Midnight Thorns

PART 2- BLOOD & GLASS

For several seconds, no one moved.

The voice outside waited.

Patiently.

As if it knew they had nowhere to go.

Soraya kept her hand wrapped around Elias's arm.

His muscles were rigid beneath her fingers.

"What did you choose instead of him?" she asked.

Elias didn't answer.

The blood beneath the door pulsed.

Once.

The walls responded.

A deep vibration rolled through the house, rattling the windows in their frames.

The voice outside spoke again.

"You always were a coward when it came to the truth."

Elias's eyes closed.

Soraya felt something change in him.

Not weakness.

Resignation.

The kind that came from someone who had been running from the same nightmare for far too long.

Elowen stepped toward him.

"Elias."

He opened his eyes.

"I brought him back."

Soraya's grip tightened.

"Your brother?"

He nodded.

"The ritual worked."

A silence followed.

"But you said he died."

"He did."

"Then what does that mean?"

Elias looked toward the door.

"It means I was successful."

His voice was hollow.

"And that's the problem."

The blood symbol on the floor began to glow.

The thirteen thorns twisted around one another, forming a shape Soraya recognized.

A crown.

No.

Not a crown.

A cage.

She stared at it.

"What happened after you brought him back?"

Elias swallowed.

"He woke up."

The voice outside laughed.

Elias continued.

"For three days, he was himself."

Soraya said nothing.

"On the fourth day, he started forgetting things."

"Like what?"

"Small things at first."

Elias's gaze dropped to the floor.

"Our mother's name."

Soraya's chest tightened.

"Then our home."

A pause.

"Then me."

The voice outside whispered:

"Elias."

He flinched.

The sound was so small that someone else might have missed it.

Soraya didn't.

"By the end of the week," he continued, "he couldn't remember being human."

Elowen's expression had grown grim.

"What did you do?"

Elias looked at her.

"I tried to bind him."

Soraya's eyes narrowed.

"To control him?"

"To stop him."

"That isn't what I asked."

His jaw tightened.

"Yes."

The word was barely audible.

"I tried to control him."

The door shook.

Something struck the other side.

Once.

The sound was heavy enough to make dust fall from the ceiling.

Soraya released Elias's arm.

"You used the same magic that brought him back to bind him?"

"I didn't know what else to do."

"You always know what to do."

His eyes flashed.

"You think I wanted this?"

"No."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"The truth."

The words left her mouth before she could stop them.

The same words he had once demanded from her.

The same words that had started everything between them.

Elias stared at her.

Then laughed once.

There was no humor in it.

"Careful."

Soraya stepped closer.

"Why?"

"Because the truth is never as beautiful as the lie."

"I already know that."

His eyes searched her face.

"You don't."

"I know what it's like to have someone steal my life from me."

That silenced him.

The room seemed to shrink around them.

Outside, something scraped slowly across the door.

Wood groaned.

Soraya lowered her voice.

"You brought your brother back."

"Yes."

"You lost control of him."

"Yes."

"And then you bound him."

Elias looked away.

"Yes."

"Why does he think you chose me instead of him?"

The silence that followed was different.

Elias's face changed.

Soraya knew immediately.

She had finally asked the right question.

Elowen's gaze sharpened.

"Elias."

He didn't answer.

The blood on the floor began to move.

The thirteen thorns curled inward.

A message formed in the center.

Not written.

Carved.

One letter at a time.

SHE WAS NEVER THE SACRIFICE.

Soraya stared.

Elias stopped breathing.

The voice outside spoke softly.

"Tell her."

The door began to crack.

"Tell her what you really did."

Elias took a step backward.

The blood continued writing.

YOU WERE.

Soraya turned slowly toward him.

"What does that mean?"

He didn't answer.

"Elias."

The first crack appeared across the wooden door.

Then another.

The voice outside was closer now.

Almost gentle.

"You told yourself you were saving me."

The door groaned.

"But you were saving yourself."

Soraya's eyes never left Elias.

"What did you do?"

His face had become unreadable.

Then, from beneath his shirt, the silver mark across his ribs began to glow.

Not silver this time.

Crimson.

The same color as the ribbon around Soraya's wrist.

Elowen whispered a word Soraya had never heard before.

Elias looked at her.

"What?"

Elowen's eyes were fixed on the mark.

"You didn't bind your brother to yourself."

Elias's expression slowly changed.

"No."

Elowen looked at Soraya.

Her voice trembled.

"You bound yourself to him."

The door exploded inward.

The room filled with black smoke.

Soraya's magic erupted.

Fire tore through the darkness.

A figure stepped through the smoke.

Tall.

Pale.

Beautiful in the way dead things sometimes were.

His eyes found Elias first.

Then slowly...

They moved to Soraya.

The man smiled.

And Soraya felt the ribbon around her wrist tighten.

Like it recognized him.

"Hello, little thorn."

Elias whispered his name.

"Lucien."

For one impossible second, Soraya forgot how to breathe.

Lucien stood in the doorway surrounded by smoke.

He looked nothing like the monster she had expected.

That was the problem.

Monsters were supposed to look like monsters.

Lucien looked human.

Beautiful, even.

His dark hair fell across his forehead, slightly disheveled from the force of the explosion. His face was pale, almost unnaturally so, but not lifeless. His features were sharp and elegant, his mouth curved into a smile that seemed almost familiar.

Almost.

His eyes were the only thing that betrayed him.

They were the color of old blood.

And they were fixed on Soraya.

"Hello, little thorn."

The ribbon around her wrist tightened.

Soraya's magic rose instantly.

Crimson flames crawled over her fingers.

