The chamber feels heavier now. The light subdued but steady. The gathered Feeders begin moving again, quietly resuming their Oaths as if nothing happened.
I exhale shakily. Wes steadies me with a hand on my back. Gray keeps his eyes on the archway, watching the space where Nyx disappeared.
“We keep going,” I say. “Every one of them through before nightfall.”
Gray nods once. “We will.”
The Ether veins flare suddenly—bright enough to sting my eyes—then pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat.
I turn toward the nearest Feeder, ready to help them through it.
Nyx’s warning echoes in my head:You don’t know what he’s become.
“He’s coming,” I say quietly. “Sooner than we think.”
Outside, thunder rolls again—the first heartbeat of the storm.
Chapter 46
Theo
I’m halfway across the courtyard when I pass Wes and Gray heading the opposite direction.
Wes grins. “Kitchen’s all yours.”
Gray smirks. “She’s been in the chamber all day. Probably starving.”
“I know.” I keep walking, but I catch Wes’s knowing look over his shoulder.
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” he calls after me.
“That doesn’t narrow it down much,” I reply without turning.
Gray’s laugh echoes behind me as they disappear into the dark.
The Sanctuary feels different tonight. Charged. The air hums faintly with residual Ether like static after lightning. The Oath Chamber has been running all day, dozens of bonds formed, dozens of lives changed.
And Bree’s been at the center of it all.
I tell myself I’m just checking on her.
But I know better.
The kitchen glows with soft lantern light when I step inside. She’s at the fridge, barefoot, hair loose around her shoulders, wearing what looks like one of Rhett’s shirts—oversized, hanging to mid-thigh.
She’s rummaging through shelves, pulling out fruit, bread, a jar of honey.
I pause in the doorway, watching.
Her hand trembles slightly as she reaches for something on the top shelf. Exhaustion carved into the line of her shoulders, the way she leans against the fridge door for support.
She’s running on willpower alone.
Then she feels me watching.
She glances back over her shoulder, eyes meeting mine in the glow of the open fridge.
“Theo.”
