The silence that followed that single word was more violent than a scream.
— Lyra.
That name, spoken by the stranger, seemed to cut through the entire chamber like an invisible blade.
Everything inside Lyra froze.
Her breath.
Her thoughts.
Her heart.
Her fingers trembled faintly in midair while the unstable light around the shattered circle continued to pulse, as if even the sanctuary itself was holding its breath with them.
Kael, however, was no longer looking at anything except that man.
Not the broken circle.
Not the suspended threads.
Not Aelys.
Only him.
The figure moved forward slowly through the drifting particles of light, and the more he stepped out of the glow, the clearer he became.
He was tall—perhaps half a head taller than Kael—dressed in a long white robe lined with silver, covered in living symbols that moved lazily across the fabric like trapped stars. His black hair fell over his forehead with an almost unreal elegance, and his eyes...
His eyes were a disturbing pale gray.
Eyes that looked as if they had witnessed the end of a thousand worlds.
And when they settled on Lyra, there was something in his gaze that was too intimate.
Too gentle.
Too ancient.
Too personal.
Kael felt his blood turn cold.
Then hot.
Then dangerously unstable.
Because he already knew this feeling.
He had felt it before in quieter forms, in versions he could tolerate.
When Lyra looked at a memory he did not share.
When a fragment of the past seemed to call her away from him.
When something, somewhere, seemed to exist between her and a truth he had no access to.
But this time...
This time, it was not a fragment.
It was not a feeling.
It was a man.
A real man.
A man who had appeared in the heart of the sanctuary.
A man who knew her name in that voice.
And Kael hated him before he even spoke again.
— You... Lyra whispered, unable to finish her sentence.
The stranger stopped a few meters away from them.
Then his gaze shifted briefly toward Kael.
Just for a moment.
But it was enough.
Because in that one glance, Kael immediately felt something that made him tense even more.
An evaluation.
As if this man had already judged him.
As if he already knew him.
As if he knew exactly who Kael was... and what he represented to Lyra.
Kael took one step forward.
Then another.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Until he placed himself completely between Lyra and the stranger.
— You're going to start by explaining who you are, he said in a low voice.
Very low.
But every syllable vibrated like a warning.
The stranger did not seem impressed.
If anything, a faint, sad smile crossed his lips.
— You're still so quick to bare your teeth.
Kael froze.
At the side, Aelys closed her eyes as if she already feared what would come next.
Lyra frowned.
— You... know him?
The stranger finally looked away from Kael and back at her.
And the way his features softened when he looked at her immediately stirred something even darker inside Kael's chest.
— I knew you before this life, he said simply.
Lyra took half a step back.
Her lips parted.
— Before... this life?
— Long before this one.
Kael felt his jaw tighten.
He turned his head slightly toward Lyra, just enough to catch the troubled look on her face.
And that alone was enough to awaken something even more primal inside him.
Because she was not denying it.
She was not saying I don't remember.
She was not saying You're mistaken.
She was looking at him as if some part of her already recognized something.
Something Kael did not have.
Something he could not control.
And that thought alone was unbearable.
— His name is Eryan, Aelys said suddenly.
Kael's gaze hardened at once.
Eryan.
Even his name irritated him.
— The Guardian of the First Cycle, Aelys continued. The soul that was bound to the Source before the Worlds were fractured.
Silence fell again.
Then Lyra whispered:
— Then... was he part of me?
Eryan looked at her with a soft kind of pain in his eyes.
— Not part of you.
He paused.
Then said more quietly:
— With you.
Kael felt something crack inside him.
Not completely.
Not yet.
But enough for his breathing to change.
Enough for the air around him to grow heavier.
Enough for the shadows at his fingertips to begin trembling faintly.
Lyra, meanwhile, did not seem to notice the storm rising right beside her.
Because she was still looking at Eryan.
As if his name had opened a door in her soul.
As if a forbidden memory had finally begun knocking from within.
— I... I don't understand, she breathed.
Eryan took one step toward her.
Only one.
And Kael immediately moved even further in front of her.
This time, he did not even try to hide it.
He did it on purpose.
Possessively.
Like a silent warning.
Eryan stopped.
His pale gray eyes slowly settled on Kael.
— Do you really think you can protect her from everything? he asked calmly.
When Kael answered, his voice was colder than the marble around them.
