Chapter 23 #4
The star crystal flies toward me. Valerius catches it.
The moment it touches his palm, the cuff on his wrist cracks. Black stone splits.
Shadowflame erupts back into existence with a roar that shakes the archive.
Valerius gasps, dropping to one knee again, but this time the fire wraps around him like something returned from death. The bond floods open. I stumble toward him. He looks up at me, breathing hard, the star crystal glowing in his hand.
"It chose you," Professor Thorne whispers.
"No," I say, eyes on Valerius. The crystal pulses between us. "It chose us." The words are barely out before the vault door behind my father opens.
White-gold light spills from beyond it, revealing a hidden chamber lined with mirrors, each covered in black cloth. At the center stands an empty pedestal, carved with the sovereign mark. The star crystal lifts from Valerius's palm and floats toward the pedestal.
Voss staggers upright, burned hand clutched to her chest. "No," she hisses.
Valerius rises beside me, Shadowflame burning around his broken cuff. "Yes," he says.
The crystal sets itself onto the pedestal. The archive trembles. Every covered mirror in the vault chamber tears free of its cloth. Reflections burst to life. A woman with silver-gold eyes and a crown of flame. A man beside her wreathed in shadow. Another pair and another next to it.
Starborne and Shadowbound through centuries. Fighting. Falling. Burning. Dying. Choosing. Then the mirrors change.
Me and Valerius standing in the archive with fire around our joined hands.
The sovereign mark ignites beneath the pedestal.
The seal inside me cracks. Pain splits through my chest.
I cry out. Valerius catches me. My father shouts my name.
My mother's voice echoes from somewhere far away through the passage wards.
"Valentina!" The Starfire rises higher than ever before.
I cling to Valerius. "Make it stop."
His arms come around me. "I've got you." But his voice is afraid.
The crystal burns brighter. The mirrors whisper. 'Restore the flame. Restore the throne. Restore the war.'
"No," I gasp. The word barely reaches my own ears.
Valerius hears. His Shadowflame wraps around the crystal's light, not extinguishing it, shielding me from the full force. The pain eases just enough for me to breathe.
Voss sees her chance. She raises her unburned hand.
The black stones at her chest flare. "Council containment order, final authority."
The archive floor cracks. Black chains erupt from beneath the stone, marked with the old law symbol.
Around me. Around Valerius. Around the pedestal. Around the crystal.
Professor Thorne shouts, "Everyone back!"
One chain wraps around my wrist. Another around Valerius's. The bond screams. It burns. Our joined marks flare together. White-gold Starfire races down my chain. Shadowflame races down his. The two meet at the center. The old law chains ignite.
Voss's eyes widen.
Valerius looks at me. Through pain, through fire, through the chaos tearing the archive apart, he smiles. "Together?" he asks. My heart pounds. The archive shakes.
Voss screams for the guards to move. My father stands frozen, watching the daughter he feared become something he can no longer deny. Seren fights beside Professor Thorne, green magic flashing. The star crystal burns above the pedestal.
Valerius's hand reaches for mine through the chains. I take it. "Together." I nod.
The bond opens. Starfire and Shadowflame collide.
The chains shatter. The vault erupts in light.
Voss is thrown backward through the archive clearing, slamming into a shelf hard enough to bring chained books crashing around her.
The guards fall. The old law symbol burns to ash.
The star crystal vanishes from the pedestal.
Then fire brands itself beneath my skin.
My chest, right over my heart. I gasp, clutching myself.
Valerius does the same. His face is pale.
On his chest, beneath his shirt, I feel it through the bond. A matching mark.
Professor Thorne stares at us. Seren's voice trembles. "What happened?"
My father whispers, "What did I do?"
Valerius's arm tightens around me. Voss lifts her head from the floor, blood at her mouth, eyes full of hatred and triumph. "You fools," she breathes.
The archive doors above burst open again. But this time, the cold air that enters is not council magic. It's older. Darker. The blue archive flames turn black. The mirrors in the vault all crack at once. A voice rolls through the archive, not Voss's, not the queen's, not anyone alive in the room.
Ancient. Male. Cruel. "So the sovereign heart is restored." My blood turns to ice. Valerius pulls me behind him. Professor Thorne's face goes white. My mother's distant scream echoes through the passage. The voice laughs softly. "Good."
Three black stars ignite in the air above the pedestal. The same three moving through the mountains. Only now they are closer. Much closer. The Ancient Masters have felt the key break and from the look on Voss's bleeding, smiling face... That was exactly what she wanted.