Vivian
The chamber emptied slowly, but the silence it left behind felt heavier than all the voices that had filled it before.
It did not feel empty.
It felt watchful.
I could still feel the Veil.
Not around me… inside me.
Like a quiet mark pressed beneath my skin.
Like something had touched my soul and refused to leave.
Sebastian did not release me.
His arms stayed around me, steady and warm, as if he understood that if he stepped away too soon, something unseen might slip between us and pull us apart.
"You heard it too," he said softly.
Not a question.
I closed my eyes briefly.
"Yes."
He did not ask what the Veil showed me. He did not demand certainty. He did not ask whether destiny had separated us.
He simply stayed.
Trusting.
And somehow… that trust hurt more than doubt would have.
Because doubt would have been easier than faith placed inside uncertainty.
Footsteps echoed across the obsidian floor.
Slow. Controlled. Unavoidable.