— Try me.
Lyra turned her head sharply toward him.
— Kael—
But he did not even look at her.
His eyes remained locked on Eryan.
And in his chest, this was no longer a small jealousy.
It was sharp, raw, almost humiliating in its intensity.
Because he had just realized something he hated.
He was afraid.
Not of the man himself.
Not of his power.
Not of the sanctuary.
He was afraid of what Lyra might feel when she found that past again.
Afraid something inside her would awaken.
Afraid a forgotten memory would come between them.
Afraid of being, once again, the one who came after.
Eryan inclined his head slightly.
— I am not your enemy.
Kael let out a short laugh.
Without joy.
Without warmth.
— That's exactly what someone who already looks like a problem would say.
Lyra's eyes widened slightly.
— Kael...
But this time, he finally turned his head toward her.
And what she saw in his eyes made her fall silent immediately.
Because he was not just angry.
He was hurt.
Deeply.
Quietly.
And it showed.
— You're looking at him like you know him, he said at last.
His voice was low, but every word landed with brutal precision.
Lyra felt her throat tighten.
— I don't know what I'm feeling...
— Exactly.
He turned back toward Eryan.
— And that alone is already enough for me not to like him.
Eryan remained silent for a moment.
Then he murmured, almost with pity:
— So you love her that much.
Kael looked at him so harshly that even the air itself seemed to vibrate.
— You have no idea.
And it was the truth.
The rawest one.
The ugliest one.
And somehow, the most beautiful too.
He loved her that much.
To the point where the mere fact that another man knew a part of her he did not know made him want to break something.
To the point where he hated the way Lyra had been breathing differently ever since Eryan appeared.
To the point where he wanted to ask her a thousand absurd, shamefully possessive questions:
Did you love him?
Did he touch you?
Did you smile like that for him too?
Did you ever look at me that way before this life?
But he said none of it.
Because even in his jealousy, he still had a little dignity left.
Barely.
Lyra stepped closer to him slowly.
— Kael...
He felt her hand brush his arm.
But instead of calming him, it only intensified the fire burning beneath his skin.
Because he wanted her to soothe him.
And he hated needing that in front of him.
Eryan, on the other hand, seemed to observe everything with an almost cruel clarity.
— I have no intention of taking his place, he finally said.
Kael let out a dry scoff.
— That assumes there's a place to take.
For the first time, something shifted in Eryan's eyes.
Not anger.
Not exactly.
Something sadder.
— There has always been one.
Those words fell like a stone into water.
Lyra held her breath.
Kael did not move.
But if the sanctuary had not already been saturated with magic, it might have seemed as though the air itself had just split apart.
— Explain, he said.
Eryan looked at Lyra.
Then he spoke more softly.
— Before the Council. Before the manipulated cycles. Before the fragments. Before all human lives.
He slowly lowered his eyes.
— There were three of us.
The world seemed to fold around them.
Lyra stepped back.
— Three...?
Aelys finally spoke, her voice heavy with ancient regret.
— The Original Thread was not made of two souls, but of three forces bound to the Source.
Kael's breath caught.
Not because he did not understand.
But because he understood too quickly.
And he already hated where this was going.
Lyra shook her head.
— No... no, that's impossible. Everything we saw, everything we felt... it was always him and me...
— Because the Council erased part of the truth, Aelys answered. They divided the original balance and only allowed the most stable bond to survive.
Eryan's gaze never left Lyra.
— Yours with Kael.
Kael did not even know why that sentence hurt him so much.
Because it should have reassured him.
And yet...
The simple fact that there had been something else.
Someone else.
A story older than theirs.
A bond older than his.
That alone was enough to poison him.
— Then why did you come back? he asked harshly.
Eryan finally turned his head toward him.
And for the first time, his expression hardened slightly.
— Because if she restores the Original Thread without recovering all of her memories... she will die.
The silence was absolute.
Lyra felt her whole body turn cold.
Kael turned toward her so fast that his movement nearly sliced through the air.
— What?
Eryan continued, mercilessly calm:
— Her current soul will not survive the convergence if the sealed memories remain locked. The shock will destroy her inner core.
Kael was already no longer listening to anything except one part of that sentence.
She will die.
Nothing else existed anymore.
The sanctuary.
Aelys.
Fate.
Everything vanished.
