Chapter 25 — Red Glass Before the Crimson Blade

I didn't know that.

All I knew was that Seris had vanished before dawn, Cassian had vanished with her, and both had left behind the kind of silence that made every instinct in me scream.

So I followed.

Later, I learned what happened inside the observatory before I arrived.

Seris stood near the broken platform with Cassian's letters pressed against her chest.

“You're going to tell him.”

Cassian looked toward the southern trail.

“I know.”

“No more later.”

“I know.”

“No more protecting him with lies.”

“I know.”

She stepped closer.

“And you're going to tell him about the anchor.”

Cassian's face tightened.

“That part needs care.”

Seris laughed.

“Care?”

“If he panics and uses Epitaph—”

“He deserves to know.”

“He'll try cutting it out of me.”

“Probably.”

“That could kill me.”

“I know.”

Cassian stared at her.

For once, hearing those words didn't comfort him.

Seris folded the letters.

“Then we explain it before he draws the sword.”

“And if he doesn't listen?”

“He will.”

“You're sure?”

She hesitated.

That was enough.

Cassian looked away.

“He's not the same.”

Seris's expression hardened.

“Neither are you.”

“I know.”

“Stop saying that like it fixes anything.”

“It doesn't.”

Wind pushed through the cracked dome above them.

The old observatory had once been beautiful. Red celestial glass filled the upper arches, designed to filter starlight into patterns across the floor.

Now half the panels were broken.

What remained painted the chamber in deep crimson.

Cassian looked toward the entrance again.

“He's close.”

“Good.”

“No.”

Seris frowned.

Cassian reached for the crystal tablet she'd taken from the safehouse.

“Give me that.”

“Why?”

“If the anchor reacts when he's near—”

“You said it only activates under Council authority.”

“I said that's what I was told.”

Her face changed.

Cassian reached again.

Seris stepped back.

“Don't.”

“Seris.”

“No.”

“We don't know what this thing can do.”

“Then maybe you should've thought about that before signing it.”

He flinched.

She regretted it.

Not enough to take it back.

The hidden mark beneath Cassian's shirt flashed.

Silver.

Then gold.

Both froze.

Cassian grabbed his chest.

“No.”

The crystal tablet lit in Seris's hand.

ANCHOR PROXIMITY CONFIRMED.

SUBJECT INSTABILITY DETECTED.

EMERGENCY COVENANT RESPONSE AVAILABLE.

Seris stared at the words.

“Cassian.”

“I didn't do that.”

The mark brightened.

“I didn't do that!”

A second line appeared.

REMOTE AUTHORITY ACCEPTED.

Ortheon.

Cassian understood instantly.

“Drop it!”

Seris threw the tablet.

Too late.

Silver lines erupted across the floor.

The same geometry used beneath the House of Still Waters.

Cassian screamed.

The anchor inside him pulled tight.

His knees hit the stone.

Seris ran toward him.

“Cassian!”

“Stay back!”

Light burst from his chest.

A chain formed in the air.

Then another.

They weren't aimed at him.

They flew toward the southern wall.

Toward me.

Even from somewhere beyond the hill, the Crown had found my Soul Crown through the person I'd trusted most.

Cassian grabbed the first chain with both hands.

It burned through his palms.

“STOP!”

Seris seized the crystal tablet.

“How do I shut it down?”

“You can't!”

“Helpful!”

“Break the relay!”

“What relay?”

Cassian pointed toward the centre platform.

An old ceremonial lens sat beneath the red-glass dome.

Council symbols were appearing across its base.

Seris understood.

The observatory wasn't random.

It had once been part of the First Crown's celestial network.

“Of course,” she whispered.

Cassian forced himself upright.

“Get out.”

“No.”

“Seris!”

“If I break the lens—”

“The backlash will hit everything in this room.”

“Then come with me.”

“I can't move far from the anchor line.”

“Then I'll cut the power.”

“With what?”

She pulled one of her knives.

Cassian actually laughed.

“You're going to stab ancient Crown magic?”

“I've had worse plans.”

“Name one.”

“Meeting you.”

Despite everything, he smiled.

Then the anchor mark turned crimson.

The smile vanished.

“Run.”

Seris moved toward the lens.

Cassian saw the next chain forming.

Saw it bending toward the doorway.

Saw what would happen when I walked through it.

He made a decision.

Another one for someone else.

He lunged.

His arm wrapped around Seris's waist.

“What are you doing?!”

“Getting you out!”

“Let go!”

She drove an elbow into his ribs.

He held on.

“You can't be here when he arrives!”

“You don't get to decide that!”

“I know!”

“Then stop!”

“I CAN'T!”

The Crown answered him.

