Chapter 40

Seraphine's fingers tightened around my throat, and when she spoke, her voice split into harmony with something ancient. "Show them what you're hiding under your shirt."

I couldn't breathe. The silver veins on her hand pulsed with light that wasn't entirely hers, and through our bond I felt the entity pressing against her consciousness like water against a cracking dam.

"Sera—" I managed.

"Don't." The word came out in perfect unison—her voice and the thing we'd trapped. "I saw it when we merged. The marks on your chest. The forbidden sigils you carved into your own skin."

Darius moved toward us, but Thale raised one hand. "Let her finish. This is fascinating."

Another tremor shook the chamber. Chunks of ceiling crashed down behind us, but Seraphine didn't flinch. Her ice-blue eyes flickered to solid black and back again, silver flecks swirling in the transition.

"You've been burning yourself out." Her grip shifted, and I felt her thumb press against my pulse. "Channeling more power than your body can handle. I felt every time you pushed past your limits, every spell that left you bleeding internally. You're killing yourself in slow motion."

"So what?" The words scraped out of my crushed throat. "My choice."

"No." She slammed me back against the wall, and the impact drove the air from my lungs. "Not when you dragged me into your bond. Not when your death would tear me apart too."

The entity's presence surged through our connection, and for a moment I couldn't tell where Seraphine ended and it began. Her hand trembled against my throat—fighting for control or losing it, I couldn't tell.

"Seraphine." Thale's voice cut through the chaos, gentle as always. "My dear student. You're beginning to understand."

She turned her head toward him, and I saw the struggle play out across her face. The black receded from her eyes, leaving only the silver flecks.

"Understand what?" Her voice was her own again, but barely.

"The Cipher doesn't just bind an entity." Thale stepped over a fallen beam, his robes somehow still immaculate despite the destruction around us. "It requires three casters to open the gateway, yes. But it also requires a vessel. Someone to anchor the entity permanently to our reality."

"Bullshit." I forced the word out. "You said—"

"I said many things." He smiled, and it was the expression of a man pruning roses. "The vessel doesn't survive the binding. Their body becomes a living prison, their consciousness slowly consumed until nothing remains but the entity wearing their skin."

Seraphine's hand fell away from my throat. I sucked in air, but she wasn't looking at me anymore. She was staring at Thale with an expression I'd never seen on her face before—something between horror and recognition.

"My brother." The words came out flat. "Twelve years ago. You tried this before."

"Your brother volunteered." Thale gestured, and the air between us shimmered. An illusion took shape—a ritual chamber not unlike this one, but older. Three figures stood around a circle of silver light. I recognized a younger Thale immediately. The second figure was a woman I didn't know. The third was a boy who looked exactly like Seraphine, down to the ice-blue eyes.

"Elias understood the necessity." Thale's voice remained gentle as we watched the ritual begin. "The entity we were binding had already killed seventeen people. It needed to be contained."

In the illusion, silver light erupted from the circle. The boy—Elias—screamed as black veins spread across his skin, but these didn't stop at his arms. They covered his entire body, crawling up his neck and across his face.

"He was strong." Thale watched his younger self try to stabilize the ritual. "But not strong enough. The entity consumed him too quickly. By the time we realized the binding had failed, there was nothing left of Elias to save."

The illusion showed the boy's eyes turning completely black. Then he exploded into ash.

Seraphine made a sound I'd never heard from her before—something between a sob and a snarl. The entity surged through our bond, feeding on her rage, and suddenly she was moving. Not toward Thale. Toward me.

I barely got my arms up before she hit me. We went down hard, and she landed on top of me with her hands around my throat again.

"You knew." Her voice split into harmony again. "You were at Ashmark when they attacked my father's expedition. I saw it in your memories. You were part of the group that killed—"

"I didn't kill anyone!" I grabbed her wrists, but she was stronger now. The entity's power flowed through her like electricity. "I was there, yeah. But I didn't—"

"Liar." She leaned down, and her face was inches from mine. "I saw the bodies. I saw you standing over them with blood on your hands."

"That was after!" The chamber shook again, harder this time. "I found them already dead. I was trying to—"

"Trying to what?" Her eyes flickered black. "Steal from the corpses? That's what you do, isn't it? Scavenge from the dead like a—"

"I was trying to save your father!" The words ripped out of me. "He was still alive when I found him. Barely. He gave me something and told me to run."

Seraphine froze. Through our bond, I felt the entity retreat slightly, as if even it was curious.

"What did he give you?" Her voice was entirely her own now.

I couldn't answer. The copper ring burned against my chest where it hung on its chain, hidden under my shirt.

