Chapter 27 #3
The statement isn't a question. I look down at him. The sovereign heart remains silent. "The bond interpreted the removal of your mark as a direct threat."
His fingers tighten around the fabric. "That isn't all."
"It's the only explanation supported by current evidence." I justify.
His eyes burn. "I felt you."
"A temporary emotional breach." I admit.
"You called me by my name." He voice cracks.
"I know your name." I remind him.
"You were afraid." I pause. He sees the pause. Hope flickers again, smaller this time.
I pull my cloak from his hand. "Fear isn't useful in survival."
His hand falls. Professor Thorne kneels beside him and begins examining the wound. He looks at me once, disappointment and sorrow filling his face.
My mother whispers, "She came back."
"Briefly," Thorne says.
Valerius closes his eyes. His voice is rough. "She's still there."
I erase three Remnants at the far end of the corridor. Thorne wraps healing light around Valerius's chest. "You nearly let yourself be taken."
"I had an exit plan." Valerius says.
Professor Thorne's gaze sharpens. "You were seconds from losing the sovereign mark."
"The plan had complications." He admits.
"You broke two ribs." Thorne says carefully.
"I've had worse." He laughs and winces in pain.
"You gambled your life on her emotions returning." Thorne scorns him.
Valerius opens his eyes. "And I was right."
I turn toward him. "You were captured."
He almost smiles. "You came."
The locked place inside me trembles. Not enough to open but enough to be noticed. I face the corridor before he can see, more Remnants are rising through the floor. Eighteen. I walk toward them.
Valerius tries to stand. Professor Thorne forces him down. "You are not moving."
Valerius pushes his hand away. "She is."
"She can fight without you for thirty seconds." Thorne says.
"No." The word is immediate. The same as always, even when shattered, even after I left him hanging in chains.
He rises, his body nearly collapses. Shadowflame catches him, wrapping around his legs and back like an exoskeleton of black fire.
Professor Thorne swears. Valerius steps beside me, his face is pale, his breathing uneven but he stands.
I look at him. "This is inefficient."
"You're repeating yourself, it's getting boring." He looks straight infront of him.
"You are wounded." I remind him.
"You noticed." He smiles.
"I assessed the injury." I say.
"You folded space to save me." He doesn't break eye contact.
I answer. "The bond—" He cuts me off.
He leans in close, not enough to kiss but enough that only I hear. "Keep lying." I stare at him. His mouth curves despite the blood. "Every lie means she's still in there to tell it."
The next Remnant lunges. We move together. Shadowflame wraps around my cold Starfire. Black-red and colourless white strike as one, erasing the creature before it reaches us. Another comes. Gone. Another. Gone.
Students watch from the staircase. Professor Thorne watches from behind us. My mother watches with grief and fragile hope. Valerius fights beside me as if I didn't just break him, as if one heartbeat of the girl he loves is enough reason to survive a thousand more without her.
The remaining Remnants retreat toward the crack. Not fleeing, they're regrouping. The academy walls tremble as the dead things below shift direction. Toward the Hall of Passing. Luc. The spirits. Seren. My father.
Professor Thorne feels it too. "They're going for the dead."
"Why?" my mother asks.
A voice answers from the floor. Not Remnant. Not Ancient Master. Seren... Her spirit whispers through the stone. "Because the dead remember how the first Starborne fell." The corridor freezes. Valerius's hand finds mine. I allow it.
Luc's voice follows hers, strained and distant. "They're trying to silence the witnesses."
Professor Thorne looks toward the eastern stairs. "The Hall of Passing."
I assess the remaining forces. Wounded professors. Evacuated first-years. Fourteen Remnants visible. Hundreds below shifting toward the hall. The Ancient Masters don't want us to learn something. That makes the information valuable.
"We go," I say.
Valerius's grip tightens. "You are not folding space again."
"It saved time." I remind him.
"It nearly broke you." He says gripping my hand tighter.
"I felt no damage." I say.
"Thats the problem." He says but I begin walking and he follows.
Professor Thorne orders the others to secure the south wing. My mother hesitates between following me and protecting the students.
"Stay," I tell her. "They need the dean." Her face changes at the recognition of her role. For one moment, she almost sees the daughter she remembers.
Valerius stays at my side, bleeding beneath Thorne's hurried bandages, Shadowflame supporting every step.
We descend toward the Hall of Passing. The academy groans around us.
The dead whisper beneath us. The Remnants crawl through the foundations and between Valerius and me, the bond carries one fragile truth neither of us speaks aloud.
He was right. I am still inside the silence, buried, watching, waiting and now the Ancient Masters know exactly how to reach me.