The sanctum's gates closed behind them with a sound like stone grinding on stone. The air beyond was warmer, yet somehow emptier, stripped of the oppressive wards that had choked the outer chamber.
Lianyin's boots left wet prints on the polished black tiles. The faint hum of the Moon's Shadow Seal pulsed from somewhere deep inside, slow and steady, like the heartbeat of an ancient beast.
But Zevian wasn't looking ahead. He walked beside her in silence, his gaze fixed forward, yet his mind clearly elsewhere.
Finally, he spoke. "You didn't even hesitate."
Her fingers tightened on her sleeve. "We didn't have time for hesitation."
"That's not the point."
The echo of Kairo's trust still clung to her—sweet, cloying, like honey in her veins. "It was the only way to break the wards."
His lips curved, but it wasn't amusement. "I'm not questioning the logic. I'm questioning you."
She met his gaze for a fraction of a second. "You think I enjoyed it."
"I know you did," he said flatly. "And that's the problem."
The lotus stirred in her palm at his words, not with shame, but with a low, satisfied hum. He fears you now. Good. Fear makes them predictable.
Lianyin ignored it. "Fear isn't a problem, Zevian. It's a tool."
He said nothing more for the rest of the walk, but the distance between them grew heavier than the air in the outer chamber.
---
When they reached the Seal chamber, Lianyin paused.
The Moon's Shadow Seal floated above a shallow pool of still water, a black disc inscribed with silver lines that shifted like starlight. The whole chamber was lit by its glow, giving the walls a ghostly sheen.
The moment her eyes met it, the lotus mark on her palm throbbed with hunger.
Yes, it whispered. Take it. It will make us whole.
Zevian stepped forward, hand raised. "Don't touch it. Not yet."
Her brows knit. "Why?"
"Because it's bound to the sect's lifeline. Pull it wrong, and half the mountain collapses."
The lotus hissed, He wants to slow you down. To keep you weak.
She almost told it to shut up—but it was hard to ignore when the warmth of Kairo's life still lingered in her blood.
Zevian circled the pool, eyes flicking over the inscriptions on the walls. "These aren't just wards. They're bindings. Someone wove the Seal into a living soul."
Lianyin froze. "Whose?"
He looked at her then, his expression unreadable. "Yours, maybe. Or mine. Or someone we haven't met yet. But if you break it without knowing—"
A faint scrape of metal echoed behind them.
Both turned.
Figures emerged from the shadows, their crimson masks glinting in the Seal's light. The Crimson Lotus Court—five of them, blades drawn.
The lotus's whisper turned sharp. Let me loose.
Lianyin could feel the power coiling in her veins, ready to unfurl like petals in flame. But Zevian's voice cut across her thoughts.
"Don't," he murmured. "Not again."
She didn't answer. The first masked assassin lunged, blade arcing for her throat. She moved instinctively—steel meeting steel, sparks scattering across the water. Another came at her flank; she twisted, the lotus's power flowing through her muscles, turning her into something faster, sharper.
When the last assassin fell, the chamber was silent except for the slow ripple of water where bodies had splashed into the pool.
Zevian wiped his blade on a fallen mask. "Every time you use it, it digs in deeper."
The lotus's voice curled in her ear. And every time, you survive. He doesn't want that.
She turned away from him, focusing on the Seal.
Behind her, Zevian's eyes narrowed. He had seen enough.
---
Later, when Lianyin left to scout the outer passage, Zevian lingered in the Seal chamber. He moved silently to the far wall, where an almost invisible panel lay hidden between the carvings. A twist of his wrist, a click, and the stone shifted—revealing a sliver of a narrow tunnel.
From within, a faint glimmer of silver light pulsed—like the heartbeat of a second seal.
He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a thin jade talisman, pressing it to his lips. His voice was a whisper only the talisman could hear.
"She's almost gone," he murmured. "If the lotus takes her completely, I'll do what I have to. Be ready."
A pause. The talisman warmed in his hand, a faint voice answering. "Do you still think you can save her?"
Zevian's eyes lingered on the Seal's reflection in the water. "…No. But I can save what she's protecting."
He slid the panel shut before Lianyin returned.
When she did, she saw only his familiar mask of calm. And for the first time, she didn't quite trust it.
-