~LUCIAN'S POV
I did not learn about the Shadow Covenants from the shadows themselves, but from Thorne who had brought the information to me.
He arrived in his human form, just before dusk, when the outer wards were being reset and the realm was quiet enough for bad news to land properly. He always chose his timing well. Even without wings or stone skin, he carried the same weight he always had. Solid. Watchful. Unmoving unless necessary.
"They're active again," he said, without greetings or delay. "And they're not being careful."
That was enough to make me look up.
Thorne had been bound to me for centuries. Gargoyles were not meant to speak often, and they did not exaggerate when they eventually do. If he said something was wrong, it already was.
"Where," I asked.
"The dead seas," he replied. "An informant reported gatherings. Real ones. Not echoes or decoys. And before we could pull him out, something found him."
I narrowed my eyes. "Something."
He nodded once. "It wasn't an attack. It only watched, and then spoke."
I understood immediately.
The Covenants liked their messengers theatrical.
"They said they are moving faster than expected," Thorne continued. "And that you would notice them soon."
That night, I did.
I felt it at the edge of my awareness. It wasn't hostile nor aggressive, it was just present, waiting in the dark where sound thinned and magic settled into silence.
"You are doing a poor job of hiding," I said calmly.
It answered after a pause. The voice sounded so wrong and out of place. It was too layered and even.
"The Shadow Covenants are already in motion."
That earned my attention.
I faced it then, blue fire flickering briefly around my fingers as a warning, but the shadow did not react.
Instead, it showed me where to look. Where the Covenants met when they thought no one was watching. Where their magic gathered thick enough to leave traces behind.
Then the shadow disappeared without threat or challenge.
I followed the trail it had described anyway.
Now I cut through the dead seas as a streak of blue light, space folding around me as I moved. Below stretched black water, still and lifeless. Souls wandered across its surface without sinking, mouths moving in quiet repetition.
I ignored them.
I slowed only when land rose ahead of me, the light collapsing as my form reshaped itself mid-motion. Flesh replaced light. Bone anchored into place with power sealing beneath skin.
A jagged rock formation stood before me, split down the center by a narrow opening that would have been easy to miss if I did not know where to look. Dark magic leaked from inside. Old, stable and forbidden.
This was the place the shadow had spoken about.
I stepped inside, and the cave muted sound immediately. Grotesque statues coated the walls, and veins of corrupted magic pulsed beneath the stone in slow, steady patterns. I moved forward without hurry, eyes scanning the place with my senses stretched outward.
I wasn't alone, and whatever was here knew I was coming.
The air around the cave shifted, and I felt the presence of bodies before seeing them.
Not through sound, but through weight. The kind that presses against your chest, making every breath feel labored. Thorne felt it too. I saw it in the way his shoulders stiffened beside me, his gaze lifting toward the dark smoke ahead of us.
"Five," he said quietly.
They did not announce themselves, before their dark magic tore through the space in front of me without warning. I stepped aside just in time, making the attack slice past where I had been standing, striking the stone wall behind me. The impact cracked the rock as shards scattered across the ground.
Thorne moved immediately, stepping forward with a low growl as his skin hardened, veins of stone rippling across his arms.
They revealed themselves then.
Five figures stood at the far end of the chamber, masked and wrapped in dark fabric that swallowed the faint blue light bleeding from the rock walls. Their presence felt wrong. Their magic did not belong here. It pressed against my senses, cold and heavy, crawling beneath my skin as if searching for a way in.
They did not rush to attack us, but instead, they watched.
I remained where I was, as their magic brushed against me cautiously, testing, searching for weakness.
I let it.
Their mistake was assuming my stillness meant hesitation.
"You mistake restraint for weakness," I said evenly.
The answer came in force.
A wave of dark magic surged toward me, wide and uneven, tearing up the ground as it traveled. I stepped aside calmly, letting it pass where I had been standing. The cave shuddered as the strike landed on one of the statues behind me, making the stone break loose and crashing to the floor.
Before I could settle, another attack followed. Then another.
I raised my hand.
Blue fire gathered in my palm, bright but controlled. When the magic reached me, I released it. The flames met the darkness head on, consuming it in a violent hiss that filled the chamber with smoke and heat.
