The destruction of the marrow core should have been the end. Should have been the final blow that brought down the cosmic order's foundation and allowed Selena and Dante to rest, to recover, to begin building whatever came next from the ruins of what they'd destroyed. But as the silver light continued to bleed into the void, as reality warped and shifted around them, Selena felt something else through their binding.
A pulse.
Not Dante's heartbeat, though she felt that too, weak but steady as he recovered from the Shadow Court's assault. This was something deeper, more fundamental—a rhythm that didn't come from any living thing but somehow felt more alive than anything else in existence.
"Do you feel that?" she asked, her arms still around Dante, supporting him as they floated in the void where the marrow core had been.
"I feel it," Dante confirmed, his voice rough with pain and exhaustion. "Like... a heartbeat. But coming from below. From deeper than the core we just destroyed."
