Chapter 15
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
The world does not shift so much as it shatters.
A low, concussive boom rolls through the stone beneath our feet, deep enough to rattle bone, sharp enough to silence every voice in the room in the same breath.
The sound doesn’t fade. It echoes, reverberating through Dathanor like the warning of something vast and unstoppable tearing at its foundations.
Then the second alarm hits. This one is different. It’s not the rising, searching wail from before. This is a full-throated, brutal scream of sound that leaves no room for doubt.
We’re under attack.
Everything moves at once.
Air that had been thick with tension snaps into motion, bodies shifting, weapons lifted, voices rising not in panic but in command. Someone shouts from the corridor, the words half lost in the noise but unmistakable in intent.
“They’re through the south barricade!”
Another crash follows, closer this time, and dust shakes loose from the ceiling in a fine, choking rain.
Varek is already moving. He doesn’t rush or react blindly.
Command takes hold of him like armour, his posture locking into something immovable, something that turns chaos into shape.
Orders start leaving his mouth before most of us have even taken a full breath.
“Reinforce inner routes. No collapse points—hold them.”
Kael is at his side instantly, relaying, redirecting, his own voice cutting cleanly through the noise as fighters break off to carry out commands. Shanae is already moving for the map table. She drags it into clearer space, issuing instructions with ruthless precision.
Solan doesn’t speak. He simply reaches for his weapon, which tells me everything I need to know about what’s coming next. Sonny swears under his breath and straightens, every trace of humour gone.
And as for me, my gaze snaps to Varek, and our bond surges. He’s aware of me the same way I’m aware of him. I feel the spark of his attention, the quick, instinctive check that hits like a pulse under my skin.
Safe.
For now.
“Pax.”
My name cuts through everything.
I move without thinking, closing the space between us in two strides that feel too slow and too fast all at once. “I should stay,” I say, the words out before I’ve fully decided on them.
His gaze locks onto mine, silver eyes burning with something that isn’t hesitation. “You will not.”
Frustration flares, instinct pushing back. “I can fight.”
“I am aware.”
Something in his tone makes me stop. He’s not dismissing me, and there’s zero doubt in his tone. All I hear is trust.
“You will help protect the child,” he continues, voice lower now but no less absolute. “Solan will go with you. Sonny and Jack too.”
The weight of it presses into my chest even as I see Jack move out of the corner of my eye, no doubt racing ahead to find his nephew.
Jamie.
Of course.
Of course that’s the priority.
Still, instinct has me resisting. “You’re sending me away from the fight.”
“I am placing you where you are required.”
The words hit differently because he means it. This isn’t about keeping me safe. It’s about trusting me with something that matters more than anything else right now.
Another impact shakes the walls, closer this time, and the decision is ripped out of my hands. There’s no time to argue. No time to hesitate.
“Right,” I mutter, already turning.
He catches my wrist. The contact is brief and devastating. Heat flares through the bond, dragging my attention back to him fully. For a fraction of a second, the noise drops away. The movement. The urgency. Everything.
Just him.
“Stay alive,” he says.
I huff a breath, my chest loosening despite everything. “Yeah,” I reply, quieter. “You too.” And then I lean in.
The kiss is fast, hard, and entirely unnecessary, which is exactly why I do it.
His mouth meets mine without hesitation, the contact grounding in a way nothing else is right now. Heat, breath, the faint taste of him—it hits harder than it should, sharper because of everything pressing in around us.
I pull back first because if I don’t, I might not.
Across the room, Sonny grabs Kael by the front of his armour and kisses him just as abruptly, earning himself a startled breath before Kael steadies and returns it for half a second longer than expected.
“Don’t die,” Sonny mutters.
“You either,” Kael replies, already turning back to the fight.
Aelith moves then. It’s not graceful. Pain laces every step as he crosses the space towards me, one hand braced briefly against the table to steady himself before he straightens again.
Up close, he looks worse. Too pale. Too taut. But his eyes are clear and focused. He reaches for the chain at his throat and yanks it free, the medallion catching the strange light of the room as it swings between us.
“Take it.” The command is quiet and urgent.
I hesitate for half a second. “Why me?”
“Because she cannot have it,” he says, and there’s something in his voice that cuts through any argument I might have had. “And because you will not hesitate when it matters.”
