STARBOUND DEVOTION.

CHAPTER NINE — THE THRONE OF LIGHT REMEMBERS.

Annastasia woke slowly.

Not peacefully, like someone surfacing from a dream they weren’t meant to leave.

Warmth cradled her.

Soft light wrapped around her like a blanket.

Her body felt weightless… suspended… like she was floating inside a star.

She blinked.

The world resolved into shape,

A vast chamber made of luminous crystal, ceiling arched like the inside of a nebula. Every surface glowed gently, shifting colors with her heartbeat.

And surrounding her,

Six figures.

Tall.

Radiant.

Inhuman.

Their bodies shimmered with pure starlight, features elegant and unreal, hair flowing like cosmic dust. Each one wore markings that pulsed with constellations.

The Starborn Court.

Her people.

She rose slowly from the floating cradle of light, unsteady but determined. The tallest figure stepped forward.

His presence was overwhelming, like gravity given a face.

“Child of the Luminous Line,” he said, his voice a layered echo. “You have returned.”

Annastasia swallowed.

“I… didn’t know I ever left.”

A murmur traveled through the Court, like wind moving through a forest of stars.

The woman beside him stepped forward. Her eyes glowed with a familiar hue, warm gold, almost like Annastasia’s own.

“You were taken,” she said softly. “Stolen before your awakening. Hidden in the mortal realm where your light could not be detected.”

Stolen.

Her blood turned cold.

“By who?”

The Council exchanged glances.

“We do not know,” the first figure said. “But we know why.”

Another stepped forward, this one shorter, but sharper, with constellations pulsing along her arms.

“You are the first Starborn in millennia capable of generating your own cosmic field,” she said, studying Annastasia. “And the only one capable of tearing a Gate open without a key.”

Annastasia blinked.

“I can do that?”

“You already did,” the woman said gently. “When the Hunters came for you.”

The memory slammed into her.

Kael bleeding.

Kael overwhelmed.

Kael telling her to run.

Her chest tightened.

The Court noticed.

The short one stepped closer, watching her with unsettling intensity.

“You cry out for someone beyond this realm,” she said.

Annastasia’s breath hitched.

Her fingers curled at her sides.

“I heard him,” she whispered. “Kael reached me. Through the Gate. Through everything. I heard him.”

The chamber dimmed slightly, like the entire realm was listening.

The tall leader arched a brow. “Impossible.”

“It happened,” Annastasia snapped. “He called my name. He told me he was coming.”

The Court exchanged looks, some confused, some alarmed.

The golden-eyed woman spoke gently:

“Child… Starborn cannot be reached from the mortal realm unless two souls share a bond…”

She trailed off.

The chamber stilled.

Annastasia whispered, “A bond?”

“A soul-thread,” the woman breathed, stepping back in awe. “A rare connection. Ancient. Forbidden. It forms when two destinies merge without command.”

The sharp one frowned. “But she is Starborn, he is not. Such a bond cannot exist.”

Annastasia’s heartbeat drummed.

“It exists,” she said quietly, fiercely. “I feel it.”

A ripple of unease moved through the Court.

Then,

The entire chamber shook.

A violent vibration.

A flare of white light.

A pulse that cracked a crystal pillar down the center.

The Court gasped.

The tall leader’s voice sharpened. “What is that?!”

Annastasia knew.

She felt it in her bones.

“Kael,” she breathed. “He’s trying to break through.”

The constellations along the sharp Starborn’s skin flickered in shock. “A mortal is attempting to breach the Realm?”

“He’s not mortal,” Annastasia whispered. “Not anymore.”

The golden-eyed woman stepped forward, face grave.

“If he forces a passage, he will destroy himself.”

Annastasia’s eyes widened, horror sinking into her gut.

“No—no, he wouldn’t—”

The world shook again.

Harder.

A tear of raw energy cut across the ceiling, like someone trying to slice open reality with their bare hands.

Annastasia stumbled.

The golden-eyed woman grabbed her arms.

“Child, listen to me, this bond, whatever it is, must be severed before he tears himself apart!”

Annastasia ripped her hands away.

“No!”

Her voice echoed through the chamber, powerful enough that the walls flared with light.

She stood tall, light blazing under her skin, hair lifting like charged stardust.

“You are NOT cutting anything,” she said, voice trembling with fury. “I won’t let you touch him. I won’t let you stop him.”

The tall leader stiffened. “You would disobey the Court?”

Annastasia stepped forward, eyes glowing brighter than any of theirs.

“I didn’t survive the Hunters.

I didn’t cross the Gate.

I didn’t lose myself just to lose HIM now.”

Another violent tremor ripped the air apart.

Annastasia felt his presence,

Not physical.

But pushing.

Reaching.

Calling.

Her heart answered without hesitation.

“Kael,” she whispered, “I’m coming.”

The Court erupted in alarm.

The sharp one shouted, “STOP HER!”

But Annastasia didn’t stop.

She didn’t hesitate.

She raised her hand,

and the entire chamber exploded with cosmic light, as she tore open her own Gate.