Chapter 7: Hearts in Chains
Elara stood beneath a shattered archway, iron cuffs biting into her wrists. The corrupted temple smelled of smoke and decay, the floor cracked and pulsing with dark magic.
Across from her stood Rowan.
Once her light, now a stranger cloaked in dusk.
đź’” A Reunion of Shadows
"Why?" she asked quietly. "Why join them?"
Rowan stepped forward, eyes unreadable. "I never joined Thorne. I aligned with what I needed to survive."
"You lied," she whispered. "You said you came for me."
"I did." He paused. "But not just for you."
He held out a hand. In it: a black shard — a piece of the Star Mirror she hadn't known he had.
"I've carried this since the night we were separated. I kept it safe, even when it tore me apart."
Elara's heart pounded. "Then help me finish it."
Rowan's smile was tinged with sorrow. "You don't understand, Elara. When the Star Mirror is whole, it doesn't just show truth…"
He stepped closer. "It chooses it."
🩸 The Truth Hurts
Elara stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"The Mirror will rewrite the world," Rowan said. "It will choose who lives, who loves, who remains."
"That's not what we want!" she cried. "We want to stop Thorne, not become him!"
"I've seen what the world becomes without it," Rowan said, voice shaking. "In that world, you never love me. In that world, I am nothing to you."
Elara's eyes widened. "You saw our past lives…"
"I saw every life. And in most of them… you chose Caelum."
He stepped closer, voice trembling. "This time… let fate choose me."
🌒 Caelum's Pain
Far from the corrupted temple, Caelum stirred by a campfire, sweat slick on his brow, wounds wrapped tight. Ash sat nearby, polishing a blade, watching the stars.
"He's in love with her, isn't he?" Caelum asked quietly.
Ash glanced over. "Rowan?"
Caelum nodded.
Ash hesitated. "Yeah. Always has been."
Caelum stared into the flames. "And if she chooses him?"
Ash looked at him. "Would you let her go?"
Caelum's silence was answer enough.
🌌 A Daring Plan
As dawn approached, Ash unrolled a map stolen from one of Selene's assassins.
"The Temple of Astraea has three entrances," he said. "They'll guard the front. But if we scale the cliffs—"
"I'll go alone," Caelum interrupted.
Ash raised a brow. "Excuse me?"
"She knows I'll come for her. If she's in danger, she'll try to keep me away. But if you go in first—quietly—we have a chance."
Ash stared at him, then nodded. "One chance."
đź”— Chains of the Heart
Back at the temple, Rowan held Elara's face in his hand.
"I would give up everything for you," he whispered. "Even this power. Just say the word."
Elara looked into his eyes — and saw a boy drowning in all the lives she had never lived with him.
"I loved you once," she said softly. "In another life, maybe in all of them. But I love Caelum now."
Rowan's face broke. "He'll never understand you like I do."
"He doesn't have to understand all of me," she said. "He just loves all that I am."
⚔️ The Rescue
A whistle split the air.
Ash dropped from the ceiling, knives flashing. Rowan turned, but Ash was faster — slicing the chain around Elara's wrists.
"Miss me?" Ash grinned.
Elara stumbled forward. "Where's Caelum?"
Ash tossed her a dagger. "On his way."
Outside, Caelum scaled the cliffs in silence, heart pounding with every pull upward.
He could feel her.
Even across distance, pain, and time… her soul still sang to his.
🩸 Rowan's Choice
Rowan stood, sword drawn.
"You won't make it out alive," he said to Elara and Ash.
Elara raised her blade. "Then let's find out."
But Rowan didn't attack.
He looked at her one last time, a thousand emotions in his eyes.
Then… he turned his sword and shattered the shard in his hand.
"No one gets to choose," he whispered. "Not even me."
Power exploded outward, knocking them all to the ground.
When the light faded, Rowan was gone.
🌕 A Warning in the Light
Caelum met them at the edge of the ruined temple, just as the sun began to rise. He pulled Elara into his arms without a word, holding her like she might vanish again.
But she looked up at him, eyes clear.
"We have four shards," she said. "The last is broken."
"Then Thorne will come for the pieces," Ash said. "And he'll do whatever it takes."
A shadow passed overhead — a winged messenger crashing to the ground before them, half-dead.
On its back: a message burned into the flesh.
"The final moon will rise in three nights. Meet me at the Starfall Crater — or the girl dies screaming."— Thorne.