Amelia pressed her forehead to Kael's chest, desperate for something human—something grounding—something hers.
"Please," she whispered, voice breaking,"don't let me become something I can't control."
Kael's arms tightened around her fully, wings folding to shield her.
"I won't," he promised.
But for the first time…
Amelia noticed the fear in his heartbeat.
He wasn't afraid of her.
He was afraid of losing her.
Amelia didn't sleep.
She couldn't.
Every time her eyelids drifted shut, she saw flashes—too fast to understand, too powerful to ignore.
A hand made of shadow brushing her cheek.A celestial battlefield burning gold.A kiss—not human, not innocent—but cosmic and ruinous.
Her breath hitched every time.
Kael noticed.
He always did.
"Amelia," he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her face, "you need to rest."
"I'm afraid to," she admitted."If I close my eyes… I'll see him again."
Kael's jaw tightened so hard it trembled.
He hated this.
Hated that her awakening had connected her to Raeth in ways he couldn't protect her from.In ways he couldn't reach her.
He held her hands gently—carefully—so her light didn't burn him again.
"You are not going to lose yourself," he said softly.
But she heard the second part he didn't say:
Even if I lose you.
The First Tear in Her Mind
The Sanctuary lantern flickered.
Once.
Twice.
On the third flicker, Amelia gasped and clutched her head.
"Amelia?" Kael reached toward her—
—and light exploded around her skull.
A memory surged.
A place of dawn skies.A body not human.Wings like molten gold stretching across eternity.A voice calling her name—
"Serael…"
Her true name.
Her forbidden name.
Amelia's mouth parted.
"S—Serael…" she whispered, trembling.
Kael froze.
His heart stopped.
Because he had sworn to the Celestial Court that he would never let her remember that name.
"Amelia," he said sharply, grabbing her shoulders, "look at me—look at me."
But she wasn't hearing him.
She was seeing someone else.
A figure made of shadow and fire.One red eye.One silver.A presence that wrapped around her like the universe returning to its source.
Raeth.
The Devourer.
Her counterpart.
Her ruin.
"We were created together."
His voice echoed inside her mind like a forgotten hymn.
"You were the dawn, Serael.And I… the dusk."
Amelia choked on a breath.
Kael shook her gently.
"Stay with me—Amelia, don't let him pull you in!"
But she was slipping.
Falling.
Remembering.
Kael Confronts the Truth He's Feared
Kael felt it.
Her spirit stretching.Reaching.Searching for something that was not him.
Something older.Something deeper.Something she once called home.
"No," Kael growled, voice cracking, "I won't lose her like this."
He cupped her face despite the burning light that seared his palms.
He endured it.
He would endure worse.
"Amelia," he whispered desperately, "you promised you'd stay with me."
Amelia blinked—
—and the red-gold storm in her eyes flickered back to human brown.
"I'm trying," she whispered.
And she was.
But deep inside her…a door had opened.
And Raeth had stepped through.
The Shadow Beneath the City
Far below the Sanctuary, chained in a cavern of ruins and blood…
…Raeth lifted his head.
Slowly.
Powerfully.
His single silver eye glowed with hunger.
"Ah…" he breathed."She remembers the first piece."
The chains trembled violently.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Dark energy pulsed like a heartbeat—
—her heartbeat.
Raeth smiled.
A monster's smile.
A lover's smile.
A conqueror's smile.
"Soon, little light," he whispered into the void."Soon you will remember who you belong to."
The chains snapped—
—one more link broken.
Only seven remained.
Claire's Mother Moves
Meanwhile, in a hidden manor cloaked by curses and ancient trees…
A woman stood before a mirror.
Not the face she once had.Not the name she once carried.
Her reflection shifted like smoke until her true visage emerged:
Sharp celestial beauty.Golden irises.A mark of nobility burned into her collarbone.
Lady Seraphine.
Amelia's aunt.
The fallen heir of the Dawnblood Clan.
Her lips curled into a satisfied smile.
"She's waking up too quickly," Seraphine murmured.
Claire, kneeling behind her, flinched.
"But… that's dangerous, isn't it?"
"For her?" Seraphine chuckled darkly."No.For everyone around her."
For a moment, her eyes softened.
Not with love.
With hunger.
"I will reclaim what was stolen," she whispered."The Dawn throne. The bloodline. The destiny."
Claire swallowed hard.
"And… Amelia?"
Seraphine's smile sharpened like a blade.
"She will fall, my daughter.One way or another."