Echo of fate

The night air was thick with silence, the stars hidden behind a veil of clouds. Kael stood on the half-rebuilt walls of Vaelthane, watching the city below. Lanterns glowed in scattered clusters, their soft light barely pushing back the lingering shadows. The people were rebuilding, stone by stone, but something in the air felt different tonight.

A shift.

A pull.

Mate.

The word slid into Kael's mind like a whisper, deep and unshakable.

His breath caught.

It wasn't his own thought. It was something else—something old, something certain.

The bond inside him, the one he had tried to ignore, reacted.

Beside him, Fenir stiffened. He felt her presence shift—her heartbeat quicken. She had heard it too.

Kael exhaled slowly, his hands tightening around the worn stone of the parapet.

No. He couldn't allow himself to focus on this. Not now.

But before he could pull away, Fenir turned to him. Her silver eyes gleamed in the dim light, sharp and knowing.

"You heard it." It wasn't a question.

Kael clenched his jaw. "It's nothing."

Fenir huffed, stepping closer. "You keep telling yourself that."

The space between them felt different now—charged, like the air before a storm. She was watching him, waiting. For what, he didn't know.

Before either of them could speak again, a sudden shift in the wind sent a strange pulse through the city. The flames of the lanterns flickered wildly, as if something unseen had passed through. A low vibration rumbled beneath the ground, barely noticeable—but Kael felt it.

So did Fenir.

She turned sharply toward the city. "Something just… woke up."

The Hidden Chamber

Without hesitation, Kael leapt from the wall, landing smoothly in the courtyard below. Fenir was right behind him. They followed the faint tremors through the narrow streets, past half-rebuilt buildings and stone-paved alleys, until they reached a place Kael hadn't stepped foot in before.

An old ruin—one that had remained untouched even as the city was being rebuilt.

It was hidden behind the remnants of what must have once been a temple, vines creeping over its entrance. The air here was thick with something—an energy that made Kael's skin prickle.

The moment they stepped closer, the ground beneath them sighed.

Not a quake. Not a collapse.

A reaction.

Then, with a deep, echoing groan, the earth shifted. Stone grated against stone, and before their eyes, an ancient door revealed itself—a doorway that had been buried beneath the ruin for who knew how long.

Kael and Fenir exchanged a glance.

"This wasn't here before," Fenir murmured.

Kael reached out, placing his hand against the cold, dark stone.

A rush of heat surged through him.

Not fire. Not shadow. Something else.

Something that had been waiting.

The mate bond still burned at the edge of his awareness, but for the first time, Kael realized—this wasn't just about him.

This was about Vaelthane. About the throne.

And whatever lay beyond this door…

It had always been waiting for him.

—