"We need to leave." Darius grabbed Seraphine's shoulder. "Now. This entire section is coming down."

She didn't move. "What did my father give you, Kade?"

"Later." I pushed against her grip. "We die here, it doesn't matter."

For a moment I thought she'd refuse. Then the ceiling directly above us cracked with a sound like thunder, and she rolled off me. We ran.

---

The Undercity tunnels smelled like rot and old magic. Darius led us through passages I'd never seen before, his stolen papers clutched against his chest. Behind us, the ritual chamber collapsed with a roar that shook dust from the tunnel ceiling.

"This way." Darius took a sharp left. "There's an exit near the old aqueduct."

Seraphine stumbled. I caught her arm, and through our bond I felt the entity pressing against her consciousness again. The silver veins on her neck pulsed with light.

"Keep moving." I pulled her forward.

"It wants to go back." Her voice had that dual quality again. "It wants Thale."

"Yeah, well, Thale wants to use us as a meat puppet." I kept my grip on her arm. "So we're not doing that."

She tried to pull away, but I held on. The entity surged through our connection, and suddenly she was strong enough to break my grip. She spun back toward the collapsed tunnel.

"Sera, no—"

She took three steps before I tackled her. We hit the ground hard, and she thrashed under me with strength that wasn't entirely human.

"Get off!" Both voices screamed in unison.

"Not happening." I pinned her wrists. "You're not going back there."

"He has answers!" Her eyes were completely black now. "He knows how to—"

"He knows how to turn you into a fucking corpse!" I leaned down until we were nose to nose. "I saw what happened to your brother. I'm not watching that happen to you."

Something in my voice must have gotten through, because the black receded from her eyes. She stopped struggling.

"You saw Elias die?" Her voice was small. Entirely hers.

"I saw the illusion." I didn't let go of her wrists. "That enough for me."

Darius appeared above us. "Touching as this is, we need to keep moving. The collapse will draw attention."

I pulled Seraphine to her feet. She swayed, and I kept one hand on her arm as we followed Darius deeper into the tunnels. The entity's presence in our bond felt like a caged animal—aware, angry, and looking for any weakness.

"How much further?" My voice echoed off the stone walls.

"Not far." Darius took another turn. "The east wing has been abandoned for years. No one will look for us there."

"The east wing of what?" Seraphine's voice was steadier now, but I felt her fighting for control with every step.

"The Academy." Darius glanced back at us. "Your study, specifically. The one you think no one knows about."

Seraphine stopped walking. "How do you—"

"I'm a researcher." He kept moving. "Finding hidden things is what I do."

---

The study was exactly what I'd expect from Seraphine—organized chaos that only looked random to anyone who didn't understand her system. Books lined every wall, sorted by subject and then by author within each subject. A massive desk dominated the center of the room, covered in neat stacks of papers and open journals.

"You've been busy." Darius set his stolen papers on the only clear corner of the desk. "Some of these texts are supposed to be in the restricted archives."

"They were in the restricted archives." Seraphine moved to the desk with the careful precision of someone fighting for control. "I relocated them for research purposes."

"You stole them." I picked up a book with a cover that looked like it was bound in something that used to be alive. "This is forbidden magic theory."

"Precision matters." She took the book from my hands. "I borrowed them. With the intention of returning them eventually."

The entity pulsed through our bond, and she gripped the edge of the desk. The silver veins on her hands flared bright enough to cast shadows.

"Sera—"

"I'm fine." She wasn't. I could feel the thing inside our bond pressing against her consciousness like a hand over her mouth. "We need to find out what Thale is planning."

"He told us what he's planning." Darius started sorting through the papers on the desk. "He wants to complete the Cipher ritual. Use one of you as a vessel."

"But why now?" Seraphine pulled a journal from one of the stacks. "He's had twelve years since Elias died. Why wait?"

"Maybe he needed the right vessel." I watched her flip through pages covered in her precise handwriting. "Someone strong enough to survive the binding long enough for it to work."

"Or someone with the right bloodline." Darius held up one of his stolen papers. "The Ashcroft family has a natural affinity for binding magic. That's why your father was researching the Cipher in the first place."

Seraphine's hand stilled on the journal. "My father was trying to destroy the Cipher, not use it."

"Was he?" Darius set the paper down. "Or was he trying to find a way to make it work safely?"

Through our bond, I felt Seraphine's certainty crack. The entity pressed into the gap, and she gasped.

"Hey." I moved to her side. "Stay with me."

"It's showing me things." Her voice had that dual quality again. "Memories that aren't mine. Thale's memories."

"What kind of memories?"