Before I can question it further, he presses it into my hand, closing my fingers around it with surprising strength.
“Whatever happens,” he adds, lowering his voice, “she does not get this.”
Something about the way he says it makes my gut twist. “Got it,” I say.
That’s all there is time for.
“Move!” Shanae snaps from across the room.
Solan is already at the doorway, his presence filling it completely as he glances back once. “Now,” he says.
The corridors are alive with purpose.
Bodies move around us in fast, efficient patterns, weapons flashing in the low light as fighters take positions. The sound of battle now bleeds through the stone—distant clashes, shouted commands, the unmistakable ring of metal striking metal.
We cut through it all at speed.
Solan leads, carving a path through the movement with sheer presence alone. People move for him without needing to be told, recognising what he is, what he represents.
Sonny keeps pace beside me, breathing steady despite the sprint. “Still glad you stayed?” he mutters.
“Shut up,” I shoot back.
He grins, brief and self-satisfied. “Thought so.”
We don’t slow. Not until we hit the inner corridor where familiar voices echo ahead.
“—I said I’m fine!”
Jamie.
Relief hits fast and hard.
We round the corner, and the scene snaps into place.
Jack stands in front of Jamie, arms folded, tension written into every line of him. Caly hovers just to one side, calm in a way that feels deliberate, controlled.
Jamie looks furious and scared.
“Good,” Jack says as we approach, though the word is strained. “You’re here.”
“Full breach,” Sonny says. “South side.”
Jamie’s head snaps towards us. “What?”
“No time,” Solan cuts in. “We move.”
“Move where?” Jamie demands.
“Deeper,” I say. “Now.”
He hesitates, just for a second, then nods.
Caly steps forward immediately, already turning towards a narrower passage. “This way,” he says.
The light shifts as we move deeper, the glow-veins in the stone thinning, the air cooler, quieter. The sounds of battle fade behind us, replaced by the enclosed echo of our own movements.
Jamie stays close, moving faster than I expect, though I can feel the tension in him; he’s holding himself together by sheer force of will. Jack shadows him, never more than a step away.
Sonny ranges slightly wider, scanning the area, while Solan brings up the rear.
And Caly, he leads like he’s done this a hundred times before. He’s confident and precise.
The passage narrows, then twists, opening briefly into a wider chamber before splitting again into routes I’ve never seen before.
“How the hell do you know this place?” I mutter.
Caly glances back, just once. “I pay attention.”
Fair enough.
We keep moving, deeper and further from the fight. Further from Varek. The thought insists harder than I like, but I force myself to ignore it.
We reach the end of the passage quicker than expected, the stone giving way to an opening that breathes cool air into the tunnel.
We’re in the surrounding forest, at the opposite side of the settlement.
Safe… or it should be. But then we step out into it, and everything in me goes still. Because it’s too quiet. While it’s not empty and definitely not peaceful, that’s not the issue. It simply feels wrong.
The sky above is darker now, the green hue deepening towards something heavier and storm laden. The air is colder, tinged with that tainted metallic edge that prickles along my skin.
Caly stops. Everyone else follows suit.
“What is it?” Jack whispers.
Caly doesn’t answer straight away. He listens. So do I.
And then there’s movement. It’s close—too damn close.
“Down,” Caly murmurs.
We drop into defensive positions just as figures break from the tree line.
Armour, weapons—the Crown is here in the form of Glowranth soldiers.
“Shit,” Sonny breathes.
And then they’re on us.
The first impact comes fast and without ceremony.
Steel meets steel somewhere to my left as Solan intercepts the closest soldier with a force that reverberates through the ground. The clash is loud and violent, and it snaps whatever thin thread of stillness remained into something intense and chaotic.
Everyone moves at once.
A second guard breaks right, aiming to flank, and Sonny is already there, faster than I’ve ever seen him move.
He ducks low, pivots, and drives his blade upward in a brutal arc that forces the soldier back with a startled grunt.
There’s no flourish to it. No wasted motion.
Just speed and instinct and a kind of messy efficiency that works because it has to.
Jack doesn’t hesitate either. He steps in close, far closer than a trained warrior probably would, and uses his size to his advantage, slamming into one of the attackers hard enough to throw him off-balance before following through with a strike that is more practical than elegant but no less effective.
Caly moves like something else entirely.