—that overwhelming pile of gifts that made me cry."I saw this blanket, and it reminded me of your eyes when you actually smile,"he'd said, nervous energy making him younger somehow. The memory of his words still makes my chest tight.
But now, holding it, I don't know if I should pack it. Taking it with me to the sanctuary feels like accepting that I'm leaving—reallyleaving. Like I'm choosing them over... what? Over the illusion of independence I've been clinging to?
The house has settled into quiet around me. The others have either gone to bed or drifted into their own spaces to deal with whatever we're all feeling after today. After Theo's vision. After Thane's warning.
After everything changed, again.
The mist curls around my ankles, restless and waiting. It's been doing that all evening—hovering close, like it wants me to say something. Tosomeone. But I don't know what words I'm supposed to find for any of this.
A soft knock interrupts my spiral.
“You still awake?”
Gray’s voice, quiet through the door. I hesitate, my grip tightening on the blanket.
