Chapter 20 #2
“Doesn’t matter,” he replies. “You do. And now you’ll burn worlds to keep her.”
I turn to him. “Wouldn’t you?”
He doesn’t answer right away. When he does, his voice has lost its usual sharpness.
“Yeah. But I’d know the cost. Every step.”
“I do.”
He studies me, the grin gone now. “Then tell me one thing, Lucien. When this war comes, when the Order turns its full weight on you, are you ready to make choices that won’t just scar you, but her too?”
Silence stretches.
“She deserves peace,” he says, softer now. “Not to be caught in the crossfire between you and Aris.”
“I know. I agree.” My voice feels like gravel. “But I also know who she is. What she’s capable of becoming. And if they think she’s a weakness . . .”
“They’re fools,” Xan finishes for me.
The fire escape groans beneath our weight as Xan leans back against the brick wall, eyes scanning the horizon.
Below us, the city hums. Cars, voices, distant sirens, all layered beneath a heat-haze glow.
Up here, it feels like another world. One where time slows.
Where the fight hasn’t caught us yet. But unfortunately, it will.
Xan exhales, then gestures toward the sky. “You remember when we used to sneak out to the cliffs above the Sanctum? Pretend we were invisible. Untouchable.”
I nod, lips tugging into something that might resemble a smile. “We’d watch the Gatefields shift and argue over which one we’d take, if we could just disappear into one and never come back.”
Xan chuckles, but the sound is low and hollow. “Funny. Now we can take any we want. And we’ve never been more trapped.”
I don’t respond. He’s right.
He turns to me again, the wind catching at his hair. “Do you think she’d go with you? If it came to it?”
The question lands hard.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “Cece’s brave. Fiercely so. But she didn’t ask for this. She didn’t ask to be a pawn in a war that doesn’t belong to her. And Pomerium is just . . .” I trail off.
“She’s not a pawn, Luc.”
“She will be,” I say. “Because she matters to me. And that’s enough for Aris.” I can already feel the tension build in my body at his mere mention.
Xan’s jaw clenches. “He’s already watching her, isn’t he?”
I don’t answer.
He lets out a sharp breath. “Then we need to move soon.”
“I’m not leaving her,” I say, my words sharp. “Not again.”
“I’m not asking you to,” he says. “But we need a plan. You think you’re ready to face Aris. You think power and conviction will be enough. But the Order doesn’t just break bodies, Luc. It breaks legacies. It rewrites the truth.”
I look down, gripping the railing tighter until the metal groans under my hands. “Then we rewrite it back,” I growl.
Xan studies me for a long moment. “Do you hear yourself?” he asks, voice low. “You’re talking about revolution, brother.”
“I’m talking about survival.”
“No,” he snaps. “You’re talking about change. The kind that cracks empires. You know what happens to beings who try to tear down the Order?”
I do. We both do. They vanish. Or worse, get rewritten as villains. Into myths no one dares speak aloud. But Cece’s face flashes in my mind. Her laughter. Her hands. The courage in her voice when she asks the questions no one else would.
“I’m not trying to be a martyr,” I say. “But I can’t keep being their weapon, Xan. Not when I know what they are.”
He’s quiet for a long time. Then, slowly, he nods.
“Good,” he says. “Because I didn’t come to talk you down. I came to stand with you.” A moment passes. “And maybe hit someone. Eventually.”
Despite everything, I laugh.
A soft knock interrupts us. We turn to see Cece step out through the open window, wrapped in a worn university sweatshirt, bare feet quiet on the metal grating.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” she says. “But I couldn’t sleep.”
She looks at me, eyes tired but focused. “I kept thinking about what you said. About destiny. About the Order.”
I step toward her instinctively. “Cece . . .”
“No,” she says, holding up a hand. “Just listen.”
She inhales slowly, her thumb brushing over her opposite palm as though centering herself.
“I don’t know what all of this means yet.
I don’t have powers like you. I don’t understand your world.
Not fully. But I know myself. I know what I feel, Luc.
And I know I’m not leaving you to face this alone. ”
Her voice doesn’t waver.
“You said the Order will see me as a weakness. Fine. Let them. But I’m not going to stand by while they tear you apart. I won’t be safe if you’re not. So we do this together. Got it?”
I stare at her, struck silent, as Xan lets out a low whistle, grinning.
“Damn. She’s going to ruin you.”
“She already has,” I say, not taking my eyes off her. And I mean it. Not in the way the Order would see it. But in the only way that actually matters.
Because I’m no longer just a weapon forged by legacy. I’m something else now. Someone else. And if I’m going to burn, I’ll burn for something real. For her.
I’ll be ready for whatever comes.
Cece steps forward, slipping her fingers into mine like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like she’s already made her choice.
And I realize maybe this is how revolutions are born. Not from rage. Or resentment. But from love.