"Let me return. Let us end this together."
"Then show me," I whispered back into the dark of my own mind, my jaw tightening as I stared at Horous from my knees. "Show me how to break him before he breaks us."
Ignara’s voice became clearer, beautiful in a way that made my stomach twist. It was soft and haunting.
"Tilly… I’m right here. Reach for me."
My hand lifted before I realised I was moving. I didn’t want to raise it. I didn’t want any of this. But something inside meleaned toward that mesmerizing voice. The air inside the doorway shimmered. A shape formed on the other side—a hand, pale and delicate, reaching toward me.
“You can feel me, can’t you?”Ignara murmured. You’ve felt me for a long time. Let me touch you.”
My fingers trembled as they moved closer. Cold wind from the cliff cut across my face. The men holding me shifted uneasily, but they didn’t let go. Horous stepped beside me, close enough that I could smell the iron tang of blood on his shirt from where I had sliced his vein.
“This is what the Valari Kharun wants,” he said with conviction. “You don’t need to do anything except stand there. Your mark is enough. Your blood is enough. You are the key.”
The voices surged again, louder and more desperate.
"Walk through, Tilly. Just one step. I can leave your mind today. You can be free of all of this."
Her voice wrapped around my mind. My fingertips hovered inches from hers. Then, the air changed.
A crack of light tore through the doorway. Ignara’s hand pushed through. Her fingers brushed mine, long and cold. Her voice filled my head until I couldn't hear anything else.
"It’s time."
The men staggered back. Horous shouted something I couldn’t understand. The doorway flared with blinding light. The constellations shimmered across the Gate. My mark burned along my arm and neck, and Ignara’s hand pushed further through the Valari Kharun.
I hummed under my breath, shutting off her voice. Horous leaned closer, his eyes wide and desperate to see Ignara. In that heartbeat, my adrenaline exploded and my mind snapped into focus. Every bit of surrounding noise fell away.
The mark surged up my arm, across my throat, and into my skull. Deep within the depth of my soul, a voice that wasreal—that felt like me, spoke with the weight of a burning star, not Ignara, not the whispers.
I am the stars they cannot vanish, I am the end they did not see coming.
I turned my head slowly toward Horous, letting my voice tremble just enough to play the part.
“Ignara wants you,” I whispered, steadying my voice. “She wants you to see her.”
Ignara’s voice rose sharply in alarm.
"No! He is nothing. Do not let him touch the Gate!Tilly what are you doing?"
Horous stepped forward without hesitation, drawn by the promise that Ignara wanted to see him. He was like a moth to a flame.
I turned slightly. “Do you see her”
A sob he couldn’t suppress escaped his throat. I see her. He whispered, and for the first time, his voice wasn't a command. It was excitement.
He stepped into my personal space, not thinking I was a threat. His entire body leaning toward the shimmering hand in the doorway. He reached out, his fingers twitched in the air.
“You, you’re so beautiful,” he breathed, his face inches from the Valari Kharun. He was mesmerised, his guard utterly shattered
As he and his men focused on the opening. The guards grip on my arms loosened just a fraction. It was the only distraction I needed.
A memory of the Ballet classes back home flashed though my mind. I used to think those classes was a useless skill. But as I moved, I felt the pull of my muscles, the flexibility to bend where others would break, the balance to shift my weight without a sound.
I didn’t just wriggle. I moved out of their grip with a fluid, practised precision and moved quickly behind Horous. I plantedmy feet firmly on the ground and drove both hands into his back with all the fury the mark poured into me and pushed him as hard as I could.
I heard the pounding of feet. My eyes fluttered open just long enough to glimpse Fionn riding through the fog with a feral expression on his face. The glint of metal flashed in his hand, and I recognised the weapon he had used to fight the guards.
