The realm beyond the Abyss knew something had changed.
Across fractured planes and dying heavens, ancient beings stirred from millennia of slumber. Oracles screamed. Immortals bled from their eyes as visions tore through them—of a woman crowned in shadow and silver, and a man beside her whose presence erased fate itself.
Seris stood at the heart of the Abyss, and the darkness waited.
It no longer pressed.
It deferred.
She could feel the pathways of power now—vast, endless networks of shadow that reached into other realms. With a thought, she could collapse cities. With a breath, silence gods.
The knowledge horrified her.
The ease terrified her more.
Mason watched her closely, as though memorizing every shift in her expression.
"You're afraid," he observed.
"I should be," she snapped. "This is too much. No one should—"
"No one," he interrupted, stepping closer, "except you."
She laughed bitterly. "You don't get to decide that."
His voice lowered. "I didn't."
He lifted his hand—not to touch her, but to gesture outward.
The Abyss answered.
A vision unfolded in the air between them.
A realm bathed in golden fire—gods gathered in a celestial conclave. She felt their fear immediately.
"They've sensed the shift," Mason said. "They will come."
Seris stiffened. "To destroy this place."
"To destroy you."
Her jaw tightened. "Then let them."
That earned her his full attention.
Dangerous. Focused.
"Say that again."
"I won't kneel to gods just because they're afraid," she said. "If they come—"
Mason closed the distance in a heartbeat.
This time, he touched her.
His hand wrapped around her wrist—not crushing. Anchoring.
"You don't get to martyr yourself," he said softly, and that softness was far more terrifying than rage. "Not after everything I've done to keep you breathing."
Her pulse thundered.
"You don't own my life."
His grip tightened just enough to make the mark flare between them, silver and shadow reacting violently.
"I own the space between your heartbeats," he said. "The seconds the universe pauses when you decide whether to fight or fall."
The Abyss shuddered.
He leaned closer, forehead nearly touching hers.
"And I will burn every god who tries to take you from me."
She should have recoiled.
She didn't.
Instead, she whispered, "That's not love."
His expression did not soften.
"No," he agreed. "It's devotion."
The vision shifted.
The celestial realm fractured as shadows crept along its edges.
War was coming.
Not because Seris had claimed power—
But because Mason had claimed her.
And the universe had finally noticed.