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A GOLDEN THREAD

SERYN

W ith a sob, I lunged toward the pit on my hands and knees, not caring if I was about to meet my end. Flashes of all the times Gavrel had saved me from drowning flooded my mind, and I choked on hiccupping breaths.

My eyes were fixed on the twisting metal and smoke, the tiny spark of hope that he would break the surface extinguished.

In that moment, all my fears fell away. I no longer cared if the lava-like shadows filled my lungs and consumed every space within me.

I would gladly drown if it meant saving the man I loved. If it meant joining him in the aether.

How cruel were the Fates to give me my heart, and then tear it away? The thread that bound us sliced into my rib, and tears flowed freely down my cheeks. My ember thrashed against my vertebrae.

Before I could throw myself over the edge, Kaden’s arms clamped around me, pulling me to his side as I struggled against him.

“Take c-care, girl!” Endurst cried, Marah’s fingers covering her mouth .

“Where were you?” I screamed at the Elders. An irrational sense of condemnation boiled within me. “Why didn’t you stop her?” My nails scraped against the stone as I tried to drag myself into the molten pit.

Marah’s brows fell. “We tried, my dear. Our ember was lacking, and she stunned us for a moment.”

I barely heard the female; my heartbeat was thrashing about my skull so violently. “Let me go!” I raged, pushing and slapping at my friend.

“Seryn!” He shook my shoulders. “Ser, look!”

Distraught, I whipped my attention toward the being as he unearthed himself from the pile.

His chin lifted as he stood to his full height, wide shoulders rolling back under the pale gold wrapped around him, the fabric draping down to his feet.

Frosty blue eyes flashed as he looked down at us over his strong nose, the bridge slightly curved.

The two Elders fell to their knees, foreheads touching the stone. My chin lifted, tears flowing freely over my cheeks.

I knew that face. All its robust angles. The face from my favorite painting in the palace. My favorite book in the palace library.

His palace.

“Well done.” His voice— the voice that directed me time and again—boomed through the pit. “Rise, Elders.”

And they did, eyes wide.

“It’s … it’s you,” I snarled. “ Morpheus .”

Kaden’s mouth dropped open. “Holy fucking Ancient.”

My pulse hammered as I stood, and I planted my heels into the obsidian as they itched to leap into the basin.

One of Morpheus’ brows lifted as he glanced at Kaden and then at me. “True. Now to the business of retrieving our khordas from the Nether Void.”

“Bloody Nether Void.” Kaden gripped my wrist as if I would jump. He wasn’t wrong. My very marrow was screaming at me to dive in after Gavrel.

My words slid between gritted teeth as all-consuming pain and resentment shivered over my spine. I didn’t care if he was an Ancient, and even though I desired nothing more than to do what he asked, the contrary words spewed from me like acid. “You can’t do it yourself?”

A halo of twinkling gold and mist flickered around him, pooling at his feet.

He floated to the perimeter as if riding on a cloud and then stepped onto the stone.

A glint flashed over his irises. “There’s nothing more I’d like better than to pay my brother a visit.

” He rubbed his knuckles against the steep angle of his jaw.

“But alas, the treaty forbids it. My brother and I are rulers of our domains, but exiles of each other’s. ”

Kaden’s eyebrow quirked. “ Treaty ?”

My fingertips swatted at the dampness clinging to my cheeks. Yaya’s teachings flit through my mind. “During the Nightbloom Sundering, he and Phobetor almost destroyed Kosmos. The Fates were so furious that they threatened to summon the Primevals.”

Marah shifted, wringing her hands. “Who were here long before flesh and ember, and will exist long after.”

Endurst rubbed his forehead. “The Pri-Primevals stir beneath our f-feet. We walk on their graves and call it the world.”

Morpheus closed his eyes and took a deep inhale. “So eloquent—the mortal scriptures.”

My tongue pressed against my bottom teeth. “If the Primevals awaken, everything and everyone, except the Fates, will be destroyed. The very fabric of life would unravel so that the process of creation could begin anew.”

Swallowing, Kaden ran his fingers through his hair. “Ah, sounds like a good time.” His reply didn’t carry his usual lighthearted sarcasm.

Morpheus’ eyes narrowed for a moment. “It’s quite the opposite,” he said humorlessly.

My mouth pinched, anger roiling deep in my belly. “Regardless, Phobetor got the upper hand, it would seem,” I muttered. “He doesn’t fear the upheaval of order and balance. You’ve been trapped for over a century, people’s dreams have vanished, and Midst Fall is dying.”

His jaw lifted. “He knew well enough that he could neither rid Kosmos of me nor directly break the treaty. But he’s always been impulsive.

Shortsighted.” He frowned, his gilded aura brightening.

“ Perhaps he believed that if my dreams were trapped here with me, his nightmares could freely take root.” He shook his head, staring at the coiling, metallic magma.

