Silence was the first thing I noticed.
Not peace never peace but a hollow, ringing quiet that pressed against my ears until it hurt. The ruins no longer screamed. The wind no longer howled. Even the shadows seemed to hold their breath, as if afraid to move after what had been unleashed.
Ash drifted lazily from the sky, coating the shattered ground in gray like the remains of a burned-out world.
My body felt wrong.
Heavy. Broken. Still alive only out of stubbornness.
I groaned as I tried to move, pain flaring instantly through my ribs and spine. Every muscle protested. My hands shook as I pushed myself upright, palms slipping against dust and blood.
Blood.
The sight of it snapped my mind into focus.
"Luna," I whispered hoarsely.
Panic surged through me, sharp and vicious. I forced myself to stand, swaying dangerously as my vision blurred. My legs barely obeyed, but I stumbled forward anyway, heart hammering violently in my chest.
She lay a few steps away.
Still.
Too still.
"No," I breathed.
I dropped to my knees beside her, ignoring the pain screaming through my body. Her hair was spread across the ground like spilled ink, her face pale beneath the ash that clung to her skin.
"Luna," I said again, louder now. My hands hovered over her, terrified to touch her.
I pressed two fingers against her neck.
A pulse.
Weak, but there.
Relief hit me so hard it nearly knocked the air from my lungs. My shoulders sagged as I let out a shaky breath I hadn't realized I was holding.
"She's alive," I whispered to myself, like I needed to hear it aloud for it to be real.
Carefully, I brushed ash from her face. Her lashes fluttered faintly, lips parted as she breathed shallowly. The mark on her chest once blazing with crimson fury was gone.
Not gone completely.
It had faded into something else.
A scar.
Thin, dark, and jagged, etched into her skin like a warning.
I swallowed hard.
"What did he do to you?" I murmured.
The curse beneath my skin stirred faintly in response, no longer raging, but not dormant either. It felt… altered. Like something had shifted, rearranged itself after the explosion.
I hated that feeling.
Mark was gone. Of that, I was certain. There was no lingering presence, no oppressive weight in the air. He had retreated or been forced to.
But men like him didn't lose.
They waited.
I slipped an arm beneath Luna's shoulders and another under her knees, lifting her carefully. Pain flared in my side, but I bit it back. She weighed almost nothing in my arms, and that terrified me more than any monster ever could.
She was too light.
Too fragile.
I carried her through the ruins until I found a partially intact structure a crumbling stone chamber shielded from the worst of the destruction. I laid her down gently on a patch of relatively clean ground, tearing strips from my cloak to wrap around her arms and shoulders.
Her skin was cold.
I rubbed her hands between mine, desperate to warm her.
"Stay with me," I whispered. "Please."
Minutes passed.
Then
Her fingers twitched.
I froze, breath caught painfully in my throat.
Her brows furrowed, lips parting as a soft sound escaped her. Slowly, painfully, her eyes fluttered open.
"Arin?" she whispered.
The sound of my name from her lips shattered me.
"I'm here," I said instantly, gripping her hands. "I've got you."
Her gaze focused on me gradually, confusion clouding her expression. Then memory returned, and fear flickered briefly in her eyes.
"He" she began, voice breaking.
"He's gone," I said firmly. "Mark is gone."
She searched my face, as if looking for a lie.
When she found none, her shoulders sagged weakly.
"I thought…" She swallowed hard. "I thought I lost you."
My chest tightened painfully.
"You almost did," I admitted softly. "But I'm not going anywhere."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I said something," she whispered. "Before everything went dark."
"I heard you."
Her breath hitched.
"You shouldn't have," she said faintly. "I said it because I thought"
"I know why you said it," I interrupted gently. "And I'm glad you did."
She stared at me, stunned.
"You… you are?" she asked.
I leaned closer, forehead resting against hers.
"Yes," I said quietly. "Because I feel it too."
A tear slid down her cheek.
"I was so scared," she whispered.
"So was I," I admitted. "Still am."
She laughed weakly through her tears. "That's not very reassuring."
"I know," I said. "But it's honest."
Her fingers tightened around mine, grounding me. For a moment, the world narrowed to just us two broken people clinging to each other in the aftermath of destruction.
Then she gasped suddenly, clutching at her chest.
Pain shot through her body, sharp and sudden.
"Luna!" I said, panic surging again.
"It's" She winced, teeth clenched. "It's not like before. It's… different."
I glanced at the scar, dread crawling up my spine.
Different how?
Before I could ask, the air shifted.
Not violently.
Subtly.
A chill crept through the chamber, raising goosebumps along my arms. The curse beneath my skin stirred again, alert and restless.
I stood slowly, blades sliding back into my hands.
"We're not alone," I said quietly.
Luna struggled to sit up. "Is it him?"
"No," I said, scanning the shadows. "Not Mark."
The darkness at the far end of the chamber thickened, folding in on itself. From it stepped three figures, cloaked and silent.
Not monsters.
Hunters.
They wore dark robes marked with unfamiliar sigils, faces hidden behind iron masks etched with glowing blue lines. Their presence was cold and precise nothing like Mark's suffocating malice.
One of them spoke.
"The marked girl lives," he said flatly.
My grip tightened on my blades.
"Take one step closer and you die," I warned.
The hunter ignored me, his gaze locked onto Luna.
"She is no longer his alone," he said. "She belongs to the balance now."
Luna shivered behind me.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"It means," the second hunter said calmly, "that you have become a liability."
Rage burned through me.
"You're not touching her," I growled.
The third hunter tilted his head.
"Then you will die with her."
The curse surged eagerly, responding to the threat.
I stepped forward, positioning myself fully in front of Luna, blades raised.
"Then come and try."
The hunters drew their weapons.
Steel whispered in the dark.
And somewhere far away
I felt Mark watching.