Thorne charged.
His human form twisted as he moved, skin cracking as stone forced its way through. His arm struck the first attacker before I reached him, sending the masked figure crashing into the cave wall making its bone snap.
The rest broke formation, as they rushed to us.
One came at me fast, shadow shaping itself into a blade in his hand. I caught his wrist mid-swing, with my blue flames spreading from my grip and crawling up his arm, making him scream as the mask on his face split open, light glowing from the cracks before his body collapsed into ash at my feet.
Another lunged from my side. I turned before driving my elbow into his chest, and releasing the fire. The impact sent him flying backward, making the stone shatter when he hit the wall with a loud thud.
Thorne intercepted the third.
The gargoyle caught him by the throat and slammed him into the ground hard enough to crack the stone beneath them.
The fourth turned and ran.
I did not chase.
I lifted my hand and sent a thin line of blue fire straight through his back which made him fall before he could take another step.
He was the only one that remained.
He knelt there, shaking, breath uneven beneath the mask. Thorne silently stood a few steps behind me, stone veins still visible along his forearms as his form slowly settled back into human.
I walked toward the masked figure, crouching in front of him and forcing his head up, with my fingers tightening around his jaw. Blue fire danced along my skin, close enough for him to feel it without burning him.
"You're coming with me," I said. "Your life depends on how useful you choose to be."
He did not answer.
I struck him once at the side of the head, making his body go limp before hitting the ground hard.
The cave fell silent.
Four remains lay scattered across the floor, nothing left of them but ash and burned fabric.
I grabbed the masked figure by the collar and opened a portal beneath my feet. Blue light swallowed us, the cave vanishing as the spell pulled us through.
We emerged in the lower dungeons of the demon realm.
The air there was heavy and stale, thick with iron and old blood. The walls were damp, carved from ancient stone that had absorbed centuries of suffering.
I dragged him down the corridor and threw him into an empty cell lined and layered with coldstone. The moment his body hit the floor, chains snapped into place around his limbs. The runes flared briefly, then settled, suppressing his magic completely.
I did not give him time to recover, as blue fire flared in my arms in form of chain, before wrapping around his neck.
"Up." I spoke.
He gasped, choking as consciousness slammed back into him. His head snapped up, eyes wide behind the cracked mask.
He tried to break free from the chains bounding him but his magic sputtered uselessly, broken and unfocused.
"Speak," I said. "And choose your words carefully."
He laughed. It was thin and strained, forced through shaking breaths.
"You think killing us changes anything?" he rasped. "We've already moved."
My hand closed around the chain at his throat. "Moved where?"
He hesitated.
Then his voice lowered, almost reverent. "The demon realm."
The words settled heavy in my chest.
"You were too busy guarding borders," he went on, strength creeping back into his tone. "Too focused on balance. You never noticed what slipped through."
I leaned closer. "Be specific."
His head tilted slightly. I could hear the smile beneath the mask.
"The banquet," he whispered. "So many powerful beings in one place. Such a generous invitation."
The blue flames around my arm intensified. "What have you done?"
"Not done," he corrected softly. "Planned."
I knocked him unconscious before he could say more. Some truths were better dragged out slowly, under wards and pressure and spells that left no room for lies.
"Stay alive," I said quietly. "You're more useful that way."
I sealed the cell and turned away, as I headed for Alaric's chamber, wanting to report how it had went.
His chamber was already lit when I arrived. Too lit. The doors closed behind me with a sharp sound, and my attention went immediately to the desk at the center of the room.
Glass vials that were neatly arranged sat on his desk, and my steps slowed, almost faltering.
Alaric stood behind the desk, with both hands braced against the surface, head slightly lowered. He did not turn to face me.
"How long?" he asked.
The question had nothing to do with the Shadow Covenants.
My throat tightened as I looked at the vials again. Monthly elixirs. Carefully refined. Years' worth untouched.
"I—"
He lifted his head.
Silver eyes locked onto mine.
"How long have you been lying to me?"
The room felt smaller than it should have. And for the first time in a long while, I did not know how to answer my brother without everything breaking apart.