Scoffing, my hands flexed. “But the Withering took root instead. The fool cursed us all with his greed and jealousy. Without humanity, he’ll fade into the aether. You need worshippers to exist.”

“You aren’t wrong,” he conceded. “I doubt he regrets the consequences of his actions. Knowing him, he’ll take his pride to the aether.

And I have nothing but regret … I shouldn’t have been as trusting.

I should’ve heeded the Fates’ predictions.

” He held his hand out to the pile of amber.

“My brother used the Elders for his bidding. Tricked Melina into the deal that would imprison me, gave her eternal life and power, and provided him with an endless stream of nightmares to feed off.”

His head dipped, and his fists clenched at his sides, matching my own stance.

“You see, Ancients can merely whisper in a mortal’s ear, but it is up to the mortal to choose their path.

I can see that your khorda bond is strong enough to withstand the Void.

” His eyes softened. “Despite your fated’s rune blocking your thread’s full potential. It’s why I need you, once again.”

I yanked my wrist out of Kaden’s grip. “Good, then let me get on with it,” I said, nearing the edge of the molten pool once more.

My best friend’s pleading tone made me pause. “Ser, you can’t be serious.”

I glared at him.

“I mean, you can’t think I’m not going with you. I can’t lose you both.”

My shoulders slumped. “You’re needed elsewhere. The others need to know what happened, and Elder Craven and Ash are still out there. You need to be here for what’s next.” I waved my hand at the two Elders behind us. “Perhaps you can heal Endurst and Marah.”

Their brows lifted as they looked at one another. Marah’s hand fluttered to her chest. A deep line dug between Kaden’s brows, so similar to Gavrel’s. I brushed my thumb over the line. “I can do this, but I need to know you’re here. Please ,” I whispered .

His eyes darted between mine, and his chest heaved. “Go get the commander.” He pulled me into a tight hug, and then, as if he was fighting his movements, he stepped beside the Elders.

I turned to Morpheus, nails digging into my palms. The warmth of my gifted ring tingled against my skin.

I pulled Melina’s stolen band from my belt satchel.

“I believe this is yours, yes?” With a nod, his handsome face softened.

Morpheus took it from my outstretched hand and slipped it on his left forefinger.

His head tilted, eyes studying me. “I won’t be able to offer you guidance down there.”

I tossed him a deadpan look. “Oh, no. No more mysterious words spoken inside my head? No more dreams full of premonitions?”

“I’m sorry if they vexed you, but they were a boon, were they not?

It pained me not to be able to do more over the turns.

But once I realized I could offer you the little I did, hope fueled me.

Hope that you’d be the one to release me.

To save the mortal realm … and my fated, so we can finally be bound through the Kollao Ceremony. ”

“Because you can’t leave Surrelia,” I spat, scowling. “All-powerful Ancients can’t save us.”

“As I said, we can only influence. The Fates and the treaty forbids direct intervention. I would think the time spent with my sister would’ve made that clear.”

Kaden rolled his eyes, and I scoffed. “Nothing is ever clear with Phantasos.”

Kaden scratched his jaw. “Why hasn’t sissy been sucked into the aether? Seems like her ticket between the realms doesn’t have an expiration date.”

Morpheus closed his eyes for a moment, wide chest expanding, as if preparing to talk to an unruly toddler. “She’s always been quite adept at appeasing the Fates; her intentions cloaked in riddles. My sister need not worry about her power depleting like the rest of us, for her ember is sourced?—”

“From the wilds. She can traverse any realm’s wilderness and thrive,” I interjected, recalling my studies this last winter .

The corners of Morpheus’ mouth curled as my ice-blue eyes narrowed.

As if I were looking at my own reflection.

Acid boiled in my stomach, apprehension sliding a frozen finger up my spine.

“Who’s your fated?”

The Ancient of Dreams moved closer to me.

“After I was caged, loathing, in its purest form, festered in me. I vowed to destroy my brother. Treaty and Kosmos be damned. For you see, each time humanity dreamed during the Dormancies, all that ember had to go somewhere … The pods siphoned it directly into me every month. Until my very essence nearly burst from my flesh. Until my sanity was pushed to the brink of darkness again and again. I would’ve ripped through everything and everyone in my path if I had been freed then. ”

I gulped, my heart hanging on every word.

His smile pushed further into his high cheekbones. “Then one day, many decades into my captivity, our bond called to me. A single golden thread broke through the rot and shadows, consuming my soul. I reached for it, tethering it tightly to my left rib so it wouldn’t get lost in my torment.”

He rubbed his chest, his golden aura shimmering and pulsing.

“Selene smiled upon me that day. From then on, during the full moons, I met my love in her dreams.” I flinched as his warm hand cupped my chin tenderly.

“Your mother—my Maya—brought me back from the brink of insanity. And I’ve been waiting a long time to have her by my side … and to meet you … Daughter.”