I knew what I was. What Peeble was. What the Convergence was really for.
And I knew, with terrible certainty, that when the moment came I would have to choose—save Kaelren and let the cycle continue, or break everything and hope that from the ashes, something true could finally grow.
30
Kaelren
The tunnel entrance loomed before us like an open wound in the earth, ancient stone carved with symbols that predated the division of courts. Three days. We had three days until the Convergence, and two of those would be spent crawling through darkness to reach Elle.
Three days felt like both forever and not nearly enough time.
“We camp here tonight,” I said, studying the entrance. My corruption had spread further during the day’s travel—black veins now crawled down my back and legs. “We enter at first light.”
“Smart,” Vashael agreed, already scouting the perimeter for defensible positions. “We’ll need rest before two days underground.”
The others moved with practiced efficiency, setting up our makeshift camp. Sarnyx created a thorned barrier around our perimeter. Nimor melted into shadows to stand watch. Eltrien sat cross-legged, his marks pulsing in patterns that might have been meditation or might have been communication with forces I didn’t understand.
And Bryx… Bryx was unusually quiet, sitting apart from the group with Kevin perched on his shoulder, their usual banter replaced by intense, whispered conversation punctuated by the bee’s agitated buzzing.
“You alright?” I asked, approaching him.
He startled, then forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Fine. Just… thinking about what we’re walking into.”
“Having second thoughts?”
“No.” The answer came too quickly. “No, I’m committed. We save Elle. That’s the plan.”
Something in his tone didn’t sit right, but before I could press him, Vashael called me over to help reinforce the barrier. By the time I looked back, Bryx had retreated to his tent, Kevin’s buzzing fading to silence.
I pushed my unease aside. We all dealt with pre-battle nerves differently.
After everything was settled and seemed quiet, I crawled into my tent. I hated to sleep away from the stars knowing it could be the last time I saw them, but I didn’t want the crew fretting over the expanse of corruption that ate at my very soul. Exhaustion pulled me under almost the moment I closed my eyes.
I should have realized immediately I was in the dreamscape we’d created before. Elle stood waiting for me, and the sight of her made my chest constrict with desperate longing.
She looked exhausted. Bruises shadowed her eyes, and like myself her marks had spread further. We were really two sides of the same coin. Two halves of a whole. But she was alive. She was here. And she was mine.
“Elle,” I breathed, crossing to her in three strides and pulling her against me.
She melted into my embrace, trembling. “Kaelren. God, I’ve missed you.”
“I’m coming for you. Three more days—”
“I know. I can feel you getting closer.” She pulled back enough to look at me, her Earth-green eyes fierce despite her exhaustion. “But there’s something you need to know. Something I learned.”
I cupped her face in my hands, marveling that in this space, my touch didn’t burn. “Tell me everything.”
“The seed,” she said urgently. “Beneath the Heartspire, hidden inchambers even Auradelle doesn’t know exist—there’s a seed. The original seed, from before the first flowering. It’s been waiting, growing, preparing for a second chance.”
“A second flowering?” Understanding dawned slowly. “You mean—”
“I mean the Bloom they’ve imprisoned, the one they’ve been using to maintain their hierarchy for generations—it’s dying because it was never meant to be controlled like this. It was supposed to be wild, free, constantly evolving. But they caged it, forced it into stagnation, and now it’s rotting from the inside out.” Her eyes blazed with fierce certainty. “But the seed… Kaelren, when the Crown first corrupted the Bloom, when they built their throne and their hierarchy on stolen power, the Root felt it. Felt the imbalance, felt how wrong it all was. So it did the only thing it could. It created a failsafe.”
“The seed,” I breathed, understanding dawning.
“The seed,” she confirmed. “Hidden so deep that no one who served the Crown would ever find it. A second chance, growing in darkness, waiting for someone to come along who wasn’t trying to rule the power but free it. The Root has been trying to correct this for generations, trying to undo what the Crown did. But it can’t force the change—it can only offer the opportunity.” Her hands gripped my shirt desperately. “We have to find it, Kaelren. We have to be the ones who finally accept what the Root has been offering all along. The chance to let the Bloom be what it was always meant to be—wild, free, growing without chains or thrones or anyone trying to own it.”
“How do you know this?”
