Chapter 36 The Fever of the Void
The isolation wing felt like a pressurized chamber about to blow. Rune lay strapped to the heavy obsidian table, his muscles twitching with enough force to make the stone groan. The green veins of the Void-infection weren't just on his skin anymore; they were pulsing, rhythmic, like a second heartbeat trying to override his own.
"He’s stabilizing," Kael said, though his eyes were glued to the biometric monitor. "But the mental degradation is accelerating. The Void doesn't just eat the body, Lyra. It feeds on the shadow self. It’s weaponizing his subconscious."
"He’s not a specimen, Kael! He’s our brother!" I snapped, wiping a mixture of sweat and black ichor from Rune’s forehead.
"He’s a threat," Caspian growled from the corner of the room. He was pacing like a caged tiger, his eyes never leaving the bite wound on Rune’s arm. "Look at his eyes. That’s not Rune. That’s a puppet."
Suddenly, Rune’s eyes snapped open. They were a vivid, sickly emerald. He looked directly at Caspian, then at me, and a snarl ripped from his throat that sounded like grinding metal.
"You... you want it, don't you?" Rune rasped. His voice was distorted, layered with a hollow echo.
"Rune, it’s me. It’s Lyra. We’re trying to help you," I whispered, reaching for his hand.
He wrenched his arm against the silver shackles, the metal screaming. "Liar! I can see it. In the shadows. You and the Prince... whispering in the dark. You want the Enforcer out of the way. You want the Shield to break so you can have your 'True Coronation' without the stain of the brute!"
"That’s the fever talking, Rune!" Caspian stepped forward, his hands balled into fists. "I would never plot against you. We’re the triad. We’re the blood!"
"Blood?" Rune laughed, a jagged, wet sound. "You have her soul, Caspian. Kael has her mind. What do I have? I have bites. I have scars. You’re waiting for me to turn so you have an excuse to put me down!"
"Rune, stop!" I cried, leaning over him. "Nobody is putting you down."
"Then lock the door," Kael commanded, his face pale. "Lyra, get out of there. His Alpha resonance is turning toxic. If he shifts now, he’ll level this floor."
"No," I said, my voice cold and final. "I am not locking him away to rot in his own head."
"Lyra, be reasonable," Kael started, but I faceslapped him with a look that silenced the strategist instantly.
"Reason hasn't saved us yet, Kael. If he’s hallucinating, it’s because he feels the bond snapping. I’m staying."
I climbed onto the narrow table, pressing my body against Rune’s heaving chest. The heat coming off him was unnatural—it felt like standing next to a furnace. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pinning his shoulders down with my own weight.
"What are you doing?" Caspian roared, his jealousy flaring in a visible golden aura. "He’s dangerous! He could snap your neck in a blink!"
"He’s cold, Caspian!" I yelled back. "His wolf is freezing in the Void! I have to ground him!"
"I’m not letting you stay in there alone with him while he’s like this," Caspian said, moving toward the table.
"Stay back!" I commanded. The Silver Spark flared in my eyes, a warning shot. "Your jealousy is feeding the infection. He can feel your rage, and it’s making the Void stronger. If you want him to live, get out of your own head!"
Caspian stopped, his chest heaving, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated agony. He had to watch me—his Soulmate—clinging to his brother in an intimate, desperate embrace. It was the forced proximity trope pushed to a breaking point. Every time Rune groaned, I pressed closer, whispering into his ear, calling his name, using my body heat to keep his primal side from slipping into the dark.
"I’m here, Rune," I whispered against his skin. "The Shield doesn't break. I’m holding you."
Rune’s breathing slowed, the green glow in his eyes flickering. "Lyra... it’s so dark. They’re... they’re laughing at me."
"No one is laughing. We’re fighting for you."
For hours, I stayed there. Kael remained at the monitors, his fingers flying across the keys, while Caspian stood by the door, a silent, brooding guardian, his knuckles bleeding from where he’d punched the stone wall. The tension in the room was a living thing, a three-way tug-of-war between love, duty, and the encroaching rot.
"I found it," Kael said suddenly. His voice was breathless, devoid of its usual clinical calm.
I looked up, my chin resting on Rune’s damp shoulder. "The cure?"
"Not a cure. A location," Kael said, turning the screen toward us. "The Neutral Zone Archive was just a map. The actual catalyst to purge the Void isn't in this world. It’s in the Fae Mirror Realm."
"The Mirror Realm?" Caspian stepped forward, his eyes narrowing. "That’s a death trap. No one comes back from the Mirror."
"We have to," Kael said, pointing to a set of ancient runes on the screen. "The Lunar Chalice is a vessel, but the 'True King’s Blood' needs to be tempered in the source. But there’s a catch. A massive one."
"There always is," I muttered.
"The gate to the Mirror Realm is psychic," Kael explained, his eyes darting between Rune and Caspian. "It requires a perfect harmonic resonance. We can only enter if all three brothers are in perfect sync. If there is a single fracture—a single spark of jealousy, distrust, or hidden agenda—the gate will collapse and shred our atoms across the dimensions."
I looked down at Rune, who was currently whispering threats to a brother who was watching me hold him with murderous envy.
"Perfect sync?" I asked, a hollow laugh escaping my lips. "Kael, we’re a train wreck. We’re not in sync; we’re in a civil war."
"Then the Enforcer dies, and the manor follows," Kael said simply.
Suddenly, the alarm on the monitor shrieked. Rune’s body arched, his spine popping with the sound of dry wood snapping. His fingernails elongated, digging into the obsidian table.
"He’s shifting!" Kael yelled. "The Void is forcing the change!"
"Rune, look at me!" I screamed, grabbing his face.
But Rune didn't look at me. He looked past me, his eyes fixing on Caspian. A green mist began to pour from his mouth.
"The Prince... first," Rune hissed, the Void-Witch’s voice louder now.