The labyrinth isn't made of stone.
It's made of bone.
Twisted, splintering, hollow bone, slick with something that smells like decay and old magic. The walls shift around us, pulsing faintly, like the place is alive—-like it's breathing.
Justin walks a step behind me, silent.
We don't speak.
We haven't spoken since the last trial.
The air is tight here, heavy with something I can't name. The bond between us throbs harder, hotter, like the realm itself is feeding on it, tightening it around my throat every time I try to push it away.
I keep walking.
The path changes behind us without warning.
A hallway slams shut.
Another opens.
The floor tilts sideways, sending me stumbling into the wall. Justin catches me before I can hit the ground—-but I pull away from him the second I'm steady.
I don't thank him.
I don't want to.
The walls close tighter now, forcing us into narrow spaces, pressing us against each other, shoulder to shoulder, chest to chest. His breath brushes my skin, his heartbeat thuds too loud, too close.
I hate it.
And I need it.
We squeeze through a slit barely wide enough for one body—-but we move together, breath synced, steps matched, the bond thrumming between us like a second heartbeat.
A trapdoor opens beneath me without warning.
I fall.
The world spins.
Panic cracks through the numbness like a scream I can't swallow.
Justin's hand grabs mine.
Hard.
Desperate.
Burning.
I cling to him without thinking, the bond flaring so violently it steals my breath.
We crash onto solid ground together, tangled, gasping.
The world keeps shifting around us—-rooms collapsing, doors slamming—-but for a second heartbeat, we're pressed close, his arms braced around me, mine curled against his chest, both of us too shocked to pull away.
His breath shudders against my hair.
My fingers clutch his shirt tighter than I mean to.
And I don't let go.
Not yet.
Because for a terrible, raw moment….he feels like the only thing real.
********
Justin's POV
The chamber we fall into is too small.
The walls curve inward, slick and pulsing like they're alive, the air thick and sour, pressing into our lungs like wet cloth.
Sarah doesn't pull away from me this time.
She stays curled against my chest, breath ragged, heartbeat wild under my hand.
For a moment, I don't move.
I just hold her.
Because I think if I let her go now….she'll shatter.
The bond between us pulses harder, hotter, wrapping around us like a noose.
Neither of us speak.
We don't need to.
Everything is raw, exposed, bleeding through the cracks we've both been pretending weren't there.
Her fingers clutch my shirt, knuckles white, like she doesn't even realize she's holding on that tight.
I let her.
I let myself.
Because I can't pretend anymore.
I can't pretend I'm following her because I have to.
I'm following her because without her, I'm already lost.
The walls shift again, squeezing tighter, forcing us together until there's no space left between us—-just breath, skin, and the bond.
Her forehead presses against my shoulder.
Her breath shudders.
I almost say her name.
Almost.
But I stop myself.
Because I'm afraid if I speak now, everything will crack open too fast, too soon.
So I stay still.
And for the first time in days, she doesn't push me away.
We sit there, tangled, breathing hard, both of us pretending we're not falling apart.
But we are.
We're falling apart together.
********
Sarah's POV
The stillness doesn't last.
It never does.
The chamber shudders beneath us, the walls splitting open with a sound like bone breaking, like something inside the realm has had enough of our quiet, of our closeness.
The ground splits beneath us.
Justin grabs me.
But this time, I flinch.
I shove at his chest, panic slamming into me harder than the collapsing walls.
"Don't touch me!" The words tear out of me before I can stop them, sharp, raw, soaked in something I don't want to name.
Justin freezes.
For a breath, the world goes still again.
The bond burns between us, twisting, snarling, suffocating.
And I can't breathe.
"I can't—-" My voice cracks, my hands trembling as I push further away, shoving against him like he's the thing choking me and not the bond. "I can't do this, Justin. I can't—-"
His hand catches my wrist, firm, desperate, grounding.
His face isn't cold or angry.
It's scared.
And that makes it worse.
"Sarah, stop." His voice breaks in a way I've never heard before. "Stop running from me."
"I'm not—-"
But I am.
He shakes his head, pulling me closer even as the world falls apart around us.
"You think I don't see it? You think I don't feel it?" His breath is harsh, ragged. "You're slipping away from me, and I don't know how to stop it."
The ground gives out beneath us again.
He holds on.
I let him.
Because even if the bond feels like it's suffocating me…..
It's also the only thing keeping me from falling.
We land hard, tangled, the world spinning, the realm roaring around us.
Neither of us move.
Neither of us speak.
We stay there, pressed together in the wreckage, breathing hard, the bond burning, fraying, holding us together even as everything else inside me screams to run.
But I don't.
Not yet.
*******
Justin's POV
She doesn't pull away.
But she doesn't hold on, either.
We sit there in the wreckage, tangled, breathing the same shattered air, the bond burning between us like an open wound neither of us knows how to close.
Her head rests against my shoulder.
But it's not comfort.
It's not trust.
It's exhaustion.
It's survival.
I close my eyes, breathing her in like it might be the last time.
Because even now—-even here, in the quiet chaos—-I can feel her slipping.
And I can't stop it.
I hold her tighter anyway.
This is the closest she's let me be.
And it still isn't enough.
********
Freyr's POV
They should have broken by now!
The realm presses harder with every step they take, the trials tearing at them from every angle—--physically, emotionally, piece by fragile piece.
And yet…..
They still find their way back to each other.
Fools.
My reflection shimmers faintly in the fractured mirrors of the realm, watching them from the shadows as they cling to each other in the wreckage like children lost in the dark.
I clench my hand, the veins in the stone groaning beneath my grip.
It wasn't supposed to be this difficult.
The girl should have broken.
The boy should have let her.
But no matter how the realm pulls them apart, no matter how many fractures I carve into them, Justin manages to bring her back.
The bond between them should have unraveled under this strain.
It should have collapsed.
And yet...it burns brighter now.
Twisting. Warping.
I narrow my eyes.
It isn't just stubbornness.
It isn't just desperation.
It's something…..older.
Something I've seen only a handful of times—--and despised every one.
I press my fingers to the walls of Nox, feeling the pulse of their tether, ragged and frayed….but still holding.
No matter how much I poison it.
The fates are meddling.
I can feel it now.
They always have a taste for the inconvenient.
And if I don't find a way to sever them soon…..
I'll lose control of her completely.
And that…..
I cannot allow.