“You should know,” Theo says quietly, and everyone turns. “After you and Bree came back from the Void that first time, I searched. Found fragments in old scrolls.” His voice is grim. “Ethos doesn’t just feed. He consumes. Breaks people down until there’s nothing left but what he wants them to be.”
Thane’s face drains of color. “And he has her.”
The room goes silent.
“How bad?” He looks at Seth, and there’s something desperate in Thane’s expression now. “How bad is she?”
Seth’s throat works. “Fading. She had new scars from the Void, and he was—” He stops, swallows hard. “She was terrified of me. But she bonded me anyway.”
“Which means the bond is our anchor,” Thane says, and his voice steadies with purpose. Cold calculation replacing panic. “The connection is real, stable. We can use it to navigate.”
I step forward before anyone can spiral. “Then we need a plan.”
“How?” Rhett demands. “How do we even get to her?”
“The bond,” Wes says suddenly. “Seth said he found her. That means he got close enough to—”
“Touch her,” Seth confirms.
The snake coiled around his wrist glows faintly silver, moving with its own life.
“What is that?” Wes breathes.
The door at the top of the stairs opens, and Zira appears, carrying a bundle of clothes. She descends quickly, eyes locking on Seth’s wrist.
“A familiar,” she says. She looks at Seth, then at the others. “Bree might not even know she has them. That one wouldn’t have gone with him unless it trusted him. Unless it knew he belonged with her.”
“So the bond is real,” Stellan says quietly.
Zira nods. “The familiar proves it. They can feel connections we can’t see.”
The jealousy that flickers across Rhett’s and Jace’s faces is immediate. They don’t say anything, but I see it—the territorial anger at someone else being bonded to her while they’re stuck here, helpless.
“That’s our anchor,” Thane says, silver eyes fixed on Seth’s wrist. “The bond connects you to her—which means it connects us to her.”
“You’re suggesting we use Seth to navigate,” Stellan says, and there’s warning in his voice.
“It’s the only way,” Thane says. “The Void has no landmarks, no direction. But the bond is a tether. If Seth can feel it strongly enough, we follow him.”
“Through the mirrors,” Theo adds quietly. “The Oath chamber responded to Bree weeks ago. The connection might still be open.”
“And if it’s not?” Stellan asks.
“Then we’re trapped too,” I say. “But at least we’ll be with her.”
“There’s one more thing we need to talk about,” Thane says. “The Oath.”
Stellan nods. “If we’re going into the Void—really going in, not just getting thrown back out—we need every advantage we can get.”
“The Oath binds you to your mirror self,” Thane continues. “Gives you access to power you wouldn’t have otherwise. In the Void, that could be the difference between surviving and being consumed.”
“We’ve been working with the Feeders who came to the sanctuary,” Stellan adds. “Helping them take the Oath. Bree’s Ether opened the chamber—it works now.”
Wes straightens. “How many have taken it?”
“One hundred and twelve so far,” Zira says, holding out the clothes to Seth. “All successful. And you look like you could use something that fits—borrowed these from Wes.”
Seth takes them gratefully. “Thank you.”
