: The New Possibilities

Knight strode in with all the quiet intensity of a storm that's already struck once and decided it wasn't finished.

Dark coat. Hands gloved. Face unreadable.

But I knew better.

He was a step too late.

The bond between Diana and Kael had already begun. Not sealed—but forged. The fire had taken root.

Knight's eyes moved to Kael like he was cataloging every muscle, every breath, every flaw that could be a weakness.

"You're late," Kael said, smirking. "The lady already picked."

"I didn't come to compete." Knight's voice was flat. Cold. But his shoulders were locked, his stance too still.

Kael gave a little chuckle, tossing his weight from one foot to the other. "You're really not good at this whole primal rivalry thing, are you?"

"I have no memory of her," Knight said, ignoring the jab. "None of this."

Diana shifted beside Kael, blinking. "Wait, what?"

Kael tilted his head, amused.

"But I have letters," Knight continued, and his tone grew heavier. "From myself. Different timelines. Written in my own hand, signed with my blood. Sealed with wards only I could break."

The smirk on Kael's face split into a full laugh. "Oh, this again. The 'dear me, trust her' routine. Let me guess—one says, 'Don't let her walk away,' and the other says 'Duck'?"

The smirk on Kael's face split into a full laugh. "Oh, this again. The 'dear me, trust her' routine. Let me guess—one says, 'Don't let her walk away,' and the other says 'Duck'?"

Knight didn't even blink. His gaze locked on Kael like a blade balanced on its tip.

Kael, to his credit, didn't flinch.

He tilted his head slightly, casual, as if the entire room wasn't humming with tension. "Tell me, soldier. What exactly do you think your part is in this mess? You here to catch her if she stumbles? Save the world with a kiss?"

Knight's answer was precise. Cold. "I'm here to finish what I started."

Kael lifted a brow. "And what is that, exactly?"

Knight's jaw tightened. "I don't know. Not exactly. But the letters… they're clear. I have a role to play. A task. Something that matters more than love, more than memory. Something I promised myself I'd complete—no matter what it cost."

Kael chuckled again. "So you're not here for her. You're here for your ghost."

Knight didn't answer.

Didn't need to.

Kael's grin widened, teeth sharp as a dare. "That's good to know."

He turned slightly, just enough that Diana couldn't see his face—but I could, from the shadows above.

That grin shifted.

Not cocky.

Calculated.

"I plan to be the only one she bonds," Kael said lightly. "Make it clean. Simple. Keep the others from sinking their claws in. With help, of course."

He didn't say my name.

He didn't have to.

I didn't move.

Didn't breathe.

But the implication hung there between us, burning like a slow fuse.

Knight remained silent. Still a perfect statue of composure, unmoved by Kael's posturing. "If the letters are right," he said, "she'll destroy the world. And me with it."

Kael shrugged. "Sounds romantic."

Knight's eyes narrowed. "I'm not here for romance."

Kael folded his arms, golden light licking his skin like tame fire. "Then I guess you won't mind when she stops looking at you and starts looking at me."

"I care about results," Knight said simply. "Not who gets kissed in the rubble."

Then he turned.

No flare. No magic. Just turned and walked toward the exit with soldier's grace, his coat shifting around him like smoke.

He never looked up.

Never saw me standing in the shadows, watching it all unravel.

Never guessed that I was the reason the pieces were falling in this order.

And still—

I watched him go.

Knight, cloak rippling like quiet thunder, boots hitting stone in that impossibly even rhythm. Not a single glance back.

He didn't know I was there.

Didn't see me.

But part of me wanted him to. Even now. Even still.

I stayed in the shadows long after he'd gone. The bond below between Kael and Diana throbbed like a new wound—raw and too loud in my senses. She'd sealed nothing yet, but the path was chosen.

And I'd let it happen.

I had to.

I was out of time, out of patience—and nearly out of plans.

Nearly.

Which is why I pulled my coat tighter, whispered a word to the glamour at my collar, and stepped off the outer edge of the pit into the Between.

The air rippled like water around me, my form shivering through the warded veil between places.

Faster than walking. Safer than mirrors. Silent.

When I stepped out again, I was standing in front of the crooked archway that led to the House of Folded Time.

The Seer's place.

You couldn't find it unless you needed it.

And even then, sometimes it refused you.

The door sighed open before I knocked. A good sign. Maybe. Or maybe I was just so deeply entangled in fate's mess that the place had stopped pretending I had a choice.

The inside of the House was never the same twice. This time it was a library. Half the shelves were upside-down. Some dripped candle wax instead of dust. A scroll slithered off a table like a snake and tucked itself under a stack of velvet-bound ledgers.

A woman in gray sat at the heart of the chaos. Hooded. Still. Old beyond sense, and smelling faintly of lightning and pine ash.

"You've come to see what you already know," she said, not looking up.

"I want a different answer," I said.

"Do you deserve one?"

"Does anyone?"

She didn't smile, but I felt amusement tug at the air between us.

"I want to see the new possibilities," I continued. "Now that Kael has the bond. Now that Knight is remembering—but not the right things. I want to see where this timeline leads."

She tapped the armrest of her chair once. "You understand the cost?"

"I've paid worse."

"Not yet."

I stepped forward, laying my palm flat on the center of her table. It pulsed cold. The surface unfurled like silk into the air above, shapes beginning to shimmer—fractured paths, dim reflections of timelines that hadn't solidified yet.

And then the door opened behind me.

Heavy. Slow. The kind of sound a place like this shouldn't make.

Footsteps.

Measured.

Purposeful.

Familiar.

I didn't turn.

I didn't need to.

The air pulled tight against my skin. Magic sparked across the seams of reality, stretching like old scars reopening.

Knight had arrived.