Page 99 of Forged in Fire

“You can’t do this!” I scream at Vex. “He’s right. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

He says something in response, but I don’t hear it.

‘Iris!’

Riven’s voice explodes through the mate bond with enough force to make my vision white out at the edges. Through the connection, I feel him moving—shadows and flame cutting through Syndicate guards.

‘Get ready.’

I don’t know if the thought is mine or his, but I surge against the restraints with everything I have. The mate bond pulses between us, his strength flowing into me, my determination feeding back to him.

Then he’s there, erupting from the flames like vengeance incarnate. Dragon fire wreathes his hands as he launches himself at Vex, who spins to meet the attack with a snarl of fury.

“No!” Vex raises his ceremonial dagger, dark magic crackling along its edge.

But Riven’s already inside his guard, one burning hand closing around Vex’s wrist while the other drives toward his throat. The impact sends them both crashing into the ritual circle’s edge.

The binding wards around me flicker and spark. Vex’s concentration breaks as he fights for his life, and the magic holding me wavers like a candle flame in the nwind.

‘Now.’

The thought comes through the bond with absolute clarity. I surge against the restraints with everything I have, the mate connection amplifying my strength beyond what should be possible.

Shadows respond to my call, darkness flooding through cracks in the failing spell work.

The bindings shatter.

My shadows return all at once, flowing through the chamber with enough force to shatter the remaining conduits and plunge half the ritual space into protective darkness.

Freedom rushes through me like a wave, and I shadow-walk toward Kieran without hesitation. My brother’s eyes widen as I approach the ritual circle.

“Iris, what—?”

“Later.” I grab his hand, shadows flowing around both of us. “We need to get out of here.”

The minute I haul him out of the circle, the chamber descends into pitch darkness. There’s a moment of silence. And then something begins to rumble.

Behind us, Vex is screaming orders, his voice pitching in panic. The ritual has failed, ancient protections have reasserted themselves, and his dreams of controlled awakening are shattering around him.

But through passages that lead up and out, I hear Riven calling my name with desperate relief—both aloud and through the bond that now connects us completely.

“I’m here!” I shout back. “We’re alive!”

Fighters are scrambling and running out in confusion, the pulsing power threatening to erupt.

“Get out!” Riven yells, and I feel his urgency through our bond like fire in my veins.

“We’re getting out of here, Kieran,” I say to my brother, dragging him, unresisting, to the tunnel we arrived in.

“Okay,” Kieran says, and that single word floods me with relief.

But there’s something else flooding me now. The mate bond burns steady and certain between Riven and me, changing everything I thought I knew about connection, about belonging, about the difference between surviving alone and truly living.

We found each other in the darkness. We survived forces that could have destroyed us both.

And we discovered that some connections transcend choice, transcend logic, transcend everything except the absolute certainty that we belong together.

Everything else—ancient kings, faction politics, the ambitions of those who would wake sleeping powers—all just details.