The world was black.
Mariam opened her eyes to nothing. No light. No sound. Only the pounding of her heart. She breathed in, but even her breathing was silent.
Am I dead?
Her fingers twitched. She felt stone beneath her fingers cold, gritty, and cracked. Her chest rose and fell too rapidly. She tried to get her body to move, crawled, groping for something.
Then whispers.
Not out there. Inside her head.
Blood for blood. Chosen one. Break or rule.
"No," she breathed, voice shaking. "Get out."
But the whispers taunted, seeping farther. She placed her palms over her ears, but they wouldn't stop.
Suddenly light.
A faint glow from fissures in the stone above. Dust rained down in soft streams. She coughed. Her body ached as if battered, but she pulled herself to her knees.
"Mariam!"
The voice cut through the darkness. Raw. Desperate.
Her heart lurched. "Adrian?"
"Here!" His voice broke, somewhere behind the rubble. "I'm here, answer me again!"
Relief hit her so hard her knees almost gave way. "Adrian!" she shouted, dragging her body toward the sound.
Her fingers bled as she clawed at stone. Her nails broke. She shoved rock aside, coughing through the dust. Then she saw him bloodied, bruised, but alive, trying to crawl toward her through the debris.
She sobbed. "You're alive."
Adrian's hand extended through an opening. She grasped it, clenching with every ounce of strength left in her.
"I thought I'd lost you," he rasped.
"You almost did," she breathed.
They held on as if the world would end if they let go of the other. Maybe it had.
A laugh shattered the moment.
Low. Dark. Familiar.
Samuel.
Mariam went rigid. Her heart stumbled into her throat.
The smoke parted for long enough to reveal him on the other side of the wreckage, tall, smeared with blood, his mouth twisted into a grin.
"You can't bury me," he said, too calmly. "Not stone, not fire. I was born in destruction. And so were you, Mariam."
Her hold on Adrian's hand strengthened. Her fear was entwined with fury in her chest.
Stand back from her, Adrian snarled, drawing blood. He stumbled to his feet, wobbling but standing. His sword was gone from him, but his rage was sharp.
Samuel tilted his head, regarding them both as if they were pieces on a board. "I don't have to touch her. She's already mine. She felt it, didn't she? The altar awakened her. The voices are inside her now.".
Mariam shook her head adamantly. "No. They're not yours."
"They're not his either." Samuel's smile grew, his eyes cutting to Adrian. "You'll see, Mariam. When the time comes, you'll return to me. You already did once."
Her stomach twisted. Shame. Anger. Fear. All seethed together.
Adrian's jaw hardened, his eyes cutting to hers. "What is he saying?"
Mariam's breath stopped.
Adrian's eyes were hard, raw. "Mariam. Did you"
Her throat tightened. She couldn't speak. Not now. Not here.
Adrian's expression hardened. Samuel's laughter swelled to a crescendo.
And the ceiling groaned once more.
Rocks tumbled down from it. Ground shook beneath them. Samuel disappeared into the smoke, as smoke is devoured by fire. His voice boomed as the chamber crashed down:
"You can't hide from me, Mariam. You can't hide from yourself."
Then nothing.
Mariam dragged Adrian through a gap in the wreckage, coughing, weeping, every muscle burning. The room they had left behind crashed down in a storm of stone.
They crept into a tunnel that was small. No light but the faint gleam of flames in the distance. The air was thick, hot, and thick with dust.
Adrian clung to the wall, his body shuddering. Blood streamed down his face, his ribs aching, his breathing shallow.
Mariam shoved her hands against his chest. "You're injured."
"I'm fine," he lied.
"No, you're not." She cried. "You can't keep rescuing me if it kills you."
Adrian caught her wrist, his grip hard but weary. "I'll rescue you every time. Even if it kills me."
Her ribcage cracked. She leaned against his forehead, their breaths mingling together.
But then his whisper.
"What did he say?"
Her eyes burned. She shifted back. She had to lie. To inform Samuel that he was twisting reality. But Adrian's eyes compelled her, demanding.
"I touched him," she admitted, voice shattering. "When he made me choose… I chose him. Not because I wanted him but because it was the only way I could keep him from killing you. I thought I could handle it. But "the altar"Adrian, it stirred something up inside of me."
Adrian's eyes fluctuated. Pain. Doubt. Terror.
"You picked him," he whispered.
Her tears fell more heavily. "To save you."
His hand fell from her wrist. He glared aside, jaw clenched, chest pained.
Mariam's heart shattered.
There was silence between them. Heavy. Piercing.
Then the whispers once more. But this time louder.
He does not trust you. He is afraid of you. He will abandon you.
She put her hands over her ears. "Stop! Please, stop!"
Adrian's head jerked toward her. "Mariam?"
She shook her head, gasping, folding her body up on itself. Voices ripped through her, screaming in tongues she couldn't speak but somehow knew.
Adrian grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "Stay with me! Fight them, don't let him win! Don't let him get the best of you!"
"I can't," she sobbed. "They're inside my head. I can't turn them off!"
Adrian wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "Then don't fight without me. Let's fight together."
His warmth knocked against her. His heart pounded into her skin. The whispers softened for an instant.
But they did not stop.
There were minutes. Or hours. Time struggled in the black tube.
And then, faint light in front of them. A way out.
Mariam shoved at Adrian, half-pulling him, half-carried by his unyielding resolve. They stumbled out into the night.
The sky was torn apart with fire and smoke. The city below burned. Screams tore through the streets.
Mariam's breath caught. "Oh God…"
Adrian's arm around her grew tighter. His face was pale, his eyes hollow, but his voice was steady. "Samuel's doing this. He'll burn everything to the ground until you're at his side."
Mariam shuddered with rage in her heart. "Then I'll stop him."
Adrian turned to her, his hand in a fist around hers. His eyes burned into hers. "Then don't let him turn you into what he is.".
Her throat hurt. She shook her head. But inside, the whispers giggled once again.
You will break. You will choose him. You always will.
The city burned with fire. Fire engulfed everything. People wailed. Soldiers marched. And in the ruins of the devastation, on the tallest spire, Samuel stood, hands outstretched, watching it all burn itself out.
His shout echoed through the fire.
"Mariam! Time is running out!"
Her hold on Adrian clenched. Her chest heaved. Her body trembled.
The whispers screamed inside her head.
And for the first time she screamed back.