đ” Music Suggestion:
"Flickers" by Son Lux
(For when the world is quiet, but your blood still remembers the fire.)
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The room Lucian took Kyrell to was hidden deep in the elder stronghold, in the forgotten wing where no council members dared walkâwhere memories had been left to rot, like cursed heirlooms behind locked doors.
Lucian didn't explain. He simply opened the old door and led Kyrell inside.
The room hadn't seen light in decades, but it smelled faintly of lavender and old parchment. One of Lucian's memories, perhaps. One he didn't speak of.
"I thought they'd try to take you again," he finally said, locking the door behind them. "They didn't. Not yet."
Kyrell sat down on the edge of the bed. His hands fidgeted with the fabric of his sleeve. "They will."
Lucian didn't argue. He crossed the room and knelt in front of him, looking up.
"I don't know how to fix this," Lucian admitted. "I can break bones, tear through magicâbut they don't fight fair. They'll whisper, poison, manipulate. You saw what Mara did."
Kyrell looked away at the mention of her name. "She didn't look at me like I mattered. She looked at me like I ruined something."
"You did," Lucian murmured. "You ruined what they thought I was."
Kyrell laughed, bitter and small. "You say that like it's a good thing."
Lucian's hand reached out, brushing his jaw. "It is. Because what I was before you was empty. Powerful, yes. Revered. Obeyed. But⊠silent. Always silent."
Kyrell's eyes met his, slowly. "And now?"
Lucian leaned in, their foreheads almost touching. "Now I burn."
They stayed that way for a while. The world outside the room clawed at the walls, impatient and loud, but here it was soft. Strange. Full of pauses.
Kyrell finally spoke, his voice a rasp. "You don't always have to protect me."
Lucian opened his eyes. "I know."
"But you still will."
"I always will."
And in that hush, Kyrell leaned forward and kissed himâlight, barely there, but true.
Not rushed. Not desperate.
Just⊠needed.
When their lips parted, Lucian whispered against his mouth, "They'll come for us again."
"I know," Kyrell breathed. "But right now, let them starve."
---
Far below, in the catacombs of the council's heart, Mara stood with Damien.
She didn't speak right away.
Only stared into a mirror that shimmered like blood beneath moonlight.
"Are you sure it's time?" Damien asked.
Mara didn't blink.
"They forced our hands," she said. "Lucian's too blind to see he's being watched. Kyrell's soul is louder than he knows."
"And the others?"
"Already moving."
Damien crossed his arms. "If this failsâ"
"It won't," she snapped. "Because I know what love does to him. And we're about to make him prove just how far he'll fall."
---