“I have.” I bowed my head to the stone. “And I will take whatever judgment you give.”
Silence stretched—heavy, expectant.
Then: “She does not wish you pain.”
The voice had softened.
“But the road ahead is steep. Bleak.”
I looked up, hope cracking something deep in me. “What does she wish?”
Kharith stepped forward—not in flesh, but as a silhouette of light and shadow. A second shape woven from Elira’s magic, blue fire burning behind her eyes. Power radiated from her like ancient wind.
“To forgive you.”
I flinched as if struck. My throat burned.
“She can’t,” I choked. “Sheshouldn’t…”
“Elira has walked through darkness. She has bled, broken, endured. But she will need you—sooner than you know. They all will.”
“They…?”
Kharith reached out and touched my shoulder.
In an instant, vision overwhelmed me.
Phoenix—surrounded by fire and enemies, shielding a flood of children as they ran free.
Leo—bloodied, teeth bared, holding the line against a wall of sentinels.
And Slade…
Gods. Slade.
He’s alive.
He stood like a wall beside Leo—defiant even as Ashton’s army closed in.
And Ashton himself… a spectre of everything I hated.
“I have to help them,” I said, rising halfway to my feet.
“You will,” Kharith said. “But first… a vow.”
I swallowed. “What kind of vow?”
“An unbreakable one,” she said. “Swear your soul to Elira. Your lifeblood. Become her guardian.”
I thought back to the night she came into my life. All I could do was watch her, this small wild beauty, sleeping with that furrowed brow of hers. I couldn’t look away. She’d hypnotised me then—bewitched me without even trying.
And gods help me, I hadn’t even known it.
“Do it,” Maddie rasped from behind me. Her voice was hoarse but firm. “You owe her that much.”
There was no choice.
“Of course,” I whispered. “Tell me what to say.”
