Her silhouette hovered before him, radiant and terrible. Chains threaded her like a marionette, every movement sharp, precise, wrong. Her white eyes glowed, hollow of recognition.“Selene…” His voice scraped raw.She raised her hand again. Another sphere of white fire pulsed between her fingers.The Eye’s laughter reverberated through the void. Strike him down, lock. Tear apart the last of his defiance. Prove to me you are mine.Adrian forced himself upright, blood dripping down his chin. His legs shook, but he planted them firm, fists clenched.“You can twist her body. You can chain her voice. But you’ll never own her soul.”The phantom tilted her head, and for a heartbeat, just one, the fire in her gaze flickered.Adrian saw her then. Not the Eye’s weapon, but Selene, his Selene, struggling beneath the chains.He staggered forward, breath ragged. “Do you remember, Selene? The night your father called me worthless? You slipped me a piece of bread when you thought I hadn’t eaten. You

The void erupted, Selene’s phantom convulsed, her body bending unnaturally as white fire and molten gold tore through her veins. Chains snapped and reformed around her like frantic serpents, struggling to contain her.Adrian staggered backward, shielding his eyes against the blinding surge. But nothing could shield him from the sound, the scream that was both hers and not hers, echoing through his marrow.“Selene!” His throat tore on the shout.The phantom’s body arched, her mouth open in a cry of agony. Fire burst from her chest, searing cracks through the void itself.Each pulse flung Adrian into the air, smashing him into walls that didn’t exist. His bones broke, healed, and broke again under the storm, but he forced himself to his feet, again and again, staggering toward her light.“You’re not alone! You hear me? Not now, not ever!”The Eye’s voice thundered, distorted, furious. Fool! She is unmaking herself! She will take you with her!Adrian spat blood, his knees buckling under

Adrian’s chest felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. Every breath came ragged, every nerve burned, and every heartbeat wasn’t just his anymore. Selene’s pulse thundered through his veins, too fast, too raw, drowning him, but worse than the pain was the look on her face.She wasn’t fire and fury now. She wasn’t the phantom storm. She was Selene, eyes wide, trembling, her hands reaching for him and pulling away at the same time. Like touching him would shatter them both.She’s breaking, The thought came clear through the haze of agony. He felt it, her storm fracturing, the Eye tightening its claws, and her desperate terror that she would consume him.“Selene,” he rasped, forcing his voice into the void. “Look at me.”Her gaze flickered, shards of light cutting through the storm.“I can’t hold you without destroying you,” she whispered, her voice trembling across their shared essence. “If I anchor you, you’ll burn out. If I let go, I lose you forever. I can’t”Adrian force

Fire, white, gold, and bleeding red, spiraled with shadow so deep it devoured starlight. The vortex stretched across the heavens, swallowing clouds, bending the very air until the horizon bent inward like a fractured mirror, and at its heart… Adrian and Selene.Or what had once been them. Vivienne’s breath caught as she stared into the maelstrom. Their figures were barely visible now, fused in light so blinding it burned her eyes. Their storm pulsed like a heartbeat, cracking the ground beneath her boots.“They’re… destroying everything,” Damon Locke said beside her, his usual arrogance stripped raw. He had always moved through the world like it belonged to him, smirking, taunting, untouchable. But now, his jaw was tight, his eyes fixed on the storm with something dangerously close to fear.Vivienne didn’t answer. Her throat locked. Because she knew what that storm was. She had felt it once, brushing against her,when Adrian pushed too far. It wasn’t just power, it was love twisted in

Adrian felt it like a blade slipping between his ribs. Her words, I’m sorry, weren’t just sound. They were a severing knife, a final crack in the storm that was holding them together.“No!” The roar ripped out of his chest, but the void swallowed it, as if mocking his desperation. His grip on her wrists faltered as Selene’s fire surged inward, curling not toward him but toward herself.She was turning her power against her own essence, and it was working.He saw her form begin to fracture, light splintering into shards that bled away into the abyss. Each fragment was her smile, her laugh, her anger, her love, and each piece left him emptier, hollower.“Stop it!” he shouted, lunging, clinging to her wrists. “Selene, don’t you dare”Her eyes, tear-bright flames, lifted to meet his. And for a heartbeat, he thought he’d broken through.“I can’t watch you disappear, Adrian,” she whispered, her storm trembling. “This way, you’ll live.”“I don’t want to live without you!” His words cracked.