Chapter Sixty-Eight
The bridge swayed under our feet, a fragile thread of light stretching across the chaotic void, where stars bled into shadows and the Veil pulsed like a wounded heart. The city’s black spire loomed behind us, its crystal facets drinking in the light, while ahead, she stood on the platform—my shadow, my twin, her smile a cruel mirror of mine. The cloaked figures flanked her, their faces *mine*, their black eyes gleaming, their chants a low, bone-deep hum that synced with the mark on my chest. The dagger in my hand burned, its symbols flaring, and the bond with Lucian roared—his strength, my defiance, our desperate need to end this—but the city itself seemed to tighten around us, its air thick with her power.
Lucian gripped his blade, his body a shield between me and he
