"You must be the stray."
Her voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be.
Raze turned, pulse still steady, but his shoulders had tensed without permission.
She stood against the wall like it had been built around her.
One palm pressed flat against the mural stone, not for reverence.
For balance. For claim.
"I'm Nyra," she added. "Cirelia Von Rimu. But don't bother with all that."
She finally looked at him—smile sharp.
Not mean. Just… aware.
"You can call me Nyvina Damaris."
Raze blinked, then frowned.
"You're her sister."
She raised a brow. "And you're the Drakos who thinks that means something."
Nyra stepped away from the mural.
Her dress moved like liquid glass, tailored to catch light from places it shouldn't.
Every step was casual.
Measured, but not rehearsed.
"I didn't expect fire," she said, circling him slowly. "She usually likes things she can't burn."
Raze stayed still.
"Alteria didn't summon me for fun," he muttered.
Nyra made a soft sound. Not a laugh. Something smaller.
"She didn't summon you for you either."
That landed harder than it should have.
Raze looked away, just for a second.
"You don't know her," he said.
"I know what kind of people perform soul-bond rituals without asking for consent," she replied. "She watched you fall. Did she reach for you?"
Raze's throat tightened.
"I'm not her prisoner."
"No," Nyra said, circling back in front of him. "You're her accessory."
She tilted her head.
"She says 'Jump,' and the system asks how high."
He almost snapped back. But didn't.
Because the worst part was how much of it sounded like something he'd already thought himself.
"She could've left me in the ritual," he said. "She didn't."
"That's your bar?" Nyra smiled without joy. "That she didn't abandon you the moment you became inconvenient?"
Raze looked away again.
That smile deepened.
"She's good at pretending she cares," Nyra added. "You're not the first thing she's tried to control. Just the first one the system made official."
Raze's jaw clenched. "Why are you saying all this?"
"Because you're interesting," she said simply. "And because you look like you're already starting to wonder if I'm right."
Her words hung there. Heavy.
True in the wrong places.
Then—
"Nyra."
The air shifted.
Raze turned before the voice hit fully.
Nyra didn't.
Alteria stood down the hall, posture stiff.
Her eyeslocked on her sister.
"That's enough," she said, low but absolute.
Nyra rolled her eyes. Stepped back with exaggerated grace.
"Speak of the sister," she muttered.
She gave Raze a small, knowing smile.
Not flirtatious. Not cruel.
Just patient.
"Catch you later, little fire."
She walked off like the corridor belonged to her.
As her steps faded down the hall, the air shifted.
Alteria approached with a calm but purposeful pace, her posture stiff like she was ready for battle.
Even if the arena was empty.
Raze stood still.
He didn't face her immediately.
The Drakos didn't know why, but he felt the weight of the moment before it even started.
It wasn't an argument he could prepare for.
It was a conversation he didn't want to have.
Alteria stopped a few paces away from him.
Her gaze sharp but unreadable.
"You're going to ask what she told me?" Raze said before she could speak.
She tilted her head slightly.
But didn't reply immediately.
"Why does that pertain to me?"
Her voice was cool, controlled.
Her eyes flickering with something underneath.
"I don't chase the mouth of fools to make them starve."
Raze paused at that.
The words stung.
He knew they weren't meant to.
Alteria wasn't the kind of person to make excuses for the things she believed in.
She just didn't explain them to him, not yet.
But as he stood there, he found himself feeling the weight of what she said, and something inside him softened.
He thought back to the training session.
The one where, after their fight, when he had almost lost his grip on himself.
Ehen she pulled him up, held him steady.
Raze let his gaze slip toward her, really looking at her for the first time in that quiet moment.
Something had shifted. Something real had passed between them during that moment.
"I apologize," he said, his voice low, genuine.
"For getting upset with you earlier."
The words hung between them.
Alteria blinked, a flicker of surprise crossing her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words caught in her throat.
She hadn't expected it.
She didn't deserve it.
Not from someone she had just met.
A Drakos no less.
Someone who was bound to serve her.
But there it was. The soft sincerity in Raze's voice that she hadn't anticipated.
He didn't think she needed to hear it.
He understood that, without the silence between them might have grown colder, heavier.
He knew how that felt.
To never hear the words you needed when your soul was caught between loyalty and question.
Alteria swallowed, her expression unreadable for a moment, but there was a warmth in her eyes now.
A vulnerability she wasn't used to showing.
"I didn't think you'd…"
She started, trailing off.
Her voice softened, though her walls remained.
"You didn't have to."
Raze nodded, his jaw tight.
He glanced at her again, then away.
"It wasn't just you,"
He said quietly.
"It was me. I should've been clearer before. But... I understand now." His gaze softened. "I won't let the bond be an excuse for the way I behave."
He shifted slightly, taking a slow breath.
His emotions were a muddled mess, but something about this moment felt necessary.
Alteria took a step closer.
Not enough to breach the space between them, but enough to acknowledge what had been said.
Her voice was still soft.
It held a quiet confidence.
"We've both been learning."
She stopped.
Glancing at him from the corner of her eye.
"You more than me, I think."
Raze gave a small, genuine smile. Not much, but enough to show the crack in his guarded nature.
"I don't know about that," he said, his tone more relaxed than it had been in days. "But... I'll try harder."
Alteria's gaze softened as she took a breath.
Her walls slowly returning, but the connection between them held steady. It wasn't fixed—not yet.
But for the first time, it didn't feel like something was actively breaking.