The door creaked open with a slow groan. She stood beside Ion, dressed in all black. The bruises along her ribs still ached beneath the cloth, but they were clean, wrapped and controlled. Like her.
A guard waited in the hallway. He didn't speak, didn't gesture. Just turned and began to walk.
Seravyn followed without hesitation.
Ion stepped beside her silent, close, not touching. The air in the corridor felt thinner with every step. Light bled in from the high glass panes above, streaking the polished floor in fractured gold. When they reached the exit, the brightness hit her like a slap.
Sun, real sun.
She blinked against it, the sting in her eyes more memory than pain. The sky stretched wide overhead. She smelled lavender and horses and iron in the breeze, freedom and a lie.
Orion slowed as they reached the waiting carriage.
Two soldiers stood to the side. One stepped forward, sword sheathed, face unreadable.
"You're not permitted beyond this point," he told Orion.
Seravyn tensed.
He didn't argue. Didn't move, he just looked at her.
That same calm, unreadable look he'd worn since the beginning. Except now, it felt carved from something heavier. He gave a small nod. Nothing more.
Then he turned and walked away.
Seravyn watched his back until it vanished behind the stone wall.
She didn't let herself hesitate.
One step. Two. Then the carriage door opened, and she climbed inside alone.
Orion
The door slammed shut behind him as he strode into Ash's quarters.
Ash was already rising to his feet.
"Well?"
"They wouldn't let me go with her."
Ash's jaw ticked. "You should've persisted."
Orion leveled him with a flat look. "What was I supposed to do? Blow my cover? She's being watched."
He exhaled sharply, pacing toward the hearth. "You should've tried harder."
"I did."
Ash's fingers drummed once against the edge of his desk. "How did she look?"
"She's strong," Orion said. "Tired, I helped her clean up. She bathed. Got fresh clothes."
Ash's eyes snapped to his. "You cleaned her up?"
Ion blinked, deadpan. "I cleaned her injuries, Ash. Relax."
Ash scoffed and turned away too fast. "Don't tell me to relax."
"Then stop acting like you give a damn."
"I don't."
"Right."
Hemoved to Ash's wardrobe and flung it open. "I'm going to tail the carriage. Make sure nothing happens on the way there."
Ash frowned. "You can't be seen."
"I won't be."
He pulled a deep navy tunic from the rack. He strapped a dagger to each thigh, slid another into his belt, and flipped a hooded cloak over his shoulders.
Ash watched him from the hearth, arms crossed, "Seriously?" he muttered. "Like you even need weapons."
Orion smirked faintly. "What can I say? I like to accessorize."
"Freak."
"And yet you keep me around."
Ash exhaled through his nose, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Orion turned for the door.
Ash called after him, voice lower now. "Be careful."
Orion didn't look back. "I always am."
And then he was gone.
The rooftops gave a cleaner view, fewer eyes, fewer delays. He moved low across them, tracking the carriage below.
One guard rode ahead. One behind. The horses weren't in formation, they weren't expecting trouble. Good.
His eyes stayed on the carriage.
Wood panels. Reinforced sides. Windows too narrow to climb through. But he knew she was inside. Sitting still, likely quiet. Seravyn didn't have much left to say.
He vaulted a narrow alley, rolled once, came up steady. Kept moving.
The guards didn't notice the shift in air above them or hear the scrape of his boots on tile.
The carriage turned left toward the Sanctum gate.
A checkpoint waited there, one of Aetherspire's outer security rings. Orion stopped at the edge of the last rooftop, crouched, hands braced on the ledge.
Below, the wheels slowed. Horses shifted. Metal groaned.
He scanned the area.
Two wall guards. A bored sentry in the tower. No immediate danger. No hidden blades.
Still, he didn't like it. He exhaled once.
When the gate creaked open and the carriage began to roll again, he followed.
Seravyn
The carriage creaked as it pulled through the inner gates of Aetherspire. The stone road beneath the wheels gave way to polished onyx tiles, veined with silver that shimmered in shifting patterns. Seravyn leaned toward the narrow window, watching the world shift again.
The Sanctum rose ahead massive, and alive with magic. Its towers reached like claws toward the sky, and its glass windows flashed strange reflections that didn't match reality. Gothic arches bled into fae-grown vines. Gold and shadow merged like oil on water.
She swallowed hard.
There were people waiting.
Students.
Dozens of them loitered along the courtyard and the high steps beyond it, some in uniform. A girl with silver tattoos coiled up her arms. A boy with small horns and blood-red eyes leaned against a pillar, watching with cold amusement. Others whispered. Smirked. Pointed.
She didn't look away.
The carriage jerked to a stop. For a second, Seravyn didn't move.
"Come down," said a voice. Young. Male. Bored.
She opened the door herself.
Orion
Orion crouched low on the rooftop, eyes fixed on the courtyard below.
He watched the carriage roll past the final gate. Watched it stop.
Then the door opened.
She stepped out.
That was enough.
Orion stood and drew a sigil at his feet, two fingers cutting through the air, painting light into the rooftop tile. A glowing crescent moon, then a single, straight line slashing through its middle.
Noctis.
The moment the line connected, shadows surged upward, swallowing him whole.
He slammed back into reality, landing hard on the marble floor of Ash's chamber. A dull thud. His hand shot up to his face, already too late.
Blood.
It trickled from his nose, hot and fast.
Ash didn't even look up from his seat. "You shouldn't do the Noctis more than once a day if you plan to bleed like a princess."
Orion wiped the back of his hand across his face. "Yea, yea. Real funny."
"You think I'm joking?"
