The battlefield was not made of stone or blood—not yet. It was made of silence.
And it was there, in the courtyard of the ruined Sanctum, that Lucian stood. Alone.
Not by choice.
Not this time.
---
Kyrell had vanished.
One moment, his hand was in Lucian's. The next, he was gone—swallowed by a pulse of ancient magic that Silas had unleashed like a trap meant not to kill, but to sever.
Lucian's scream had torn through the sky like a wound. He had fallen to his knees, hands sinking into the cracked stones. But Kyrell did not return.
He had been taken.
---
"Bring him back!" Lucian roared now, voice thundering through the hollow Sanctum, his rage shaking the very air.
Renak stood nearby, panting, bruised from the last skirmish. "We're trying, but Silas has cloaked him. We don't know where he is."
Lucian's eyes flared crimson. "He's my bonded. I feel him."
Renak dared a question: "Then why don't you know where he is?"
Lucian turned slowly, a cruel stillness in his gaze. "Because Silas didn't just hide him. He poisoned the tether."
And that's when he saw it.
A mark carved into the center of his own palm. Fresh. Bleeding. A sigil not from Silas—no. This magic was older.
Kyrell hadn't just vanished.
He was being used.
---
Elsewhere...
Kyrell opened his eyes in a cold room.
Naked, restrained, a sigil seared across his chest.
Before him stood Damien.
"You brought me back," Kyrell whispered. "You helped him."
Damien tilted his head, torn between cruelty and regret. "I never wanted this. But I couldn't watch you burn for someone who doesn't deserve you."
Kyrell pulled against the binds. "He saved me."
"No," Damien snapped. "He claimed you. There's a difference."
Kyrell laughed softly, darkly. "Funny. Because when he claimed me… I never felt more free."
That struck something in Damien. The mask slipped. His jealousy hissed between his teeth.
He moved closer. Pressed a hand to Kyrell's thigh. "He doesn't know what to do with you. But I do."
Kyrell turned his head slowly, venom in his voice. "Touch me again, and I'll show you what it means to be hunted."
Damien froze. He didn't move.
Not because he feared Kyrell—
But because behind him, the mirror shattered.
And Lucian stepped through the shards, eyes ablaze, hand dripping with magic and blood.
---
"You," Lucian growled at Damien, "should have stayed asleep."
Damien backed away, eyes wild. "You don't understand—"
"I understand everything."
And then he was on him.
Lucian pinned Damien to the stone wall with a force that made the entire room shake. Fangs bared. Shadows crawling from every inch of him.
"Do it," Damien hissed. "Kill me."
Lucian leaned in. "No. Death would free you. I'm going to make you watch."
---
He turned to Kyrell next, breaking the bindings with a swipe of energy.
And then...
Their lips met like fury colliding with forgiveness.
A kiss not of tenderness, but violence. A reclaiming. A reminder. That nothing, no gods or men, could break what they had sworn.
Lucian bit his own wrist, blood pouring. "Drink."
Kyrell obeyed.
And the bond burned anew—deeper, darker, sealed with vengeance.
—