Light.
Not gentle. Not warm.
It tore through Bella like a thousand blades forged from every memory she'd buried.
She screamed—but no sound came. Her throat was filled with fire and ash, and the name—the name—that floated between her lips seared against her tongue like forbidden truth.
Azarel watched from the edge of the void, his expression unreadable.
"She's almost ready," he murmured.
Kael's voice—faint, desperate—echoed through the cracks in her soul.
"Come back to me, Bella. Please."
But was she still Bella?
Or just the vessel?
The light inside her swirled with shadows—Lilith clawing to keep control. Her laughter rippled through Bella's bones like shattered glass.
"You can't speak it," Lilith purred from within. "You'll die before the last syllable."
Bella's knees buckled as the power surged through her again. Images flickered:
– Her first memory: a cradle under a blood-red moon.
– Her mother's voice: "Never say your true name aloud."
– Her oath: "I give it up. I give me up."
Now, standing in the storm of what she'd become, Bella finally understood.
Azarel hadn't stolen her.
She had surrendered.
But she was done surrendering.
She pressed a trembling hand over her heart.
The name pulsed there—glowing—begging to be spoken.
Lilith shrieked. "You'll destroy us both!"
"That's the point," Bella whispered.
She opened her mouth.
And began.
The first syllable left her lips like thunder cracking across the sky. The entire realm shuddered. Reality bent. Even Azarel flinched.
"No," he snarled. "You don't have the strength."
The second syllable peeled from her throat like molten gold. Her hair rose around her like a halo of flame. Her skin glowed, veins streaking silver. Her soul split.
Kael's voice pierced the void.
"Don't stop!"
But the final syllable—the third—hung at the tip of her tongue.
And it was too much.
Blood poured from her nose. Her vision fractured. Her knees slammed against the void beneath her. Her body screamed. Her spirit broke.
Azarel rushed forward.
Lilith howled.
Kael reached out—
But Bella whispered the final syllable anyway.
"...Aeyriél."
Everything went silent.
Then—
The void imploded.
A force not seen in any realm since the first falling star erupted from within her.
Azarel was hurled back, his body colliding with invisible walls that cracked like glass. Lilith screeched as her essence peeled from Bella's skin in black tendrils, twisting violently in the air.
And Bella—
Bella floated.
Eyes glowing silver.
Hair a crown of ash and moonlight.
Veins humming with ancient truth.
She had spoken her name.
And lived.
Barely.
Kael stumbled to her, his eyes wide, his hands shaking.
But before he could touch her, Bella turned to him—and in a voice that was not quite hers anymore, she said:
"You should not have followed me here."
The light in her eyes dimmed.
And she collapsed.
Bella has spoken her true name and reclaimed her soul—but at what cost? Azarel is wounded, Lilith is cast out, and Kael has found her again… just in time to watch her fall.