Chapter 169 Seraphine
“There’s a section of Death territory. West side.”
Something in his posture shifted, subtle, but telling.
“It’s gone dark.”
The room stilled.
Valin frowned. “Explain.”
“No communication,” Rhevik said. “No responses. No movement.”
Edrin stepped slightly forward behind him, his voice quieter. “It’s like they… disappeared.”
A chill slid down my spine.
Lucian straightened. “That’s not just bad—that’s very bad.”
Amara tilted her head, her expression sharpening. “How long?”
“A few hours,” Rhevik said. “It started shortly before the final trial.”
That wasn’t a coincidence.
“Thane?” Dante asked.
“Possibly,” Lukas said. “Or something connected to him.”
“Or the sage.”
Silence followed. Heavier this time.
Because we all knew... that was worse.
Lukas nodded slowly. “That is… a strong possibility.”
Rhevik’s jaw tightened. “Then we need answers.”
“You’ll get them,” Lukas said, already moving. “I’ll send a unit. My best.”
“I want updates immediately,” Rhevik said.
“You’ll have them.”
Lucian exhaled sharply. “So now we have blackouts too. Fantastic.”
Amara gave a small, humorless smile. “Honestly? At this point, I’m not even surprised.”
Dante stepped closer to me, his hand brushing against my lower back, grounding, steady.
“We move now,” he said quietly.
I nodded once.
Before whatever we had just called out into the world decided to answer.
Valin straightened. “Storm will remain on standby.”
Lucian gestured toward Dante. “Water’s coming with you. Obviously.”
Amara pushed off the table. “I’m not missing this either.”
Rhevik hesitated for a moment, then squared his shoulders. “I’ll remain here. Until I hear back about the west side.”
Edrin stayed at his side. “I will assist.”
Lukas gave a final nod. “I’ll coordinate both fronts.”
Everything was moving again. Fast. Too fast.
Like it always did right before everything fell apart.
I inhaled slowly, steadying myself.
But deep down, I knew.
This wasn’t just the beginning of a problem.
This was the moment everything tipped.
Dante didn’t rush me.
He never did.
Even now—when everything felt like it was moving too fast, when the room was shifting into motion again and plans were already unfolding—he stayed right beside me, steady and warm, his hand settling gently at my back as he guided me toward the door once Lukas dismissed the meeting.
It was grounding.
It was… needed.
“I can’t believe how much everything has changed,” he said quietly, his voice meant only for me as we stepped out into the hallway. “One moment I’m trying to figure out how to approach you without setting something on fire… and the next—”
He exhaled softly, shaking his head.
“This.”
I glanced up at him, catching the tension still lingering in his jaw.
“I didn’t do this right,” he admitted, and that made me pause.
“What do you mean?”
“This—us,” he said, his hand tightening just slightly at my waist. “The bond. Finding you. I should’ve had time to show you what it means, how it works, how it feels without everything crashing in around us.”
His eyes met mine then, softer than I’d ever seen them.
“But I didn’t have a choice. Everything happened too fast.”
My chest tightened just a little.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
None of this had been slow.
None of this had been easy.
“But when this is over,” he continued, voice low, certain, “I’m taking you away.”
I blinked. “Away?”
“A month,” he said. “Anywhere you want. No councils. No kings. No war. Just us.”
That alone made my heart stutter.
But then—
“A pre-honeymoon,” he added casually, like he hadn’t just dropped something massive into my lap. “Before the wedding.”
I stopped walking.
“…the what?”
Dante paused too, looking down at me with a small, amused smirk tugging at his lips.
“The wedding.”
I stared at him.
“You—” I pointed at him, completely caught off guard. “You actually want to marry me?”
“Of course I do,” he said immediately, like there was no question.
“In the human world?” I pressed, because that mattered. That really mattered.
His expression softened again.
Then he leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to my lips—warm, steady, grounding in a completely different way than before.
“I’ll marry you a thousand times in the human world,” he murmured against my mouth, “if it means that much to you.”
That broke me. In the best way.
A small, excited squeal escaped me before I could stop it, and I leaned into him without thinking, my hands grabbing onto him as I laughed softly, the sound bright and real and so human it almost hurt.
“Dante—”
“I’m serious,” he said, a hint of a grin still there.
“I know,” I said, still smiling, still holding onto him.
For a second... Just a second... Everything felt… okay.
Like maybe we could have that. Like maybe we’d get through this.
But then, my mind shifted. It always did. Back to reality. Back to the things we couldn’t ignore.
My smile faltered just slightly as I pulled back, my fingers still loosely curled in his shirt.
“My brother…” The words came out quieter.
He immediately stilled.
I swallowed, my chest tightening again—but not in the same way. Not light. Not happy. Heavy. Uncertain.
“Can we stop by his place?” I asked softly. “Just… to see if anyone’s found him? Or if there’s anything—anything at all—”
My voice wavered just slightly, and I hated that.
But I needed to know.
Needed something.
Anything.
Because even after everything—
After what we’d seen—
After what we suspected—
A small, stubborn part of me still hoped.
Dante didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah,” he said gently, his hand sliding back to mine. “We’ll go.”
He didn’t question it. Didn’t try to redirect me. Didn’t tell me it was a bad idea.
He just… agreed.
As we stepped out of the council building, the air felt… different. Colder. Heavier.
Like the world itself knew something I didn’t.
Dante’s hand stayed wrapped around mine as we descended the steps, his presence solid, grounding—but it didn’t quiet the feeling rising inside me.
Because deep down... I already knew.
We weren’t going to find anything. Not really. Not after what we’d seen.
Not after watching what was left of my brother collapse into nothing more than bone and empty magic.
There shouldn’t be anything left to find. No answers. No closure. Nothing.
And yet, I kept walking.
Pulled forward by something I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t hope. Not exactly. Hope would have been softer. This was… sharper. More insistent.
Like something inside me was tugging—no, pulling—demanding that I go there anyway.
Like I was supposed to see something.
Find something.
Or maybe… be shown something.