The purification cell door began to unlock from the outside.
Slow. Deliberate. Like the person turning the latch wanted me to hear every click.
Kael's breath was rough against my cheek, his mouth still close enough that the heat of it lingered. Not warmth—heat like a blade pressed to skin.
The breaker needle was still buried in the sunburst over my heart.
I could feel it like a hot splinter lodged in bone.
And I could feel the tether—no longer gripping my heart alone. It had slid, stretched, and latched onto Kael.
His chest rose once, heavier than before.
His jaw tightened.
His eyes met mine, sharp and warning.
*Act.*
So I did.
I let my head tip back like I was dazed. I let my lips part like I was broken. I let my body sag against the chain around my waist so it looked like restraint had won.
Kael's hand clenched in my hair and yanked my head up, rough enough to sting.
For the watcher.
For the door about to open.
His voice went cold, loud. "Stay on your knees."
My body wanted to rebel.
My pride wanted to spit in his face.
My heart—my cursed, branded heart—wanted to stop beating just to escape this room.
I forced myself to nod.
"Good," Kael said, harsh for anyone listening.
Then, so low only I could hear, he breathed, "Don't let him see the needle."
My fingers twitched toward my chest.
The fire there pulsed, reminding me what moved if I moved too much.
Kael shifted his body to block the crystal eye's line again, his coat falling like a curtain over my torso.
He reached down and tightened the chain around my waist, making it look like he was securing me.
In truth, he was hiding me.
The door clicked one final time.
Then it swung open.
Light spilled into the cell—candlelight from the corridor beyond, but it felt harsher, like the air itself had been invaded.
The High Inquisitor stepped in first.
He didn't hurry. He never hurried. He moved like a man who believed time belonged to him.
Behind him came two temple knights.
Then Prince Adrian.
And of course—Lady Liora, clinging to his arm like a decorative wound.
My stomach twisted.
The Inquisitor's pale eyes swept the room and landed on me instantly, like a needle finding a vein.
He smiled.
"Duke Rivenhart," he said mildly, "how obedient you look."
Kael didn't bow. He didn't kneel further. He stood with one hand on my hair, the other holding the chain, as if I were nothing but a problem he'd been ordered to solve.
"Her ring is renounced," Kael said flatly.
Adrian's gaze flicked to my bare finger. Satisfaction sharpened his mouth.
Liora made a small sound, like pity. Like triumph trying to wear lace.
The Inquisitor stepped closer, eyes drifting to my face. "And her heart?"
My brand pulsed at the word, like it recognized its master.
Kael's expression stayed cold. "Beating."
The Inquisitor's smile widened. "Good."
He looked at me as if I were a cup he'd already chosen to drink from. "Did you beg?"
Kael tightened his grip on my hair, making my scalp sting. I forced my eyes downward, forcing my voice small.
"Yes," I whispered.
Liora exhaled, too pleased.
Adrian's eyes gleamed as if he'd won a private war.
The Inquisitor nodded, satisfied. "Then we proceed to the final seal."
Kael's fingers on my hair went rigid—so subtle no one else would notice.
But I did.
Because the tether between us shivered.
Because Kael's heartbeat stuttered once, hard enough that I felt it like a punch in my own ribs.
The Inquisitor had noticed it earlier.
Now he wanted to confirm.
His gaze slid to Kael's throat, to the sunburst collar mark still cracked down the middle.
Then his eyes dropped to my chest—where my torn dress and Kael's coat hid the brand and the needle.
His smile didn't change.
But his attention sharpened, like a blade finding the seam in armor.
"Duke Rivenhart," the Inquisitor said gently, "come here."
Kael didn't move.
Adrian's lips curved. "He said come."
Kael's eyes didn't flicker to Adrian. He kept them on the Inquisitor.
"I'm here," Kael replied.
The Inquisitor chuckled softly. "Still proud. Even on your knees."
He stepped closer until he was within reach of Kael's chained wrists.
Then he lifted his hand—two fingers raised, the same gesture he used to squeeze my heart.
My brand flared in warning.
Kael's jaw clenched.
His shoulders went rigid.
I watched his throat work as he swallowed pain he refused to show.
And then, like a cruel test, the Inquisitor pinched his fingers together.
Kael's breath cut off.
Not dramatically. Not with a gasp.
With the sudden, brutal stillness of a man whose heart had been grabbed.
My vision swam.
Because the tether didn't just let Kael feel it.
It let me feel it too—like my own heart had become a bridge for someone else's suffering.
Kael's mouth barely moved, but no sound came out.
Adrian's brows lifted with interest.
Liora's eyes widened, delighted and frightened.
The Inquisitor watched Kael's reaction with calm satisfaction.
"Ah," he murmured. "So it's true."
My blood ran cold.
He knew the tether had shifted.
He knew he could squeeze Kael now.
He let go.
Kael's breath slammed back into his lungs, controlled but harsh.
His gaze flicked to me—one fraction of a second.
Not blame.
A warning: *Don't react.*
So I didn't.
