The forest had gone silent after Victor vanished, but the air still trembled with power. Asher stood frozen, staring at Lucian, the faint light of the locket glowing between them like a heartbeat shared.
"You shouldn't be here," Lucian murmured, voice lower now, almost soft.
Asher took a step back. "You keep saying that. Then why do you keep showing up?"
Lucian's crimson eyes flickered—anger, restraint, and something unspoken. "Because you are tied to a fate that should have ended centuries ago."
"What does that even mean?" Asher snapped. "Who are you? What do you know about Amara?"
At the name, Lucian's composure faltered. The shadows seemed to tighten around him. "So… she told you."
"My grandmother told me enough," Asher said bitterly. "That you're dangerous. That you destroyed her."
Lucian's jaw tightened, the faintest trace of pain crossing his face. "Destroyed her? No, boy. I "loved " her. And that was my greatest sin."
The wind stirred, carrying leaves around their feet. Asher's heart thudded painfully. "Then why do I keep hearing her name? Why does this thing—" he lifted the locket "—feel like it's alive?"
Lucian's gaze dropped to it, his voice lowering to a whisper. "Because her soul rests within that locket. A fragment of her—bound by her final spell."
Asher's blood ran cold. "Her soul?"
Lucian looked away, the moonlight catching in his hair like frost. "She bound herself to me so I would never fall into darkness again. But she paid for that bond with her life. Now… it calls to you."
For a moment, neither spoke. Only the sound of Asher's uneven breathing filled the night.
"You expect me to believe that?" Asher asked finally, though the tremor in his voice betrayed his doubt.
Lucian stepped closer, his presence overwhelming yet strangely calm. "You don't have to believe it," he murmured. "You only have to feel it."
Before Asher could move, Lucian reached out, brushing his fingers lightly against the locket. The touch sent a spark through Asher's chest—warm, painful, alive. The glow flared, wrapping both of them in a faint shimmer of blue light.
Lucian drew his hand back sharply, eyes dark with restraint. "It's awakening faster than I thought."
"What is?"
"The bond," he said quietly. "Between her… and us."
Asher's breath hitched. "Us?"
Lucian's eyes met his, crimson burning softly. "Your blood carries what hers once did."
And before Asher could ask more, Lucian stepped back into the shadows, leaving only the echo of his words and the faint glow of the locket pulsing against his skin.
To be continued.....