The chamber breathed.
That was the first thought Selene had when the silver fire erupted around the covenant core.
Not moved.
Not lit.
Breathed.
Pale light surged upward in slow waves from the obsidian throne at the center of the chamber, filling the underground space with a glow so cold it made the air feel almost crystalline. The chains wrapped around the throne's base trembled violently, and the symbols carved into the floor began to pulse in response, one after another, like a heartbeat waking beneath layers of stone.
Selene stood frozen in Kael's arms for one breath too long.
The throne memory inside her chest reacted with brutal force.
Her entire body tightened as fragments hit her all at once -- moonlight, blood, kneeling wolves, a silver crown, a voice speaking a name she still could not fully hear. The sensation was not pain exactly. It was recognition crashing into a body that had spent too long forgetting what it was supposed to be.