I kept my head bowed. I kept my body slack. I kept my face blank even as my insides screamed.
The Inquisitor smiled at Adrian. "Do you see, Your Highness? Even the Black Duke has a heart that obeys."
Adrian's smile sharpened. "I see."
"And you," the Inquisitor said, turning to me again, "have become very useful."
Liora squeezed Adrian's arm, voice trembling sweetly. "Inquisitor… will she be cured?"
The Inquisitor's eyes drifted over her like she was a buzzing fly. "Cured is a child's word. She will be controlled."
Liora's mouth tightened, offended—then she forced a tearful smile again. "Of course."
Adrian stepped forward, gaze fixed on me. "Now that she's renounced the ring, she returns to crown custody."
Kael's grip on my hair tightened.
The Inquisitor didn't answer Adrian immediately. He leaned down slightly, studying me.
"So much blood," he murmured, as if commenting on my dress.
His pale gaze slid to Kael's hand. "And your duke bleeds too."
Kael didn't respond.
The Inquisitor straightened. "No. She does not return to crown custody."
Adrian's smile twitched. "Inquisitor—"
"She remains under purification until the empire is safe," the Inquisitor said softly. "And until Duke Rivenhart proves the depth of his obedience."
Adrian's eyes narrowed. "He's already obeying."
The Inquisitor smiled faintly. "Not enough."
My brand pulsed again, hard.
Kael's jaw flexed.
I forced myself to keep breathing.
The Inquisitor walked a slow circle around us, robes whispering against the carved floor lines. His gaze kept dipping toward my chest.
Toward the hidden needle.
He stopped in front of Kael.
"Duke Rivenhart," he said gently, "you attempted to break covenant in my chamber. You shattered my basin. You spilled covenant blood."
Kael's eyes were ice. "You used it to leash me."
The Inquisitor chuckled. "Yes. And you used her to snap it."
His pale eyes slid to me again, amused. "How romantic."
My stomach turned.
Kael's voice went colder. "Say your point."
The Inquisitor smiled. "My point is simple. You will pay."
He turned slightly, raising his voice to carry into the corridor beyond, to any hidden ears.
"Prince Adrian," the Inquisitor said, "witness the purity of your future reign."
Future reign.
My blood chilled.
So that was why Adrian was here.
Not just to watch me break.
To be blessed by it.
Adrian's expression smoothed into controlled satisfaction. "I'm listening."
The Inquisitor lifted his hand and pointed at me.
"Lady Vale will confess," he said softly, "and renounce all claims of coercion. She will swear that Duke Rivenhart corrupted her."
Adrian's smile widened.
Liora's breath hitched, thrilled.
My throat tightened. "I won't—"
My brand squeezed.
A sharp clamp around my heart.
Not enough to stop it.
Enough to make my vision flicker and my breath catch.
I choked on my own blood.
Kael moved instantly, catching my shoulder before I fell. His hand looked cruel, controlling, but the grip was steady—protective under the mask.
The Inquisitor watched my pain with mild interest. "She will."
Kael's eyes went murderous. "Touch her again and—"
The Inquisitor pinched his fingers.
Kael's breath cut off.
His face didn't contort. He didn't collapse.
But I saw it—the twitch at the corner of his mouth, the tightening at his throat, the way his sword arm stiffened like it wanted to rise and couldn't.
The Inquisitor smiled. "You will do nothing."
He released.
Kael inhaled slowly, controlled, like he refused to give the room the satisfaction of hearing him gasp.
Adrian watched Kael with bright fascination now.
Because a leashed Kael meant the throne was safer.
Because if Kael could be controlled, then everyone could.
The Inquisitor leaned down toward me, voice soft. "And you will seal your confession with blood. A lovely, reactive ink. The empire adores it."
I forced my voice out through shaking breath. "You'll forge it anyway."
The Inquisitor smiled. "Yes. But confession is sweeter when it's voluntary."
Kael's hand tightened on the chain around my waist.
I felt the tether shiver between us, like a wire under strain.
Kael's mouth barely moved. "Don't speak."
I swallowed blood and bit down on my tongue to stay silent.
The Inquisitor straightened, gaze narrowing slightly. "Duke Rivenhart. You look tense."
Kael's eyes didn't move. "I'm fine."
The Inquisitor chuckled. "Are you?"
Then he reached out fast—too fast for anyone to stop him—and grabbed a fistful of Kael's coat near his chest, yanking him forward slightly.
Kael's body tensed, ready to strike—
The Inquisitor pinched his fingers again.
Kael froze mid-instinct.
His breath locked.
The Inquisitor held him there like a demonstration.
Then, with his other hand, he brushed Kael's coat aside—just enough to expose the top of my torn dress and the edge of Kael's coat covering my chest.
My brand pulsed wildly.
The needle burned.
The Inquisitor's pale eyes flicked down.
He saw it.
Not fully.
But enough.
A glint. A shape. A wrongness.
His smile sharpened.
"Well," he murmured. "There it is."