The restraint mark flashed.

A binding pulse burst from Cassian's body.

Seris froze.

Not because he wanted her to.

Because the anchor interpreted resistance as danger.

Silver bands wrapped around her wrists.

Her eyes widened.

Cassian went pale.

“Seris.”

She stared at him.

“You restrained me.”

“No.”

“You restrained me!”

“I didn't mean—”

“LET ME GO!”

“I'M TRYING!”

He reached for the bands.

The instant his fingers touched them, the whole ritual buckled.

The red glass above them screamed.

Cracks raced across every panel.

Cassian looked up.

“Oh, no.”

The dome exploded.

Thousands of crimson shards rained down.

Cassian threw himself over Seris.

A shard struck his shoulder.

Another cut his cheek.

The old celestial lens ruptured beneath them.

A wave of force tore across the chamber.

Stone split.

Walls cracked.

Seris was thrown from Cassian's arms.

Her head struck the edge of the lower platform.

She didn't scream.

That was what scared him.

“Seris?”

Nothing.

Cassian crawled toward her.

Blood ran from beneath her hair.

“No.”

He rolled her carefully onto her back.

“Seris.”

Breathing.

Shallow.

Alive.

He pressed his hand against the wound.

Blood covered his fingers.

“Come on.”

The anchor inside him flickered.

The chains vanished.

The room went quiet.

Cassian stared down at her.

Then he heard wings.

Not distant anymore.

Close.

His face drained of colour.

“Zyrion.”

That was when my part of the memory became mine again.

I landed outside the observatory hard enough to crack stone.

Something had pulled at my Soul Crown for the last mile.

A familiar pressure.

Chains without hands.

Cassian's anchor.

I didn't know those words yet.

I only knew pain.

And fear.

And that Seris wasn't answering my calls.

The doors were broken.

Red glass covered the floor.

I stepped inside.

“Seris?”

No answer.

Then I saw Cassian.

He was kneeling in the centre of the chamber.

His hands were covered in blood.

Seris lay beneath him.

Still.

Everything stopped.

The black envelope.

The routes.

The Council meetings.

The House of Still Waters.

Cassian standing beside Ortheon.

The letters Seris had carried away.

Every doubt I'd buried came back at once.

I remembered Bellmere burning after I'd shown mercy. Maelor reaching for a sword I never let him draw. Darius falling before he could finish saying my name. Solenne closing its gates after I saved it. Seris telling me I kept calling control protection.

And Cassian?

Cassian had been there for all of it.

He'd watched me bleed. Watched me stop sleeping. Watched every new chain tighten around my life.

Then he'd stood beside the people holding them.

Maybe there were explanations.

Maybe there were reasons.

Maybe, once, I would've cared about the difference.

Standing there with Seris's blood on his hands, I couldn't find that version of myself anymore.

Cassian looked up.

“Zyrion.”

I couldn't hear him properly.

My heartbeat drowned everything else.

I saw his hand against Seris's head.

Blood between his fingers.

Her eyes closed.

Her body unmoving.

“What did you do?”

Cassian's face broke.

“No. Listen to me.”

I took one step.

He stood slowly.

“It's not what it looks like.”

People say that when the truth has already become too ugly to explain quickly.

My hand closed around Epitaph.

Cassian saw it.

“Don't.”

“You knew.”

“Yes, but—”

“You knew about the meeting.”

His mouth opened.

“You gave them our routes.”

“Zyrion—”

“You lied to me.”

“I did.”

The honesty made something inside me crack.

“You let me apologise to you.”

Cassian stopped breathing.

That was the one.

His eyes filled.

“I'm sorry.”

I drew Epitaph.

Silver metal caught the red light.

Cassian stepped back.

“She's alive.”

I froze.

Barely.

One breath.

Then another.

I saw her chest move.

Relief should've stopped me.

It didn't.

Because Cassian was still standing over her.

Because there was blood on his hands.

Because every time I'd given someone another chance, somebody else had paid.

“Move away from her.”

Cassian obeyed.

Slowly.

“Let me explain.”

“You've had years.”

“I was trying to protect you.”

I laughed.

The sound didn't feel like mine.

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

My Soul Crown pulsed.

The fracture across it widened.

Epitaph's first sigil lit.

Then the second.

Not silver.

Crimson.

Cassian stared.

“Zyrion...”

A third sigil burned red beneath my hand.

The room filled with heat.

Behind Cassian, shattered crimson glass reflected me a hundred times.

White wings stained with black feathers.

A cracked halo.

A sword beginning to glow like blood.

For the first time, I saw something in those reflections that looked frighteningly close to the monster history said I was.

And for the first time...

I didn't look away.