The Origin Realm answered Aurelia’s command with a sound that did not belong to any living world.
A low, resonant hum rolled through the glowing chamber deep enough to vibrate her bones, ancient enough to make the runes quiver like frightened creatures. The light shifted from white to violet to molten gold, swirling in frantic circles around her.
And then she felt it.
A heartbeat.
Not hers.
Kane.
Weak.
Scatter-thin.
Barely stringed together.
But it was his.
Aurelia staggered forward, pressing a trembling hand to her chest as her new power surged, expanding outward like a tidal wave. It reached for the fragments of him not as Moonborn seeking a mate, not as Sunborn seeking a tether
But as something else.
Something self-forged.
Something sovereign.
The realm buckled under the p