"The first ritual." She gripped the journal so hard the leather cover creaked. "Elias volunteered because Thale told him it was the only way to save the city. But that was a lie. Thale wanted to bind the entity to use its power."

"For what?"

"I don't know." She shook her head, and the black receded from her eyes slightly. "The entity doesn't understand human motivations. It only knows Thale promised it freedom if it cooperated."

"And instead he tried to trap it in your brother." I felt sick. "What happened when the ritual failed?"

"The entity was released back into the void." Seraphine set the journal down and pulled another from the stack. "But the gateway remained partially open. That's why the attacks have been increasing. The barrier between our world and the void has been weakening for twelve years."

Darius swore quietly. "So Thale's been trying to finish what he started."

"Not just finish it." Seraphine opened the second journal, and I recognized the handwriting—similar to hers but messier, more rushed. "Perfect it. This is Elias's research journal. He was documenting everything Thale told him about the ritual."

I leaned over her shoulder to read. The entries started months before the failed ritual, detailing Thale's theories about binding entities and the three components needed for the Celestial Cipher.

"Three components?" I scanned the page. "What components?"

"Physical anchors." Seraphine turned pages, her movements jerky as she fought the entity's influence. "The Cipher isn't just a spell. It's a constructed artifact made from three pieces. Each piece has to be attuned to one of the casters."

"And Thale has two of them." Darius pulled out a chair and sat heavily. "That's what he's been doing for twelve years. Hunting down the pieces."

"Which means there's a third piece somewhere." I kept reading over Seraphine's shoulder. "And if we find it first—"

"We can stop him from completing the ritual." Seraphine flipped through pages faster now. "Elias documented everything. The locations, the attunement process, the—"

She stopped. Her entire body went rigid.

"Sera?" I touched her shoulder, and through our bond I felt the entity surge forward. "What is it?"

"The second component." Her voice was barely a whisper. "Elias wrote about where Thale found it."

"Where?"

"Ashmark." She turned to look at me, and her eyes were silver-flecked ice again. "Thale led the attack on my father's expedition because they'd found the second component. He killed them all to take it."

The copper ring burned against my chest. Through our bond, I felt Seraphine's rage building, and the entity fed on it like fuel.

"You were there." She stood, and the chair scraped across the floor. "You said my father gave you something before he died."

"Sera—"

"What did he give you, Kade?" She moved toward me, and I saw her fighting for control with every step. "What are you hiding under your shirt?"

I couldn't answer. The ring felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

"Show me." Her hand came up, reaching for the chain around my neck. "Show me what my father died protecting."

Darius stood. "Perhaps we should—"

"Stay out of this." Seraphine didn't look at him. Her eyes were locked on mine. "Kade. Last chance."

I pulled the chain out from under my shirt. The copper ring caught the lamplight, and I saw Seraphine's expression shift from anger to confusion.

"That's your mother's ring." Her voice was entirely her own now. "You've worn it since I met you."

"Yeah." I couldn't look at her. "My mother's ring. That your father gave me right before he died."

"That doesn't make sense." She reached for it, and I let her take it. "Why would my father have your mother's—"

She stopped. Turned the ring over in her palm. On the inside of the band, barely visible, was an inscription in a language I'd never been able to read.

"This is Old Celestial." Seraphine's hands started shaking. "This is a binding inscription."

"What does it say?"

She didn't answer. She was already moving back to the desk, flipping through Elias's journal with frantic speed. Pages flew past until she found what she was looking for—a sketch of three objects arranged in a triangle.

I recognized two of them from Thale's ritual chamber. The third was a copper ring with an inscription on the inside.

"No." Seraphine's voice broke. "No, this can't be—"

"What?" I moved to her side. "Sera, what is it?"

She pointed to the sketch with a shaking finger. Below it, in her brother's handwriting: "Third component confirmed. Cassian Riven died protecting this. Current location unknown."

I stared at my mother's name. At the ring in Seraphine's palm. At the sketch that matched it perfectly.

"My mother." The words felt like they were coming from someone else. "My mother had the third piece of the Cipher."

"And your father died protecting it." Seraphine looked up at me, and I saw the moment she understood. "Thale's been looking for this ring for twelve years."

Through our bond, I felt the entity's attention shift. Focus on the ring like a predator spotting prey.

"He can't have it." I reached for the ring, but Seraphine pulled it back.

"We need to destroy it." Her eyes flickered black. "It's the only way to stop—"

The door exploded inward. Thale stood in the doorway, and he wasn't alone. Behind him, I counted six figures in dark robes.

"My dear students." His smile was gentle as always. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."

Seraphine's hand closed around the ring, and I felt the entity surge through our bond with enough force to drive us both to our knees.