Aria
The mountain is dying.
That is the only thought I can hold onto as the prison collapses around us. Stone crashes from above. Silver magic tears through the air in violent flashes. The beast screams beneath the broken floor, its black scales splitting with light as the bond burns brighter than the prison can survive.
And somehow—we are still standing.
The bond is not quiet anymore.
Not restrained.
Not confused.
It moves through all five of us like a living thing that has finally remembered what it was made to do.
Cassian steadies it.
Lucien sharpens it.
Eryndor bends it.
Kaelith ignites it.
And me—Gods.
I hold it.
The realization almost drops me to my knees. Not because it hurts. Because it fits. Like some part of me has been waiting my entire
life to understand this ex
