Kirill lifts both hands. "Through shadow and order, through silence and consequence, I pledge to the Royal Council."
I grind my jaw, but my voice matches Valentina's as the words roll out. "Through shadow and order, through silence and consequence, I pledge to the Royal Council."
Kirill continues. "My service is unbroken. My allegiance unshaken. My path intertwined with the Underworld. This is my true family."
We repeat it, and my stomach tightens enough to cramp.
My family is Finn and Brenna. That word is reserved for them and Sean, Fiona, Zara, and the rest of the O'Malleys.
Kirill's stare moves from Valentina to me. He drills it into my skull, as if he sees every internal objection without needing me to speak it aloud.
He continues, "I will guard the Underworld with my life. I will die in loyalty to the order that raised me anew."
My chest goes still.
Raised me anew?
The Underworld didn't raise me.
Finn and Brenna did.
He pulled me off the streets and taught me to swing a wrench. Brenna shoved books and vocabulary in my face so I could speak like someone who mattered. Declan and Nolan trained me to fight, hack, build, and repair. Sean became the closest thing to a brother I could ever have without sharing blood.
Those people raised me. This world didn't.
Beside me, Valentina repeats the words on command, her voice unshaken, unbroken, even as her face remains void of emotion.
I stare at her, heart thudding, trying to read anything in her eyes that might tell me she isn't willingly giving these people everything.
But she says the line again, steady, obedient, carved clean from every piece of control she's mastered over the years.
Kirill's gaze pins mine with something that borders on warning.
"Repeat it, Brax."
My jaw throbs. My breath grates at the edges of my lungs.
I can lie.
I can play along.
I can say the words.
But something inside me twists with the rebellion I grew up on. Men tried to own me my entire childhood. Gangs tried to drag me in. Dealers wanted me as a mule, an errand boy, or muscle. I never submitted. Not once. I stole, ran, fought, and survived alone until Finn saw something worth saving.
I owe loyalty to him until my last breath. Not to this masked ritual.
Fiona steps closer. She softly asks, "Do you need Kirill to repeat it?" Her eyes beg me not to rebel.
So I force the words out, each one scraping like broken glass as it passes my tongue. And the vow drops into the air with a weight that sickens my gut. "I will guard the Underworld with my life. I will die in loyalty to the order that raised me anew."
Kirill nods.
Fiona steps forward. Her hands lift and settle on Valentina and my shoulders. Her powerful voice fills the arena. "May you always have strength when needed, wisdom at all times, and clarity on every path set before you. We grant you protection by the order you now serve and weave safety around your lives so the Underworld does not lose what it has rightfully gained."
Did she feel safe and protected when her head was almost cut off three weeks ago?
Humming returns, echoing through the arena. Torches sway, shadows twist, and the air turns heavier.