There was only one brutal truth left in his mind.
This man holds something that can save her.
And Kael hated that reality even more.
Because he wanted to hate him freely.
To reject him.
To keep him far away from her.
But if he was telling the truth...
Then Kael was going to have to tolerate him.
And the thought alone irritated him on an almost ridiculous level.
Lyra had gone pale.
— How... how do I get those memories back?
Eryan hesitated.
And that tiny pause alone was enough to make the tension spike again.
— Say it, Kael snapped.
Eryan looked at Lyra.
Then said:
— You will have to enter the Knot of the First Vow.
Aelys immediately closed her eyes.
— No... she whispered.
Lyra turned toward her.
— What is it?
Aelys answered with difficulty.
— The place where the first bonds were carved into the Source. Where souls recognize what they once loved... and what they lost.
Kael felt his jaw tighten again.
He did not like where this was going.
Not at all.
— And? he asked coldly.
Eryan looked at him directly.
— Once inside, only the strongest memories will rise to the surface.
Lyra swallowed hard.
— What kind of memories?
Eryan answered without flinching.
— The ones no lifetime has ever been able to erase.
Kael's gaze darkened so violently that even the suspended threads above them seemed to tremble.
Because he understood perfectly what that meant.
Lyra was going to see.
To see everything.
Maybe even feel it.
And if in those memories there was this man...
If there was tenderness, love, a past she had forgotten but that had once been real—
Kael clenched his fists so hard that a streak of black energy cracked around his fingers.
Lyra noticed immediately.
— Kael...
But this time, he did not even try to pretend anymore.
He finally turned his head toward her.
And he had that look in his eyes.
That intense, dark, burning look only people who love too deeply can have when they feel something vital is being threatened.
— You want the truth? he said in a rough voice.
Lyra stood frozen.
— I already hate this.
Her lips parted slightly.
Kael stepped closer to her.
Closer.
Even closer.
Until his voice was almost a whisper.
But a whisper full of fire.
— I hate that you have to relive memories I wasn't in with you.
His gaze dropped to her lips for one second, then rose again.
— I hate that he knows things about you that I don't.
He shot Eryan a glacial look.
Then looked back at her.
— And most of all...
His hand slowly slid up to her waist.
Possessive.
Firm.
Visible.
Deliberate.
— I hate the idea that in order to save you... I might have to share you with a past that wasn't even supposed to exist anymore.
Lyra's heart skipped a beat.
Aelys looked away slightly.
Even Eryan remained silent.
Because Kael was hiding nothing now.
Absolutely nothing.
And it was probably far more attractive than reasonable.
Lyra felt heat rise to her face despite the tension.
Despite the situation.
Despite the danger.
Because honestly...
Seeing him jealous like this was almost too much.
But what she felt next was even stronger.
Tenderness.
Pure.
Painful.
Intense.
She gently placed her hand over the one he had at her waist.
Then she lifted her eyes to his.
— Then listen to me carefully, she whispered.
Kael froze.
And when she spoke, her voice was soft.
But without a trace of hesitation.
— I may not remember everything.
Her fingers tightened slightly around his.
— But there is one thing I'm certain of in this life.
Her gaze stayed locked with his.
— I choose you.
Silence fell.
Complete.
Brutal.
Beautiful.
Kael stared at her as if she had just struck something dead center in his soul.
And for one full second...
All his jealousy, all his anger, all his wounded possessiveness shattered against one simple truth.
She was choosing him.
Here.
Now.
In this life.
In front of that man.
In front of the past.
In front of fate itself.
And it was almost enough to make him lose his footing.
Almost.
Because deep inside him, the jealous monster was not fully calm.
Not yet.
Not until he knew exactly what Eryan had once meant to her.
Not until he saw those memories with his own eyes.
Not until he was sure that no version of the past could still reach out and lay claim to what was his.
Or rather...
To the one he refused to lose.
Ever.
Eryan watched them for a moment longer.
Then he murmured, almost to himself:
— Then perhaps this time... the story will be different.
But Kael did not even spare him a glance.
Because he was only looking at Lyra now.
And in the depths of his dark eyes, a silent promise was already burning:
He would enter that Knot.
He would face that past.
He would even endure that man if necessary.
But if even one memory gave him a reason to doubt...
Then the entire sanctuary would probably regret ever waking him.