Yet, amid his harshness, something deeper grows. Dairon doesn’t just observe: he watches like someone trying to remember a ghost. And Saeris, long hardened by loneliness and betrayal, begins to crave his presence. It unnerves her, but it grounds her too.

A surprise attack on Yvelia changes everything. Creatures from the Void tear through a destabilized portal. Saeris fights them off with a power that astonishes everyone, even herself. Fire dances through iron, a feat no one has witnessed in centuries. Only the Lost Alchemists had that gift.

That night, the Fae Council demands an audience. They seek control. Answers. But Saeris can offer only defiance—and power.

Later, Dairon takes her deep into the mountains, to a hidden temple. There, he explains the truth behind Ajun: an ancient seal forged to contain a force too dangerous for even the gods. Her blood, alchemist and Fae, is the key to that seal.

—Why tell me this now? —Saeris asks, her voice barely more than breath.

—Because if I don’t, others will. And you won’t survive the outcome.

The bond between them shifts. In the quiet of one night, between blades and memory, they find each other. A kiss, a storm. Fire under snow. It’s not love. It’s need. It’s truth.