The mortal's name was Kael. Liora learned it after he drank a cup of healing nectar she had brewed, his fingers brushing hers again. Each touch sent sparks across her skin, not of magic, but of something older—an echo of a soul she thought she had long buried.
Kael's memory was fractured. He remembered battles, fire, and a sense of being chosen—but not why he had fallen through the sky. Liora pieced together what she could: a curse of celestial origin, binding him to death if not mended by powers he did not yet understand.
"You're… you healed me," he said, staring at her with wide, unsteady eyes. "I—I should be dead. How is this possible?"
Liora hesitated. She wanted to tell him the truth—that she was part celestial, that she had been hiding her wings and powers to survive—but the words lodged in her throat. The consequences were too great. The Archons would come for him if they sensed the celestial energy in him, and by extension, in her.
"You're alive because I could save you," she said softly. "Nothing more. You must keep quiet. You must not speak of what happened here."
He nodded, but his gaze lingered. "I feel… connected to you," he admitted in a whisper. "As if our fates were… tangled."
Her chest tightened. Celestial or not, mortal or not, she knew this was the beginning of something she could neither control nor escape. The Starbond prophecy whispered in shadows behind her mind: a mortal and a fallen star, bound by love that could either destroy or save the world.
And as she looked into Kael's eyes, full of pain, confusion, and fragile hope, she realized—she had just touched destiny itself.
Lightning flashed across the upper city. The wards shimmered, alerting the Celestials to her lingering light. Somewhere high above, a figure moved silently through the spires: Seren, Archon of the Silver Gates, watching, waiting, and deciding whether Liora's secret would live another night.