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ELIAS

T he minute I’m through the last veil ward, my knees damn near buckle.

I slam the door of the safehouse behind me, chest heaving, breath ragged. The tablet’s still burning hot against my ribs, tucked inside my coat like a live wire. My whole fucking body hums like I’m standing inside a storm.

Kaia’s scent is still all over me, smoke and wildflowers and blood. Her voice’s still ringing in my goddamn head.

“Try me.”

Fuck.

I drop the coat on the floor and pace, clawing at my scalp like I can rip the thoughts out by force. I should’ve killed her. I should’ve knocked her out, tied her up, left her deep enough in that crypt for the Order to find and scrub off the map.

But I didn’t.

Couldn’t.

She looked at me like she saw through all the layers. Oder enemy, hybrid freak, prophecy mistake—and still didn’t run.

She chased me.

She fought me.

And for one goddamn second, I wanted to lose.

I stop pacing and slam my fist into the wall hard enough to send dust raining from the ceiling. The old safehouse groans like it’s used to me punching shit I can’t make sense of.

I sink to the floor, back against the cold wall. My hands are shaking. I can’t tell if it’s rage or adrenaline or the ache of that fucking pull between us, stretching thinner every second I try to deny it.

I’ve known a lot of things. Pain. Betrayal. Survival. But this?

This need ?

It’s new.

And I hate it.

I yank the burner phone from the bag under the floorboards and punch in the number I know not to use unless I have to. Or if I was bleeding out or the world was ending.

Technically, both might be true.

The line clicks. One ring. Two.

Then her voice, cool, smooth, and lethal as silk over a knife.

“Elias.”

I drag a hand down my face. “Mother.”

“I take it this isn’t a social call. How are the Order’s graveyards these days?”

“Busy.”

She hums. “Did you find the tablet?”

I glance at the coat. “Yeah.”

“And the girl?”

I hesitate.

She doesn’t wait for me to answer.

“Of course you did. Your magic’s already knotted up with hers, I can feel it from here.”

My stomach turns. “You knew this would happen.”

“I hoped,” she corrects. “The prophecy is older than both our bloodlines combined. But the signs are aligning. Veil tremors. Hybrid awakenings. The Order unraveling from the inside out. And now her .”

“She’s Order,” I snap. “She would’ve gutted me if I hadn’t run.”

“She didn’t, though, did she?”

I grind my teeth.

She sighs. “You always were sentimental. Like your father.”

That makes my hands curl into fists. “Don’t.”

“I’m simply saying—he also believed love could save the world. Look where that got him.”

“Imprisoned. Tortured. Hunted like a dog,” I spit. “Yeah. Thanks for the reminder.”

Silence stretches between us like a noose.

Then she says, softer but with that same damn sharpness that makes my spine bristle: “She is the key, Elias. She will either rebuild the Veil—or destroy it. And you.”

My throat tightens.

“She’s not just a girl.”

“No,” she agrees. “She’s the woman .”

I close my eyes. “So what do I do?”

“Protect her. Or destroy her.”

I let the words sit there.

Heavy.

Brutal.

Final.

“I don’t want to kill her.”

“Then don’t,” she says like it’s simple. Like it won’t tear me apart.

“But if you hesitate again,” she adds, voice going quiet and lethal, “you won’t be the only one who suffers.”

She hangs up.

I drop the phone. It clatters to the floor, screen cracked. Fitting.

I pull the tablet from my coat, lay it in front of me. It’s still glowing, symbols pulsing softly like breath. I stare at it like it might offer answers it doesn’t have.

Kaia Draven.

Fierce, reckless, and so goddamn bright it hurts to look straight at her.

She made me bleed.

She made me feel after years of being a recluse and living among the shadows. Being okay with that.

And now?

Now I’ve got the future of the Veil burning in my lap and a warning in my ears.

Protect her. Or destroy her.

I have no fucking idea which one I’m going to do.

But I know one thing for sure.

She’s not done with me and I’m not done with her.

If I don’t get to her first, she may just track me down and I’d rather play this out on my own terms.