Orion moved toward the shelf, grabbing a cloth without asking. "She's in."
Ash finally looked up. "Walked in herself?"
"Stepped out of the carriage like she owned the ground."
He pressed the cloth harder. Nose still bleeding.
Ash leaned against the edge of his desk. "Anyone with her?"
"Just the Archivist. Courtyard's full of students. Fae. A few leeches. All eyes on her."
"And she held her own?"
Orion snorted. "You think she wouldn't?"
Ash didn't respond right away. Just studied him. "You're bleeding more than usual."
Orion tilted his head back, eyes closed. "Takes more effort now. Too many jumps in one week."
"I told you—"
"I know what you told me." "She's inside. That's all that matters."
Ash crossed the room, took the bloodied cloth from Orion's hand, and tossed it aside. "You're pushing it."
Orion shrugged, leaning against the wall, nose tilted back. "If you can handle it, so can I."
Ash gave a dry laugh. "I've been doing this since before you formed teeth. You want to compare scars next?"
"You still jealous mine are prettier?"
Ash rolled his eyes, turned toward the decanter near the hearth, and poured something dark into a glass. "Noctis isn't just about shadows and shortcuts. It eats time. You jump enough, you start to come back… wrong."
Orion lowered his head slowly, dabbing at the last of the blood. "Thanks for the bedtime story, Dad."
"I'm serious."
"So am I." He stepped away from the wall, eyes darkening. "She's not walking into that place alone, not really. You think I'm gonna sit on my ass while the Sanctum eyes her like prey?"
"You're awfully invested for someone who's only supposed to be checking vitals."
Orion blinked, wiped the last of the blood from under his nose. "Someone has to."
Ash stepped closer. "You didn't answer the question."
"I didn't realize there was one."
"Why do you care so fucking much?"
Orion looked away, too fast. "I don't."
"You sure?"
Ash's voice didn't rise. He didn't threaten. "You disobeyed me," he said finally. "Risked a jump, burned through your threshold, and came back bleeding for a girl you weren't told to touch."
Orion's jaw flexed. "I didn't touch her."
"Didn't need to. Look at you."
Ash's gaze raked him once, blood-soaked sleeve, darkened shadows under his eyes.
"She's not your cause, Ion. She's not your redemption arc."
Orion's head snapped toward him, eyes flaring. "Say that again."
Ash didn't move. "You heard me."
"No," Orion growled. "Say it again. Say it to my face like you mean it."
Ash took one step forward, voice low and lethal. "She's not your fucking salvation. She's not your reason to bleed out in pieces."
The yellow streaks in Orion's eyes flared swirling molten, feral. He moved before he thought.
The hit landed hard. Ash's head snapped to the side, jaw cracking from the force of it.
Ash wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Blood smeared his knuckles.
Orion slammed into the wall, breath crushed out of him.
"Don't push me, Orion," Ash snapped, voice colder than bone. "Don't fucking push me."
Orion spat, wiping his mouth, "That's your problem, isn't it? You act like you're the only one allowed to break."
Ash turned, slow and controlled. But his shoulders were shaking.
Orion didn't stop.
"You think hiding behind orders makes you stronger? You think standing still while she screams makes you brave?"
Ash didn't blink.
"You're a coward."
Something snapped.
Shadows coiled—Ash's this time. Not smoke. Not fog. Something heavier. Pressing. The room dimmed as if light itself backed away.
Orion's own shadows lashed up defensively, instinct over thought—but they faltered under the weight.
"Ash—"
Ash was on him in an instant, one hand slamming into Orion's chest, pinning him to the pillar with bone-jarring force.
"You don't get to talk about her," Ash breathed.
His voice was ruin.
"You don't know anything about what I gave up for her."
Orion's teeth gritted against the pressure, the wall digging into his spine.
"You're right," he ground out. "I don't. Because you never say a damn thing. You just watch her bleed and act like you're above it, like you're not burning the same way I am
"You have no idea what kind of fire you're standing in, Ion."
"I don't care," Orion shot back. "Let it burn."
Seravyn
The moment her foot touched the ground, silence spread like oil.
She stepped down from the carriage, Her knees locked as she walked. A dozen students watched, but none moved. She wondered if they could hear her swallow. keeping her chin up even as nausea curled in her throat.
Her fingers twitched at her side. She curled them into her palm.
Don't flinch, don't fold, swallow it down.
A tall man detached from the crowd, his steps unhurried, graceful in a way that felt studied. Fae, unmistakably. Long golden hair tied back in a silken cord. Golden eyes slitted like a lion's, scanning her with quiet curiosity.
His robes shimmered between grey and moonlight silver, and a gleaming ring marked with an open eye glinted on his hand.
"Seravyn Vale," he said, voice rich and calm. "Welcome to Sanctum Academy. I am Archivist Aelion."
His gaze flicked to the crowd, and without a word, the students began to disperse like smoke, their stares lingering only a moment longer before they turned away.
She forced a breath into her lungs, then another. Met his eyes. "It's… nice to meet you," she managed.
Aelion lifted a hand and called gently, "Lamia."
From a nearby archway, a girl stepped forward.
Demon-blooded.
Her eyes were a wet, glowing red, like something still burning. Black veins curled beneath them, pulsing faintly like they might wake. Her hair was black and coiled in a long rope braid down her back.
She stopped beside Aelion and dipped her head once.
"This is Lamia," Aelion said. "She'll show you to the Induction Wing and answer your questions, if you have them."
Seravyn nodded mutely.
The girl did not smile. "Follow me.Try not to bleed on anything important."