"What will it do?" Aria asked, her gaze flicking nervously to the dark stone structure.
"It will drain you," Elias said simply, without malice, as if stating the weather. "It will pull the necessary energy from your life force because it has nowhere else to source it. It will turn you into a husk in a matter of seconds. Dust. And that is something I do not wish to see."
Aria paled, the golden markings on her neck dimming until they were barely visible against her stark white skin.
"So we need to charge the battery," I said, my eyes locking onto hers, holding her gaze until she couldn't look away. "That’s what Kaelen was trying to say with all his poetic nonsense about 'binding.' You need power, Aria. Real, dense, divine power. And you can’t get it from a book or a meditation circle."
I saw the realization hit her. The flush that rose up her neck wasn't from the cold. It was the heat of understanding.
"You mean..." She looked at Kaelen, catching the hunger in his eyes, then at me, then at Thane and Elias.
"We feed you," I said, my voice dropping to a low rumble that vibrated in my chest. "Not blood. Not this time. We pour ourselves back into you. But the connection has to be absolute. No barriers. No clothes. No secrets." I took a step closer, lowering my voice to a harsh whisper. "It means we take everything you are, and you take everything we are."
She swallowed hard. The scent of her arousal spiked, sharp and sweet, mixing confusingly with the sour tang of her fear. God, it made my mouth water. It was a potent cocktail that made every instinct in my body scream to claim her right there on the cold stone.
"How?" she whispered, her breath hitching.
"We survive first," Kaelen interrupted, his tone sharp, cutting through the thick tension I had been carefully building. He stepped between us, physically breaking the eye contact I had with her. He looked at me, a warning in his gaze that was far clearer than any telepathic shove.Not yet, Flynn. She is ready to break. Do not shatter her.
"Kaelen is right," Thane rumbled, his voice deep and soothing, like the shifting of tectonic plates. He moved to inspect the perimeter of the cavern, his large frame casting a long shadow. "We are safe here from immediate detection, perhaps. The rock above contains high concentrations of lead and iron; it scrambles divining magic. But we cannot stay indefinitely. Bodies need sustenance."
"And the Devourer?" Aria asked, clutching the leather-bound journal to her chest as if it were a shield. "If it's coming..."
"If it's coming, a few hours of sleep won't change the trajectory of a star," Elias said. He moved to a relatively dry patch of ground near the obsidian structure and sat down, arranging his tattered grey robes with fastidious care, trying to maintain some semblance of dignity in the squalor. "We rest. We assess. And we let the Keeper..." He paused, correcting himself with a faint, sad smile. "...the Unbound Queen, recover her strength."
Aria looked like she wanted to argue, to push forward, but her body betrayed her treasonously. Her knees buckled, her legs turning to water.
I was there before she hit the stone.
My arms went around her, catching her weight easily. She felt fragile, bird-boned, frighteningly light despite the cosmic power I knew slumbered within her. She slumped against my chest, her head lolling onto my shoulder, all the fight draining out of her in a rush.
"I've got you," I murmured into her hair.
I inhaled. It smelled of smoke and the shampoo she used, a sharp, clean scent of lavender that seemed absurdly civilized down here in the dark. It was a smell of rules and warm baths and soft towels, a smell that didn't belong in a fugitive's cave.
"I'm fine," she mumbled into my chest, her hands blindly clutching the rough wool of the tunic I’d stolen. Her grip was weak, trembling.
"You're a terrible liar," I told her, shifting my grip to support her better. "The scent coming off you is one of a candle that's been burning at both ends for a week. You smell like burnout."
I lifted her, swooping her up into my arms and carrying her toward the dry spot Elias had chosen. Kaelen watched us, his jaw tight, a muscle quivering in his cheek, but he didn't intervene. He knew I ran hotter than the rest of them. I was a furnace. In this damp cold, I was the best heat source she had that wouldn’t accidentally burn her.
I sat down with my back against a smooth section of the cavern wall, settling Aria between my legs, pulling her back against my chest. She didn't fight it. She curled into me, seeking the warmth, her body shivering with the violent aftershocks of the magic she’d wielded.
Use the wolf, I thought. Be the blanket. Be the den.
Thane took the first watch, positioning himself near the tunnel entrance, a silent, earthen sentinel who looked as immovable as the mountain itself. Kaelen paced for a while, his agitation radiating off him in palpable waves of heat, his boots scuffing the stone, before finally sitting opposite us. He laid his sword across his knees, his golden eyes fixed on Aria’s face, watching her breathe.
"How long do we have?" Aria whispered, her voice slurring with sleep, her eyes fluttering shut.
"Long enough," I lied. I rested my chin on the top of her head, feeling the silk of her hair against my jaw. "Close your eyes, little one. The monsters can't get you while the wolf is awake."
She let out a long, shuddering breath, and finally, the tension bled out of her frame. Her heartbeat slowed, syncing with the deeper, slower rhythm of my own.
But as she drifted off, surrendering to the dark, I couldn't stop looking at the obsidian structure across the water. It hummed. A low, subsonic vibration that reminded me of my own hunger. Just like the Gate. Just like us.
The binding Kaelen spoke of... it wasn't just a way to power the door. It was the only way any of us were getting out of this tomb alive. She needed to take us in, fully, completely. She needed to become the vessel for four gods, not just channel our power or essence.
And once she did that? Once we claimed her in the way my blood was screaming to claim her? There would be no going back. She wouldn't just be Aria anymore. She would be the apex of us all. She would be mine.
