The world seemed to narrow around Selene.
She didn't blink. Didn't breathe.
Her mother stepped from the smoke of the collapsing glyph—unburned, untouched. As if she'd merely chosen to appear. Her presence pressed down on the chamber like a second gravity.
Kaelen instinctively stepped in front of Seraphine.
Selene didn't move.
Not yet.
"Lyrielle…" Mira's voice was hoarse. "You're not supposed to be alive."
The woman's eyes cut to her like a knife. "Neither was your rebellion."
Kaelen studied her. The armor she wore wasn't Tower-forged. It bore sigils he didn't recognize—half-broken, jagged, like the bones of a dead language. Her glyph shimmered like a wound refusing to close.
But it was the resemblance that unsettled him most.
The curve of her jaw. The way she held her chin.
She could be Selene in twenty years—if everything went wrong.
"Why are you here?" Selene finally asked, voice sharp.
Her mother's smile didn't reach her eyes. "To offer you a choice, daughter. Come with me. Leave these traitors. And I will spare them."
Kaelen's hand shifted slightly, just above his hip. Not yet drawing power. But not at rest, either.
"You're not Tower," Seraphine said slowly. "But you used a Tower gateway."
Lyrielle's eyes flicked to her, and for a moment, something cracked. A sliver of recognition.
"Ah. The little ghost."
Seraphine stiffened. "You know me."
"I knew what you were supposed to be."
"What I am," Seraphine corrected.
Lyrielle tilted her head. "That remains to be seen."
Selene took a step forward. Her cloak slid back, revealing the twin blades she wore. "Why now? Why show yourself?"
Her mother gave a faint sigh. "Because the game is over. The Tower knows. They will burn this place to the ground. I came to offer you sanctuary."
"At what cost?"
"Your loyalty."
Selene's hands curled at her sides. "You gave that up the day you abandoned me."
Lyrielle's face didn't change. "I did what I had to."
"No," Selene said quietly. "You did what you wanted."
The silence stretched.
Then Mira cleared her throat. "We can't fight her. Not here."
"She's one woman," Kaelen said.
Mira's voice was tight. "She's not. Look at the glyph."
They did.
The broken sigil still floated behind Lyrielle—fraying at the edges, dripping with shadow.
It pulsed. Once. Then again.
Something began to crawl from its center.
A creature—bone-thin, with glyphs carved into its flesh like chains.
And then another.
And another.
"Shades," Seraphine whispered. "No. Worse."
"They're Tetherborn," Mira said grimly. "Souls that couldn't break free."
Kaelen stepped forward, calling the Veritas glyph into his palm. "We're not handing her anything."
Lyrielle's gaze locked with his—and for a breathless moment, Kaelen felt it.
Not hatred.
Pity.
"You have no idea what's coming, boy."
He flinched, not from fear—but from the way her glyph knew his. Responded to it.
The crystal light around Arkyn's unconscious body dimmed. His glyph was reacting too—tethered, connected.
"They were right," Lyrielle said softly. "You are his heir."
"Then why are you hesitating?" Selene snapped. "You could've killed us."
Lyrielle didn't answer. Instead, she looked at her daughter with something almost—regretful.
"You remind me of her."
Selene's mask cracked slightly. "Her who?"
Lyrielle took a breath. "Your real mother."
The words dropped like lead.
Kaelen stared.
Selene froze. "What are you talking about?"
"I raised you. I trained you. But I didn't birth you."
She smiled faintly. "She did."
And then she tossed something across the chamber.
Selene caught it reflexively.
A pendant.
Small, glassy, ancient.
It glowed faint blue in her hand.
"It belonged to her," Lyrielle said. "You should keep it."
Selene didn't speak. Her eyes stayed locked on her mother.
"You expect me to believe that?" she finally asked.
"I expect nothing," Lyrielle said. "I offer you a truth. Whether you accept it or not… is your choice."
Then she turned, stepped backward toward the glyph—and the Tetherborn fell into her shadow like smoke.
Kaelen raised his hand. "Don't let her—"
Selene didn't move.
The glyph swallowed her.
She was gone.
The chamber remained tense even after the sigil faded.
Mira ran a hand through her hair. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
"No," Seraphine said, still staring at the place where Lyrielle had stood. "But it answers some questions."
Kaelen looked at Selene.
She hadn't moved.
Her fingers were clenched around the pendant.
He walked to her slowly. "Are you okay?"
She looked up, but there was something different in her eyes now. Older. Guarded.
"She lied," Selene said. "She has to be lying."
Kaelen hesitated. "Maybe. Or maybe she was telling the part of the truth that hurts most."
A bitter laugh. "That sounds like her."
He glanced at the pendant. "Do you want me to—?"
"No." She slipped it into her pocket, fingers trembling. "Not yet."
There was a long silence.
Then Seraphine walked past them, her steps echoing softly.
"We have to move. The Tower will be here before dawn."
Mira lifted Arkyn carefully. "Agreed."
Kaelen lingered, watching Selene for a moment longer. He wanted to reach out. To say something comforting.
But the words didn't come.
And she didn't ask.
Instead, she turned and followed the others—shoulders straight, eyes forward.
Kaelen moved to follow.
But Seraphine slowed beside him.
"She's scared," she murmured.
"I know."
"But she won't let you see it."
He nodded.
Seraphine paused. Then added quietly, "Neither will I."
Kaelen glanced at her—but she was already walking away.
He exhaled.
The chamber emptied behind him, the crystal light fading into dark.
And still, the echo of Lyrielle's words lingered.
She did. She birthed you.
Who was she?
And why did the truth feel closer than ever—yet still just out of reach?