The house was quiet... too quiet.
Shyla sat on the edge of her bed, breathing like she'd run a mile. The dream still clung to her — the echo of Alishya's voice, the cold that had wrapped around her throat like a silk ribbon.
She touched the locket. It was hot now, pulsing against her palm in a way that wasn't comforting anymore. It felt like panic.
"He's coming," Leo whispered, voice thin and urgent.
She stared at the window, her breath fogging the cool air. "I didn't call him."
"It doesn't matter. You touched his memory. That's enough."
A chill slid down her spine. "I didn't mean to."
"Intent doesn't matter. The bond does."
Ash moved like a shadow through the empty streets.
He hadn't planned this. He'd told himself again and again to stay away. But the moment the dream shattered, the bond between them yanked taut like a hook in his chest.
She had seen Alishya. He'd felt it.
That alone was enough to send him running.
The closer he got to her street, the louder her pulse became in his head — not just a rhythm now, but a steady pull. It wasn't just her heartbeat anymore. It was his too, tangled in hers, pulling him forward whether he wanted it or not.
"This is wrong," he muttered to the night. "I should turn back."
But his feet didn't listen.
In her room, the light flickered once.
The locket burned against Shyla's skin, its warning growing frantic."Don't let him in. Not tonight. Not after what she showed you."
Shyla stood, shaking. "I'm not letting him in."
"Then why haven't you moved?"
She froze. Her fingers were already at the window latch.
Outside, the street was empty — until it wasn't.He emerged from the mist like the night itself had shaped into him. Ash.
His eyes found hers instantly, sharp and unrelenting. He didn't have to speak. The bond between them thrummed like a heartbeat shared through glass.
"Shyla," he said softly, voice carrying like wind through water.
Leo's voice roared inside her skull. "Close it. Now."
But she didn't.
She pushed the window open.
The cold air rushed in, wrapping around her like a hand. He didn't step inside, but he was close enough that she could see the way the moonlight caught the edges of his expression — conflicted, tense, burning with something that wasn't quite anger and wasn't quite hunger.
"You saw her," he whispered.
Shyla's throat tightened. "Alishya."
His jaw clenched at the name. For a second, she thought he might break the bond himself and vanish into the dark. But he stayed.
"She shouldn't have been able to reach you," he said. "Not unless—"
"Unless what?"
He hesitated. His breath trembled, and for the first time, she saw something almost human flicker behind his eyes. "Unless you're already tied to me."
The words hit her like a jolt. "Tied to you?"
"It's not a bond you can just break," he said, voice low. "And it's not safe."
"Then why didn't you stay away?" she shot back, the dream still clawing at her chest. "Why come here?"
His silence was the answer.
"You could've taken me that day," she whispered, stepping closer to the window. "When I didn't have Leo. You didn't."
"Don't make that sound noble," he said roughly. "It wasn't mercy. It was weakness."
The locket's pulse grew sharper, its light flickering like it was struggling against something much stronger.
"He's not fighting you, Shyla," Leo hissed. "He's fighting himself. And if he loses—"
Ash flinched, hearing something he wasn't supposed to. "He always talks too much."
"You hear him?" she breathed.
"Always," he whispered back. "Even when I don't want to."
The wind picked up, brushing against the curtains, pushing strands of her hair across her face. For a second, everything was suspended — the night, the city, the space between them.
"Don't follow this," Ash said finally, voice breaking at the edges. "You don't know where it leads."
She swallowed hard. "Then tell me."
But he didn't.
He stepped back, the mist curling around him like it had been waiting to take him away.
Before he disappeared, his eyes met hers one last time — soft, fractured. "Next time… don't open the window."
And then he was gone.
Shyla stood in the silence that followed, her heart pounding against the locket's fading pulse.She closed the window slowly, her fingers trembling.
Leo spoke at last, quieter than she'd ever heard him. "He won't ask again, Master. Next time, he'll just come in."
And for the first time, she wasn't sure if the warning scared her… or thrilled her.