Aaden moved like a shadow between the alleys, rain soaking through the collar of his coat. But he didn't mind. He preferred the cold. It kept people away.
The lights of Larkspur glowed behind him, neon and golden, hiding the cracks in the city's skin. Most people didn't see them. Most didn't want to.
But Aaden had spent years reading between the lines of this city — its people, its whispers, its lies.
He ducked into a nondescript door behind a closed bakery and descended a narrow staircase. The air shifted — warmer, darker. Familiar.
At the bottom was a hallway with flickering lights and a door that required no key, only a name.
He whispered it.
"Ashfall."
The lock clicked open.
Inside, the underground space was alive with tension. Dimly lit, filled with murmurs and velvet shadows. Books lined the walls here too — but not the kind found in Aaralyn's cozy shop. These were histories that never made it to shelves. Truths people paid to forget.
A table in the corner held a single glowing screen, and around it sat three people — none of them smiling.
"You're late," one said without looking up.
"I'm here," Aaden replied. He pulled his hood back, revealing damp hair and sharp eyes that missed nothing.
The woman across from him — tall, elegant, dangerous — tapped a folder with red edges.
"She's in," she said. "The girl. Aaralyn."
Aaden froze for half a breath.
"I told you," he said quietly. "She doesn't know anything."
"Yet." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "But the society's watching her now. Same bloodline, same story — it always ends the same."
He clenched his fists. "She's not like the others."
A heavy silence settled.
Then the man to his left spoke, voice like smoke. "Then you better pray, Aaden. Because if she remembers who she really is — she might burn us all."
The screen on the table blinked to life.
A grainy image of Aaralyn appeared, standing inside the bookstore, clutching the red journal like it held her heart.
Aaden looked away.
He hadn't meant to follow her.
Hadn't meant to feel anything.
But now it was too late.