Morning came slowly, as if the world itself hesitated.
Mist clung to the mountain pass, curling around stone and pine like a living thing. Ariana woke with a sharp intake of breath, instinctively tightening her arms around the twins curled against her sides. For one disorienting moment, she forgot where they were.
Then she remembered.
Jayden.
Her body reacted before her mind could—heat pooling low, muscles tightening, pulse quickening in a way that had nothing to do with fear.
She pushed the feeling down ruthlessly.
The twins were already awake, staring at her with unsettling calm.
"He's still here," one murmured.
Ariana closed her eyes briefly. "I know."
She rose quietly, smoothing her clothes, rebuilding the walls around her heart piece by careful piece. When she stepped outside the shallow cave they'd taken shelter in, the morning air hit her like a blade.
Jayden stood a short distance away, back turned, sword planted in the ground before him. His coat stirred in the wind, dark hair loose, shoulders tense with vigilance.
He hadn't slept.
She could see it in the rigid line of his posture, in the way his power remained flared just beneath the surface—ready, coiled, dangerous.
He turned the moment he sensed her.
Golden eyes met hers.
Neither spoke.
The silence between them was thick with everything unsaid.
"We can't stay here," Ariana said finally.
Jayden nodded once. "I know."
"You said you wouldn't force this," she added carefully. "That doesn't mean you get to follow us."
His jaw flexed.
"I'm not following," he replied evenly. "I'm escorting."
Her lips parted in disbelief. "You don't get to decide that."
His gaze flicked briefly toward the cave entrance—toward the twins—before returning to her face.
"They're already marked," he said quietly. "You felt it. The surge yesterday didn't go unnoticed."
Ariana stiffened.
"Every powerful faction will sense them now," Jayden continued. "Some will want to control them. Others will want them dead."
The words were not a threat.
They were a fact.
Her resolve wavered.
"I can protect them," she insisted.
"I know," he said softly.
The admission startled her.
"You shouldn't," she replied bitterly. "After everything—"
"I know you," Jayden interrupted. "Better than you think."
For a moment, something vulnerable flickered in his expression—quickly buried.
"I won't ask you to trust me," he said. "But I won't walk away either. Not again."
The ache in his voice nearly undid her.
She turned away, fighting the tremor in her hands.
"Until the next safe town," she said at last. "After that… you leave."
Jayden inclined his head. "Agreed."
A lie.
They both knew it.
They traveled together in strained silence.
Jayden kept his distance, walking ahead or behind, never crowding her—yet always close enough that she felt him constantly. His presence pressed against her senses like heat against bare skin.
The twins watched him with open curiosity.
Too much curiosity.
They whispered to each other, heads bent together, power humming faintly between them like a shared heartbeat.
Ariana caught fragments.
"He feels familiar."
"He feels like home."
"He feels like—"
"No," Ariana said sharply.
They flinched.
She softened instantly, kneeling before them. "You must not speak to him unless I say so. Do you understand?"
Their eyes flicked past her—toward Jayden—then back.
Reluctantly, they nodded.
Jayden watched the exchange with a growing ache in his chest.
He didn't know why it hurt.
Only that it did.
They reached the ruins by dusk.
Ancient stone arches jutted from the earth like broken ribs, humming faintly with old magic. Jayden stiffened immediately.
"This place is sacred," he murmured.
Ariana frowned. "You've been here before?"
"Long ago."
The air felt… heavy. Watching.
The twins stepped forward without thinking, small hands brushing the cracked stone.
The ground answered.
Symbols ignited along the ruins—old runes flaring with pale silver light.
Ariana's blood ran cold.
"No," she whispered. "Step back. Now."
Too late.
The air shifted violently, pressing down on them as a voice echoed—not loud, but everywhere.
"Blood remembers."
"Ink binds."
"Two born of union, one yet to rise."
Jayden froze.
His heart slammed painfully against his ribs.
Two.
Born of union.
One yet to rise.
Ariana staggered, grabbing the twins and pulling them back as the light dimmed abruptly, leaving silence in its wake.
Jayden turned to her slowly.
His gaze burned—not with anger, but with dawning horror.
"Two," he said hoarsely.
She shook her head, panic flooding her veins. "It's not what you think."
"Then tell me," he demanded softly. "Tell me what it is."
The twins looked between them, confused, frightened.
One of them whispered, barely audible—
"Father—"
Ariana spun, clapping a hand over the child's mouth instantly.
The world stopped.
Jayden's breath left him in a shuddering exhale.
He stared at them.
At the eyes.
At the power.
At the way his instincts screamed recognition so loud it hurt.
Ariana's hand trembled.
"I said don't," she whispered desperately.
The child nodded, eyes wide.
Jayden took a step back.
Then another.
His control—legendary, ironclad—fractured.
"I need air," he said roughly.
He turned and walked away, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles split, blood beading bright against pale skin.
Ariana sank to her knees, shaking.
That had been too close.
Far too close.
Jayden stood at the edge of the ruins long after night fell.
Memories rose unbidden.
That night.
That heat.
That bond forged in blood and breath and longing.
His chest ached viciously.
Two born of union.
He dragged a hand down his face, a broken laugh tearing free.
"No," he whispered into the dark. "You wouldn't…"
Would you?
The thought terrified him.
Not because he didn't want them.
But because he wanted them too much.
Behind him, Ariana held the twins tightly, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.
The truth was straining against her ribs now, clawing to be free.
And she knew—
The longer she stayed near Jayden…
The harder it would be to keep it buried.