The fires from the eclipse battle still burned in Raina's dreams.
Even with the forest quiet again and dawn rising gently over the blood-stained earth, the mansion didn't feel safe. It pulsed like a wounded creature, breathing ash, secrets, and a truth no one wanted to name. Wards had been redrawn in salt and blood. Protective sigils coated every doorway. But the air was thick with tension a calm that didn't soothe, only warned.
She stood barefoot in the ruins of what used to be the outer training field. The morning dew soaked her feet, but she didn't flinch. Her mark, once dormant, now glowed faintly beneath her sleeve, like a silent oath waking in her skin. Survivors trained under Maeva's merciless watch. The estate buzzed like a hive under siege.
But Lucien... Lucien hadn't come down since the final blade fell.
He haunted the tower like a ghost pacing, watching, never sleeping. And when she passed beneath his window, she could feel him there. Alive. Watching. Bleeding on the inside.
That night, she climbed the spiral stairs to him.
The door creaked open. He didn't turn.
"I know you're there," he said, his voice hoarse from silence.
"Then you know why I came."
He finally faced her. Pale. Exhausted. Beautiful. His eyes were darker now, like the weight of prophecy had settled behind his lashes. "I can't lose you."
"You won't."
"They'll come for you. The Council. The Order. The world."
Raina stepped closer. "Then let them come. I've stopped running."
He moved fast his hands finding her waist, his mouth crashing to hers like a man drowning. But this time, there was no frenzy. Just something desperate and soft. A hunger edged in fear. She melted into him, letting the ache unfold. Letting him take. Letting herself need.
He kissed down her throat, unfastened her robe with shaking fingers. She arched against him as he lifted her against the wall, thrusting into her in one fierce stroke. The gasp that left her lips wasn't from pain it was from finally feeling whole.
"Don't stop," she whispered.
"I can't."
Their bodies moved together like a vow not of lust, but of survival. When they came, the bond between them surged so bright her mark illuminated the room like moonlight painted on skin.
When it was over, she lay cradled in his arms, sweat and breath between them.
"You know this isn't over," he murmured.
"I know," she said. "But at least we face it together."
The next morning betrayed that promise.
Elias burst into the war room, panting. "She's here. Maeva. With Council banners."
Raina ran. She found Maeva at the estate gates, flanked by two cloaked men. The look on Maeva's face unreadable, resolute was worse than a blade.
"You brought them here?" Raina hissed.
"They already knew," Maeva said. "I came to give you time."
Lucien appeared behind her, eyes narrowed. "They don't get time. They get out."
"They want proof," Maeva said. "Just that."
One of the Councilmen stepped forward. "Lift your sleeve."
Lucien growled low in his throat, but Raina stepped forward. No fear. No shame. Only defiance.
She pulled back her sleeve.
The mark blazed.
The men exchanged glances. One nodded. "Then it's true. She bears the seal of Endara."
Raina's voice was steady. "What does that mean?"
"It means you are the weapon and the lock. You either restore balance... or burn both realms."
That night, she sat alone in the library. The silence wasn't comforting—it scraped at her ribs like something hollowing her out from the inside.
Lucien entered without a word and placed a book beside her. "The Huntress Tome. Your history. Our history."
She flipped through its pages. Images of golden eyed women. Of men beside them. Always the same silver hair. Always the same pair.
She looked up at him, breath caught in her chest. "It's always been us."
"In every lifetime," he said. "Even when it killed us."
Her fingers brushed his cheek. "Then promise me. No matter what happens... don't leave."
He didn't speak.
Because he already knew he couldn't keep that promise.
The explosion hit at dawn.
The southern wall of the estate crumbled under the force. Shadow beasts but smarter now, deadlier flooded through the wards. They wore sigils. They spoke.
"You've awakened the flame," one hissed. "Now choose. Who burns?"
Raina stepped into the field, blade glowing. "No more hiding."
Lucien appeared beside her, sword already slick with blood.
Maeva conjured barriers. Elias summoned flame. The Council fled like cowards.
But Raina stayed.
She fought with fire in her veins and prophecy in her hands. Every strike fed the bond. Every scream woke something older inside her.
And when the final beast died, when she dropped to her knees, the sky split in two.
Lucien caught her before she fell.
"You're changing again," he whispered.
"I don't want to be her."
"You're not."
Her voice cracked. "Then why does it feel like I'm losing myself?"
He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Because they made you into a weapon. But I see the woman beneath it."
As the battlefield quieted and the wounded were buried, Raina stood at the edge of the forest once more.
The trees didn't whisper this time.
They begged.
Because the storm wasn't over.
It had just taken her name.