Lucien's smile widened.

"There she is."

Elias stepped between them.

"Don't look at her."

Lucien's gaze remained fixed on Soraya.

"Still protective."

"Lucien."

The name came from Elias like a warning.

Lucien finally looked at him.

For a moment, the room was silent.

Then Lucien smiled.

"Brother."

Elias's hand tightened around the hilt of his blade.

Soraya glanced between them.

"You're really alive."

Lucien laughed.

It was soft.

Beautiful.

Wrong.

"That depends on who you ask."

"You died."

"Yes."

"And Elias brought you back."

"Yes."

"And then he bound you."

Lucien's eyes flickered toward the glowing mark beneath Elias's shirt.

"That is one version of the story."

Soraya's eyes narrowed.

"What is your version?"

Lucien stepped farther into the room.

The smoke curled around his feet.

"My brother was desperate."

Elias's voice was sharp.

"Don't."

"He was seventeen."

"I said don't."

"He was terrified."

"Elias."

"He was alone."

The room seemed to grow colder.

Lucien looked at Soraya.

"And then I died."

Elias moved forward.

"Stop talking."

"But he couldn't accept it."

The crimson light beneath Elias's skin intensified.

Soraya could feel something in the air between the brothers.

A connection.

A pull.

Like invisible chains stretched between them.

Lucien tilted his head.

"So he found the ritual."

Elias's face hardened.

"I didn't know what it would do."

"No."

Lucien's smile faded.

"You only knew what you wanted it to do."

Elias flinched.

Soraya saw it.

Lucien saw her see it.

"Do you know what the ritual requires?" Lucien asked.

Soraya kept her magic burning.

"Tell me."

Elias turned toward her.

"Soraya—"

"Tell me."

Lucien's eyes gleamed.

"The ritual requires a living anchor."

Soraya frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"The dead cannot return alone."

Lucien lifted one hand.

The blood symbol on the floor twisted.

The thirteen thorns tightened around the center.

"The living must give something."

"What?"

Lucien looked at Elias.

"Everything."

Elias's face went pale.

Soraya turned toward him.

"What did you give?"

He said nothing.

Lucien answered for him.

"His soul."

Soraya stared at Elias.

The room seemed to tilt.

"No."

Elias's voice was barely audible.

"I didn't know."

Lucien's smile was cruel now.

"You knew enough."

"I thought it would cost me years."

"You thought you would age."

"I thought I would lose my magic."

"You thought you would lose your memories."

Elias's breathing grew unsteady.

"Stop."

Lucien stepped closer.

"You never thought you would lose yourself."

The mark across Elias's ribs suddenly flared.

He gasped.

Soraya felt something inside her chest answer.

The ribbon on her wrist burned.

She looked down.

The crimson fabric was glowing.

A thin silver thread had appeared along its edge.

It stretched through the air.

Toward Elias.

Soraya stared.

"What is that?"

Lucien's expression changed.

For the first time since he had entered the room...

He looked genuinely surprised.

Elias looked down.

The silver thread had wrapped around his wrist.

Not tightly.

Not painfully.

But unmistakably.

Connected.

Lucien took a step backward.

"No."

Soraya looked at him.

"You know what this is."

He shook his head.

"No."

"You do."

"No."

The word came out sharper.

The room trembled.

Every plant in the room turned toward Soraya.

Even the walls seemed to listen.

Elowen stepped forward.

"The ribbon."

Soraya looked at her.

"What?"

"It isn't only a memory seal."

The silver thread pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Elowen's face went pale.

"It's a bond."

Elias stared at Soraya.

"No."

Lucien's expression darkened.

"The Guardian has chosen."

Soraya's stomach dropped.

"Chosen what?"

Lucien looked between them.

"You."

The word hung in the air.

Elias shook his head.

"That's impossible."

Lucien laughed softly.

"Is it?"

He looked at the silver thread connecting Soraya and Elias.

"The First Guardian's bond has always been connected to the Bloodbound."

Elowen's eyes widened.

"That isn't possible."

"You know the prophecy."

"I know the prophecy was destroyed."

"Some of it survived."

Soraya looked from one face to another.

"Can someone please tell me what is happening?"

The thread suddenly pulled tight.

Elias stumbled forward.

Soraya caught him.

The moment their hands touched—

The room vanished.

Soraya saw fire.

A boy kneeling in blood.

A dead body.

A ritual circle.

Elias screaming.

Then another image.

A little girl beneath the White Thorn Tree.

Lyra beside her.

A shadow standing behind them.

Watching.

Waiting.

The same crimson eyes.

Soraya gasped.

The vision shattered.

She returned to the room with Elias's hand still in hers.

He was staring at her.

"You saw it."

She nodded slowly.

"You were there."

His face drained of color.

"Where?"

"At the Garden."

Lucien went still.

Soraya looked toward him.

"You were there."

The room fell silent.

Lucien's expression became unreadable.

Then Soraya noticed something.

A small scar just below his collarbone.

A silver thorn.

The same shape as the mark on her ribbon.

The same symbol carved into the key.

Her blood ran cold.

"You knew me."

Lucien didn't answer.

Soraya took one step toward him.

"You knew me before my memories were taken."

His eyes met hers.

And for the first time...

The beautiful, resurrected thing standing in front of her looked afraid.

"Yes."

Soraya's voice dropped.

"How?"

Lucien looked at the crimson ribbon around her wrist.

Then at Elias.

Then back at Soraya.

"I was there the night you were erased."

The world went silent.

Soraya's fire vanished.

Lucien's voice became almost a whisper.

"And I was the one who held you down."