The courtyard no longer belonged to them.
Light, shadow, fire, frost—every element was drowned beneath the blinding violet glow. The crystal had risen like a heart torn from the earth, jagged and throbbing, its surface smooth in places yet razor-sharp in others. It pulsed with the sound of blood, each beat pounding inside Aria's skull.
And in its shimmering face, she saw herself.
Her reflection flickered, pale and shaking, but her eyes glowed an unearthly violet—just like the sorcerer's.
Her breath caught in her throat, strangled, as though invisible hands had wrapped around her lungs. She stumbled closer, unable to resist the pull, even as every part of her screamed to look away.
The violet-eyed reflection smiled.
And Aria did not.
The Verdant King surged forward, hurling a whip of green fire at the crystal. It cracked against the surface, sparks flying, but the violet light only grew brighter, feeding on his flame.
Aria staggered back, horrified. The crystal hadn't resisted his power—it had devoured it.
The sorcerer's laugh slid across the courtyard like oil.
"You cannot burn away what is already written."
The Crimson King raised his molten blade and brought it down with a roar. The courtyard split open under the blow, molten rivers spilling through the cracks. But the crystal drank his fury too, glowing brighter, violet veins crawling outward across the stone.
For every strike, the crystal only grew stronger.
The Frostlands King swayed on his feet, frost forming desperately around his hands. His eyes darted to Aria, haunted, as if seeing something the others did not.
"It calls to her," he rasped. His voice was nearly swallowed by the hum of the crystal. "Can't you feel it? The bond is not with us. It is with that."
Aria's stomach turned to ice. Bond? With the crystal?
The Solar King stepped forward at last, sunlight blazing around him. Unlike the others, he did not strike. He only extended a hand, and the golden runes of his law spread outward again, clashing with the violet light. For a heartbeat, the crystal's glow faltered.
But then, Aria's reflection in its surface leaned closer, pressing her hands against the inside of the glassy surface.
And the runes shattered.
The backlash sent the Solar King stumbling, his golden aura sputtering, his face twisted in fury and disbelief.
"Impossible," he growled, voice vibrating the air. "No law has ever been broken."
The sorcerer's laugh deepened, triumphant.
"No law but hers."
Aria pressed her trembling hands to her ears, as if she could block him out. But his words carved straight into her mind.
Hers.
Her reflection's violet eyes blazed brighter, the glassy surface of the crystal rippling as though water. And in that ripple, she saw chains—wrapped around her wrists, her ankles, her throat. Not real. Not yet. But waiting.
The kings turned on one another at once, fury sparking like stormfire.
"You kept this from us!" the Verdant King shouted at the Solar King, his emerald flames flaring.
"You knew!" the Crimson King snarled, molten sparks dripping from his blade.
"You blind fools," the Frostlands King whispered hoarsely, but his hand still trembled toward Aria, as though to shield her from all three.
The Solar King raised his hand and the courtyard shook again, the golden runes spiraling back into the air.
"I knew only that she was mine," he thundered. "I did not know this." His burning gaze snapped toward Aria, sharp as the sun at noon. "But now I see. She is not merely claimed—she is the vessel."
Vessel.
The word dropped into Aria's chest like a stone into deep water.
She stumbled backward, shaking her head violently. "No… no, I'm not… I didn't choose—"
The reflection in the crystal pressed harder against the glass. Its lips moved in perfect time with hers, but the words were wrong.
Yes. You are.
Aria screamed and staggered further, her heels catching on broken stone. The Frostlands King caught her arm, his hand like ice. His eyes, pale and fractured, locked with hers.
"This is why I told you to fear yourself," he whispered. His voice cracked. "Because the chain is inside you already."
The sorcerer's shadow crawled higher from the cracks, taking shape. A face half-formed from smoke and fire, eyes burning violet, mouth curling in triumph.
"Do you see, kings?" His voice shook the very air. "You were never her suitors. You were her wardens. And now, your cage breaks."
The Crimson King lunged with a roar, his molten blade carving through shadows, burning them to ash. But every strike only fed the crystal more.
The Verdant King threw a torrent of emerald fire at the forming shadow, his body shuddering with the force, his jaw clenched tight. "I will not let you take her!"
But the sorcerer only laughed harder.
The Solar King turned, his fury finally cracking into something darker. His golden aura flared until the courtyard nearly blinded, his hand pointing directly at Aria.
"Then there is only one way," he said coldly. "Break the vessel."
Aria froze. The words sank in slow and sharp, like a blade sliding between ribs.
The Verdant King's flames died instantly, horror twisting his face.
"You would kill her?"
The Frostlands King's grip on Aria's arm tightened painfully, though his gaze was haunted.
"It may be the only way…"
The Crimson King's roar drowned them both out, his molten sword raised toward the Solar King.
"Touch her, and I will bury your golden bones beneath my fire!"
Aria's heart hammered so violently she thought her chest would split. Every king's voice tore at her from a different side, pulling her into pieces.
But the reflection in the crystal smiled wider.
And whispered—
Let them fight. Let them bleed. When they are gone, we will be whole again.
Aria stumbled to her knees, clutching her head. She couldn't tell where her thoughts ended and the reflection's began. The violet hum pressed deeper into her skull, syncing with the frantic beat of her heart.
The sorcerer's shadow grew taller, rising, spreading, blotting out the fractured sky.
And for the first time, Aria realized—
It wasn't the kings who were losing.
It was her.
The crystal cracked down the middle with a deafening sound, violet light spilling outward like blood.
And from within, her reflection stepped free.