Chapter 25
The gate opens fully. The air above the pedestal splits from floor to ceiling, tearing through the lower archive with a scream that sounds almost alive.
Black sky gapes on the other side, endless and starless except for the dead white pinpricks burning in the distance.
Wind howls through it, smelling of ash, old graves, and magic that should have stayed buried.
Then the Remnants come. They pour through the tear like darkness given bodies, their limbs unfold too far. Their fingers scrape the stone floor as they land. Some crawl along shelves. Some drop from the air. Some drag themselves from the gate as if they are being born from the dead sky itself.
Council guards run. Some fight. Some don't get the chance. A Remnant catches one guard by the throat, and his scream dies before it becomes sound. Pale fire pours from the creature's mouth into his, and his body crumples to the floor, not burned, not bleeding. Empty.
My stomach turns.
Valerius pulls me behind him, Shadowflame exploding outward in a black arc. The first Remnant to reach us burns to ash before its fingers touch the floor.
"Stay close," he says. His voice is calm. A calm carved from terror and control and the kind of love that has already decided it will die before it steps aside.
I grip his hand tighter. "I will."
Another Remnant leaps from the shelf above. Professor Thorne's ward slams it sideways into a pillar. "Less speaking," he snaps. "More surviving."
Seren is still on the floor where I left her, face streaked with tears, hands shaking. She doesn't move toward us. She doesn't move toward the Masters either. She only stares as the creatures she helped summon tear through the archive.
The Ancient Masters stand near the gate. Watching. Unbothered by the chaos spilling around them. That scares me more than the Remnants.
Voss stands in front of them smiling like the world is finally becoming what she wanted. "Get the Starborne," she commands.
The Remnants turn toward me. All at once. Every pale mouth. Every faceless head. My blood turns cold.
Valerius's Shadowflame rises around me like a wall. "No," he says.
The Remnants rush. The first wave hits like a nightmare.
Valerius releases my hand only because he has to fight, but he stays so close his shoulder brushes mine with every turn.
Shadowflame lashes from his palms in controlled bursts, black fire rimmed red, cutting down creatures before they reach my throat.
I lift both hands. Starfire answers. White-gold light bursts from my palms and strikes a Remnant in the chest.
It screams, unraveling into ash and pale sparks.
The force throws me back a step. Valerius catches my waist without looking, shoves a Remnant away with his other hand, and sets me upright again.
"Breathe," he orders.
"I'm trying." I say.
"Try harder." He fights off another Remnant.
"I hate you a little." I yell to make sure he hear me.
"No, you don't." He's right.
A Remnant lunges at Seren. For one terrible second, I think I will let it. I want to. Part of me wants to turn away. Part of me wants the universe to punish her so I don't have to decide what love becomes after betrayal but my body moves before hatred can win.
"Seren!" Starfire snaps from my wrist, striking the Remnant before it reaches her. It disintegrates inches from her face. She flinches backward, eyes wide. Our gazes meet. Hers fill again.
I look away first because saving her hurts more than letting her die would have, because I still saved her, because I hate her for making that true.
"Valentina!" Thorne shouts. I turn just as three Remnants break through his ward.
Professor Thorne throws both hands out, blue-white magic carving a shield across the floor. The first creature slams into it and splits apart. The second crawls over its own ash. The third vanishes.
My stomach drops. "Where did it—" It appears behind Thorne.
Valerius moves, but two more Remnants strike him from the side, forcing him back. Shadowflame roars.
"Professor!" I scream. Thorne turns too late. The Remnant's hand drives into his side. Thorne's face goes white. His ward collapses.
The creature opens its pale mouth. Starfire bursts from me in a jagged line. It hits the Remnant and tears it away from him. Thorne falls. His body hits the stone and doesn't rise. "Thorne!"
Seren screams too. She starts to crawl toward him, but the second Ancient Master lifts a hand. Seren freezes. A black sigil flares around her throat. A leash. My breath stops. Seren gasps, fingers clawing at the mark.
Voss glances at her with mild irritation. "Stay where you are, Miss Ashwick."
Seren's eyes find mine with terror, regret and helplessness in them. Another Remnant lunges. I turn and burn it. My Starfire is brighter now, hotter. Every time I use it, something inside me cracks open farther. The seal is no longer breaking like ice under sunlight. It's shattering.
Valerius fights beside me like a storm made flesh. His black fire slices through darkness, his body moving with deadly precision. He is beautiful and terrifying, blood at his mouth, eyes black-gold with fury.