Kael's eyes turned lethal. "Don't."
The Inquisitor released Kael's coat and stepped back, still holding his fingers poised like a threat.
"Breaker needle," he said softly, almost delighted. "How inventive."
Adrian's brows lifted. "What is he talking about?"
"Nothing a prince needs to understand," the Inquisitor said gently. "Only the cost of disobedience."
He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.
A temple knight stepped forward carrying a small wooden box.
The Inquisitor opened it.
Inside lay another needle—longer, thicker, etched with sunbursts.
My blood went cold.
"Bring her closer," the Inquisitor said softly.
Temple knights moved toward me.
Kael's hand tightened on the chain, pulling me back instinctively.
The Inquisitor pinched his fingers.
Kael froze.
His arm locked.
His grip loosened involuntarily.
My stomach dropped.
Because now I understood the cruelty:
If Kael tried to protect me, he would be squeezed until he released me.
If he refused to release me, he would die.
And if he died, I would be alone.
The temple knights grabbed my arms again and dragged me forward by force.
Pain tore through my shoulder wound.
I clenched my teeth until my jaw ached.
Kael's eyes tracked me, fury so tightly caged it looked like it might crack his skull.
Mara wasn't here.
My father wasn't here.
This room had swallowed all my witnesses.
And now the Inquisitor had the tool he wanted.
He approached with the thick sunburst needle.
"This will restore the proper tether," he murmured pleasantly. "You were very naughty, child. Taking what wasn't yours."
My voice came out raw. "You put it on me."
He smiled. "Yes. And you tried to move it."
He leaned in toward my chest.
Kael's voice came out like a snarl. "Stop."
The Inquisitor didn't look at him. He pinched his fingers again.
Kael's breath cut off.
His body jerked once, like a man fighting drowning.
Then he went still.
I watched it happen and something in me went cold.
Not fear.
Decision.
If the Inquisitor restored the tether, Kael would be leashed again.
If Kael was leashed again, I would die later—quietly, neatly, with a goblet.
So I did the only thing left.
I moved first.
I slammed my head forward—hard—into the Inquisitor's nose.
Bone crunched.
The Inquisitor staggered back with a sharp inhale of pain.
Blood spilled instantly, bright and real, staining his white robes.
Temple knights shouted and tightened their grips.
Adrian swore under his breath, shocked.
Liora screamed.
The Inquisitor's eyes went flat with rage for the first time.
"How—dare—"
I didn't give him time to recover.
I lunged forward, ripping my torso toward him despite the hands holding me, and pressed my bleeding throat—my cut, my blood—against his robe.
Smearing blood.
My blood.
His blood.
On the runes carved into the floor line between us.
The room hummed.
The sunbursts etched into the stone flickered.
The crystal eye above the chair flared, then dimmed, confused by mixed blood where it expected clean ritual.
The Inquisitor's face tightened.
Kael's chest heaved as he dragged air back into his lungs, freed by the Inquisitor's moment of disrupted control.
Kael moved in that heartbeat.
Not to strike the Inquisitor.
To strike the tool.
His hand shot out and grabbed the thick sunburst needle from the Inquisitor's grip.
Then he snapped it.
Wood and metal cracked in two with a sharp, final sound.
The Inquisitor's eyes widened.
Adrian's mouth opened in fury.
Liora stumbled back, clutching Adrian like she might faint.
Kael didn't stop.
He stepped in, seized the Inquisitor by the throat, and slammed him back against the wall hard enough to rattle the hanging chains.
The Inquisitor choked, blood dripping from his broken nose.
Kael's voice was low, vibrating with restrained violence. "You don't touch her."
The Inquisitor smiled through blood. "You can't kill me."
Kael's grip tightened. "Maybe I don't need to."
The Inquisitor's eyes flicked to me.
To the brand over my heart, still burning.
He pinched his fingers again—
Kael's breath cut off violently, his hand spasming at the Inquisitor's throat.
So the tether was still there.
Still enough.
Still dangerous.
Kael's grip loosened.
The Inquisitor inhaled, recovering with a cruel smile. "See? Your heart obeys."
Kael's eyes—river-dark, furious—stayed on mine for a fraction.
And I understood what he was about to do.
Something reckless.
Something final.
Something that would either free us or bury us.
Kael's hand dropped from the Inquisitor's throat.
His sword came up instead.
The Inquisitor's eyes widened, surprised that Kael would draw steel in this small space with witnesses present.
Adrian's face lit with triumph. "Yes. Kill him. Prove—"
Kael ignored him.
Kael turned the sword—away from the Inquisitor—
and angled the point toward his own chest.
My blood turned to ice.
The Inquisitor smiled, delighted.
"Yes," he murmured softly. "Now you understand, Duke."
Kael's jaw clenched.
His hand shook—just once.
Then the Sunbrand at his throat pulsed and his arm began to move without his permission, point aligning perfectly with his heart.
I screamed his name, voice ripping raw through blood and pain—
"Kael!"
And the blade began to press into his chest.