Light roared around them, swallowing the chamber whole. When it faded, Aeloria stood frozen between the two males—caught in the gravity of their power, their hunger, their unspoken promises.
The vampire's hand slid from her chin to her throat—not squeezing, just resting there, thumb brushing her pulse. The gesture was dark. Possessive. Intimate in a way that made her knees weaken.
"Your heart betrays you," he murmured. "It beats harder when I touch you."
Before she could respond, the dragon's hand settled firmly on her waist, pulling her back into the heat of his body. His breath grazed her neck like molten fire.
"And yet it burns hotter," he said lowly, "when I am near."
Her pulse thundered. Not out of fear. Out of something deeper.Something she could no longer deny.
The vampire leaned closer, lips brushing the edge of her jaw—without fully touching. A breath that felt like a kiss.The dragon's grip tightened on her hip, claws threatening to emerge as his self-control wavered.
Aeloria shuddered between them, heat and shadow wrapping around her like two different kinds of danger.
"This is madness," she whispered.
"No," the vampire said softly. "This is truth."
"It is the Convergence," the dragon breathed. "The moment when the heart chooses power, not separation."
"And you," the vampire added, "were never meant to choose only one of us."
The chamber shifted.
A circle of sigils flared beneath their feet—gold, red, black—intertwining like a vow.
A binding vow.
Aeloria gasped."What is this?"
"The Sanctum is acknowledging what you feel," the dragon murmured. "What we all feel."
"And it demands honesty," the vampire added, voice dropping to a dark, hungry murmur. "Demands you stop pretending that only one of us holds your fire."
The air thickened.Magic pressed into her skin like hands.Her body trembled—but she didn't move.
She couldn't.
The Bond held all three of them tight.
The vampire leaned even closer, voice brushing her ear like a caress."Tell us, little star… if the Sanctum did not force your hand, who would you walk toward?"
The dragon's breath warmed her shoulder, his tone a low, vibrating growl."Whose fire calls your name?"
Her lips parted.Her breath caught.
And for the first time… she didn't run from the truth.
"I want—"Her voice broke.
Both males froze.Waiting.Hungry.Barely restrained.
Aeloria lifted her trembling hands—one reaching toward shadow… the other toward fire.
"I want both."
The chamber erupted.
Light swallowed them. Flames roared upward. Shadows twisted like smoke.
The Celestial Convergence had begun.
And nothing would ever be the same.