A Remnant claws across his shoulder. Blood sprays. My heart stops. "Valerius!"
"I'm fine!" He says burning the Remnant to the ground.
"You're bleeding!" I say. A second creature slashes his thigh. He stumbles. The bond flares with pain. I feel it like it's my own flesh splitting. Panic surges. My Starfire explodes outward, wild and too bright, burning three Remnants at once. The archive floor cracks beneath my feet.
Valerius turns sharply. "Control!"
"They're hurting you!" I panic, starting to lose control.
"They're trying to make you flare." He yells.
"I don't care!" I scream.
"Yes, you do." He grabs my face for half a second in the middle of the battle, forcing my eyes to his while flames and shadows explode around us. "You care because if you burn out, they win."
A Remnant strikes at his back. I scream, and Starfire shoots over his shoulder, destroying it. Valerius doesn't flinch. He only looks at me. "Control," he says.
The word steadies me. I nod. Then the floor beneath him turns black.
Voss lifts her burned hand. The black stones at her chest blaze.
"Enough of the Shadowbound." Old law chains rip from the stone.
Valerius sees them too late. One wraps around his ankle.
Another around his wrist. Another across his chest.
His Shadowflame roars, but the chains drink it.
Black fire sputters and bends inward, dragged toward the old law sigils carved into the links.
"No!" I lunge for him.
A Remnant slams into me from the side. I hit the floor hard enough for pain to burst through my ribs.
Valerius's voice tears through the archive. "Valentina!"
He fights the chains so violently the stone beneath him cracks. His muscles strain. Shadowflame burns around him in furious bursts, but the old law tightens, dragging him down.
Voss's eyes shine. "Bind him to the floor."
The chains obey. They yank Valerius onto one knee.
Then both. Then force him down. His palms hit stone.
Black sigils flare beneath him. The old law spreads over his body like poison.
His Shadowflame gutters. The bond convulses.
I feel his magic being pressed down. I feel his rage. His panic.
"Let him go!" I scream.
Voss looks at me. "Make me."
I rise. My legs shake. My ribs ache. Blood runs down my arm from a cut I don't remember getting. The archive spins, full of Remnants and broken shelves and screaming wind. Professor Thorne lies on the floor near the pillar, unmoving. A dark stain spreads beneath him. My heart fractures.
"Thorne," I whisper. He doesn't move.
Seren is crying silently where the black sigil holds her in place.
My father stands a few steps behind me, pale, shaking, useless with grief and horror.
His eyes are fixed on Thorne's body. Then on Valerius bound to the floor.
Then on me. For the first time in my life, my father looks at me and sees what is happening to me.
Not what I represent. Not what I might destroy.
Me, his daughter. Bleeding and terrified, still standing.
A Remnant lunges toward me. I lift my hand and burn it. Another comes. Then another. My Starfire tears through them, but each blast costs more. My vision blurs. My knees tremble. The mark over my heart burns so hot I press my hand against it and nearly sob.
Valerius struggles against the chains. "Don't touch her!" he snarls.
Voss steps near him, careful to stay outside biting range. "How powerless you look without permission to burn."
Valerius lifts his head. Blood runs from his lip. He smiles. "I don't need flame to kill you." The hatred in his voice chills the air.
Voss's expression flickers, just once. Then she turns from him toward me. "Bring her down."
The Ancient Masters lift their hands. The Remnants stop rushing wildly, they organize. My stomach drops. They were never uncontrolled. They were being allowed to swarm. Now they move like one body, circling, closing in.
I turn slowly, Starfire trembling around my hands. There's too many, too many faceless mouths, too many pale flames, too much darkness. Valerius's voice slams through the bond.
Hold on.
I try. I burn the first line. White-gold fire rips across the floor, destroying five Remnants at once. More step through their ash. I burn again. My knees buckle. The world goes white at the edges.
Voss watches, waiting.
She wants me to empty myself. She wants me exhausted before she takes me. Another Remnant lunges from behind. I turn too slowly.
My father moves. He steps in front of me.
At first, I don't understand. Alaric Starling, who has spent years standing across rooms from me, suddenly stands between me and death.
The Remnant's claws drive into his chest. Time stops.
"No," I whisper. The word is too small. Too late.
My father gasps. His body jerks. The Remnant opens its pale mouth at his throat. Valerius roars from the floor.
I scream.
Starfire explodes from my hands and tears the Remnant apart, but my father is already falling.