Aelira woke gasping.
Not from her own pain — but Kaelen's.
Somewhere in the night, a blade had pierced his shoulder, and now her own skin burned where his blood flowed. The bond was still new, raw, and wide open — their souls tethered so tightly that distance no longer dulled sensation.
She staggered to her feet, eyes glowing faintly violet.
"Kaelen," she whispered.
He was already limping toward the campfire, shirt soaked in red. "You felt that?"
She nodded, heart pounding. "All of it."
Ashar cursed and dropped beside them, pressing cloth to the wound. "Thorn scouts. They slipped through the wards."
"Are they gone?" Kaelen asked, teeth gritted.
"For now," Riven said from the shadows. "But they weren't trying to kill us. They were testing something."
"What?" Aelira asked.
Riven looked at her, his expression unreadable. "You."
Later that night, Aelira stood at the edge of the flame-lit clearing, arms crossed, watching Kaelen sleep. His face was calm now, but she could feel the echo of pain still buzzing beneath his skin.
She hadn't meant for the bond to cut this deep.
"You care for him," said a voice.
She turned to find Theron, quiet and still, watching her from behind a tree. His eyes glinted silver in the firelight.
"I care for all of you," she replied.
"Not like him."
Silence.
Theron stepped closer. "You know the Thorn Order isn't trying to kill you. They're trying to awaken you."
Aelira's chest tightened. "I've already awakened."
Theron shook his head slowly. "No. You've barely cracked open. They want the full Seraiya. They want the queen with blood in her teeth."
She looked away. "Then they'll be disappointed."
Theron didn't answer.
He just handed her a scroll — sealed with a star-shaped sigil. One she hadn't seen in lifetimes.
Her hand trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a single line:
"The Vault was only the first key."
And beneath it, a mark burned into the parchment — her true sigil, the one she buried in the Mirror Vault.
Seraiya's crown.
Far in the frozen citadel, the golden-eyed man stood before a gate made of bone and starlight.
"She's remembering," he whispered. "And soon… she'll come looking for the rest."
He turned to a shadowed figure kneeling behind him.
"Make sure the Thorn Order knows. The queen lives."