"You should not be here."
The woman did not flinch.
She stood in the center of the ruined corridor as if it belonged to her, silver hair loose against the black stone walls, eyes steady on the man who ruled this world by instinct alone.
"And yet," she replied calmly, "here I am."
Aerys Vaeldric stared at her longer than he should have.
No fear.No submission.No instinctive lowering of her gaze.
That alone made her dangerous.
"This wing is sealed," he said. "No one enters without my command."
She tilted her head slightly, studying him in a way people never studied an Alpha. "Then give one."
The torches along the corridor flickered.
Aerys felt it then. A faint pressure in his chest. Not pain. Not rage. Something unfamiliar.
Awareness.
"You are trespassing," he said, voice steady. "State your name."
The woman hesitated, just a second too long. Then, "Nyxara."
Only one name.
No house.No title.
Aerys's instincts searched for her scent. Found nothing.
His jaw tightened.
"That is not possible," he muttered.
Nyxara smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "People say that to me often."
The bells began to ring moments later.
Low. Heavy. Echoing through the citadel like a warning carved into stone.
The coronation had begun.
Aerys turned away first. He should have ordered her seized. Should have summoned the guards. Instead, he said, "Leave. Now."
"And if I do not?"
He faced her again. "Then you will die."
Nyxara studied his face. Not the crown resting against his dark hair. Not the armor etched with ancient sigils. She looked past all of it, as if she were trying to see the man beneath.
"You do not sound certain," she said.
Aerys exhaled sharply. "You mistake restraint for mercy."
"No," she replied. "I mistake it for exhaustion."
That struck closer than it should have.
Footsteps echoed in the distance. Beta guards. Organized. Relentless.
Aerys made his decision.
"Follow me," he said.
Nyxara's eyebrows rose. "I thought I was supposed to die."
"Not today," he replied.
The lower passages of the citadel had not been used in generations.
Dust coated the stone. Old blood stains marked the walls, faint but unmistakable. These were not halls of rule. They were halls of erasure.
Nyxara slowed as they descended. "Alphas were killed here."
Aerys glanced back. "You should not know that."
She brushed her fingers along the wall without touching it. "The stone remembers."
That made him stop.
"What are you?" he asked quietly.
Nyxara met his gaze. "A mistake."
Before he could press further, the sound of voices drifted from above.
"They went this way.""Seal the exits."
Aerys cursed under his breath.
"This chamber," he said, pushing open a narrow door. "Stay silent."
Inside, darkness swallowed them.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Nyxara said softly, "You lied for me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Aerys did not answer.
Because her presence made the constant pressure in his chest ease.Because for the first time in years, the silence inside him was not empty.
"That lie will cost you," she said.
"I am already paying," he replied.
She stepped closer.
Too close.
Instinct flared. Not dominance. Not control.
Pain.
Aerys sucked in a sharp breath and staggered back.
Nyxara froze. "What happened?"
"You touched nothing," he said hoarsely. "And yet I feel everything."
Her expression shifted, something like regret crossing her face.
"Then it has begun," she whispered.
"What has?"
Nyxara looked at him with a sorrow far too old for her face. "The breaking."
Above them, the council chamber burned with torchlight.
"He was not alone," a Beta lord said. "The woman has no classification."
Seris Maelthorn, eldest of the Omegas, closed his eyes.
"I have seen her," he murmured.
"In the future?"
"In the end."
Silence followed.
"The Alpha will choose," someone said.
Seris shook his head. "He already has."
In the dark chamber below, Aerys removed his crown.
The weight lifted from his skull, but not from his soul.
"You should leave before dawn," he said.
Nyxara shook her head. "They will find me."
"Yes."
"And you?"
Aerys met her gaze. "They will punish me."
She laughed softly. "You speak as if that matters."
He did not deny it.
"You do not belong here," he said. "This world devours anomalies."
Nyxara stepped closer again. Deliberately.
"And yet," she said, "you brought me into its heart."
Aerys felt his control fray. The Alpha within him recoiled, instincts screaming warnings he had never heard before.
"If you stay," he said, "everything will fall apart."
Nyxara's voice dropped to a whisper. "Including you?"
Aerys did not look away.
"Yes."
She studied him for a long moment.
Then she asked the question that would damn them both.
"If I stay," Nyxara said softly, "will you protect me?"
The bells rang again. Louder this time.
Aerys stepped forward, the distance between them vanishing.
He answered without hesitation.
"I will."
Nyxara inhaled sharply.
"Then," she said, her voice barely steady, "you should know what you are protecting."
Aerys frowned. "What do you mean?"
She lifted her gaze to his, eyes dark with something that looked like apology.
"I am not here to survive," Nyxara said.
"I am here to end the Alphas."
The torches outside flared.
Footsteps thundered toward the door.
Aerys whispered, almost to himself,
"Then why do I feel like I have finally begun to live?"
Nyxara reached for his hand as the door started to open.
And said,
"Because you were never meant to rule."