It was said no one returned from the room beneath the Temple of Falling Stars.
That wasn't true.
They returned.
But they never returned the same.
Aure and Lian descended the spiral staircase, torches flickering with blue flame. The stone walls pulsed with sigils long banned, carved by those who loved too wildly for the gods to allow.
When they reached the chamber, the door closed behind them.
No lock. No command.
Just consent.
Lian looked at Aure. "They say it reveals what we want most."
Aure's smirk was a sin all on it's own. "I hope the room's ready for us."
The floor lit up. Chains of light slithered from the corners, but they didn't restrain, they tempted. Velvet tendrils, shadow bound silk, and mirrors that didn't reflect what you were… only what you desired.
Lian moved first.
He pushed Aure against one of the ancient mirrors, mouth finding his throat, fingers already slipping under layers of armor and desire. "This time," he growled, "I want to hear you beg."
Aure laugh was low, wicked, dangerous. "Then make me."
And so he did.
He bound his hands not with rope but with whispered promises and magic that hummed against his wrists. Every kiss a spell. Every kiss a command.
The room shifted around them walls echoing with sighs of lovers past.
Aure arched under Lian's touch, try to catch his voice when he whispered the words that unraveled him.
"You were always mine. Even when you forgot. Even when they took your name."
Lian's mouth found every memory etched into Aure's skin. The curve of his hip. The hollow of his throat. The small of his back where the Ash Bond glowed like molten desire.
And when Aure finally gasped his name like a spell, like a surrender, the chains burst into golden flame.
Their bodies tangled, slick with sweat and star-blood, grinding in rhythm older than any throne.
When they came undone together the entire chamber pulsed with magic, and on the mirror behind them… new sigils appeared:
Unbound. Untamed. Unforgiven.
They collapsed in each other's arms, breathless and triumphant.
Aure kissed Lian's jaw and whispered, "I think we just broke history."
Lian grinned. "Good, Let's keep breaking it."