Thaelyn stepped closer. “That’s not what I asked. You’re planning to go somewhere without me.”
Thorne didn’t respond right away. Instead, he took her hand and brought it to his lips, holding it there.
“You are the Watcher’s heart,” he murmured. “The sigil lives through you. If anything happens–”
She jerked her hand away. “Don’t you dare,” she said, her voice rough with fury. “Don’t you dare say it like it’s already decided. You think you can carry this alone? After everything?”
He didn’t flinch. “Someone must.”
“We’re bonded,” she snapped. “Our dragons are bonded. Our fates are linked. If you disappear into some noble sacrifice, the balance will tilt before the moons ever rise.”
Thorne closed the distance between them, his brow pressed to hers. “That’s what terrifies me most.”
Nyxariel landed outside the Asgar Training Academy, wings twitching. She breathed deep, trying to suppress the ache rising from her chest. Vornokh circled once before joining her, his steps heavier than usual.
“They remember,”Nyxariel said. “The ground remembers. The sky remembers. The Rift is calling.”
“Then, we answer,”Vornokh growled.
That night, the dreams returned. But this time, the dragons were not alone. Thaelyn woke breathless, her body crackling with Aether. Thorne bolted upright, sweat dripping from his forehead.
“Did you see it?” she whispered.
He nodded. “We were standing on the edge of the Rift. And the moons were red.”
Her hands curled into fists. “And your hands were black.”
He met her gaze. “Your eyes were glowing.”
They both sat in silence, the weight of what was coming pressing against them like the tide before a storm. When morning broke, the sky shimmered at the edges again. The color had not returned to normal. It never would. Not until the choice was made. Only one of them could choose.
Chapter
Fifty-Eight
The wind clawed at the citadel’s spires, dragging with it the smell of smoke and blood and coming ruin. The skies were changing. The Veil frayed at the seams of the world. And deep within the eastern wing of the Asgar Training Academy, Thorne Dareth sat alone in a chamber that no longer felt like his own. He hadn’t slept. Not really. Not in days.
Shadows curled in the corners of the room like wolves waiting to pounce. They didn’t bite, not yet, but they whispered. They knew. They remembered. The feel of Thaelyn’s body crumpling in his arms. The silence that followed. The void of what almost was. And what still might come.
He stood now at the hearth, flamelight licking across the broad planes of his bare chest, across the sigils inked into his skin by fate and fire. Darkness circled the edge of his pupils. It hadn’t faded, not since she was taken. He could feel the black magic swirling in him and calling to him. His mother, the healer, and Thaelyn were not successful in extracting it after the hit he received from the Necromancer. He pressed his palms to the stone mantel, bowing his head. Breath ragged.
What have I become?
He’d thought power would come with purpose. That becoming something stronger meant becoming someonebetter. But this wasn’t a strength. It was surrendering.
There had been a moment, just one, when she had fallen, andhe had reached, not with hope, not with light, but with shadow. With fury. With everything he had promised himself, he would never touch. He’d done it for her. For the girl who kissed him like he was still human. For the girl who saw the storm in him and did not flinch. But the cost–Gods, the cost. The chamber door creaked. He didn’t turn.
"You're going to break if you keep holding it in," said a soft voice behind him. It was Vaelen Solen.
Thorne let out a long breath through his nose. "And what happens when I do?"
Vaelen’s steps were quiet across the stone floor, but he didn’t approach. "Then you’ll burn, Thorne. And someone else will pay the price."
He turned now, slow and controlled, the way a blade turns when it’s sheathed too long. "She’ll die if I don’t stop Kaen."
Vaelen’s expression didn’t change, but something in his eyes, some ancient regret, dimmed. "And what if stopping him means losing yourself?"
Thorne didn’t answer. Because he already knew.
