The Archivist's core chamber had stabilized, but the ancient entity inside it wasn't done. Its leaking energy bled into the empire's resonance system like a live wire.
Aiden stood at the center platform, sweat already cooling on his skin from the earlier fight.
Elizabeth gripped his arm hard enough to leave marks. Her eyes burned with that familiar possessive fire.
"The containment systems need a full bond with the Memory Lattice," the entity's voice echoed through the chamber, calm but urgent. "Living resonance. All of you. Now."
No one argued. The chamber shifted around them. Zero-g activated. Crystal webs spread across the walls and ceiling, pulsing with bio-luminescent veins that glowed brighter every second.
Glowing resonance tendrils snaked out, linking bodies before anyone gave the order.
Elizabeth pushed Aiden down onto a floating anchor point. She climbed on top in one smooth motion, her thighs clamping around his hips.
