Chapter 5 The Girl Behind the Glass

Kael had faced death before.

He'd faced betrayal, exile, and war.

But nothing, -nothing, -felt like this.

The girl standing across from him wore Alero's skin. Same dark eyes, same blade-straight posture, same wild hair whipping in the wind.

But her smile was wrong.

Too calm.

Too knowing.

Too ancient.

"She's asleep now," the thing in her body said again, voice like velvet wrapped in razors.

Kael didn't move. Didn't blink.

"What are you?"

She stepped closer. "What your Council feared. What her mother tried to bury. What blood never forgets."

He shifted, claws extending.

"If you hurt her-"

"I am her," the creature purred. "I've always been. I just... waited."

Lightning split the sky.

The Keepers behind her bowed low, whispering words Kael couldn't translate. Ancient. Sacred. Dangerous.

"She wasn't ready to hold me," the creature said. "But you gave her what she lacked, your blood."

Kael's stomach turned. "You used the bond."

"I used you."

With a flick of her wrist, Kael flew back slamming into a tree. His ribs cracked, breath knocked from his lungs. The barrier between them shimmered like heat off stone.

"She'll wake eventually," the creature said, circling him. "Maybe broken. Maybe whole. That depends on how much you bleed first."

She raised her hand again.

But something inside Alero twitched.

A flicker.

Kael saw it. A tiny shift behind her eyes. Her hand trembled.

"She's fighting you," he said, coughing blood.

The creature snarled, face flickering with something feral. "She's trying. But I've waited centuries. I won't be caged again."

Then-

From deep in the woods, another howl split the air.

Not wolf.

Not witch.

Something else.

The trees parted violently as a new figure burst into the clearing-a boy no older than seventeen, face pale, eyes like onyx pools.

He held an iron blade. It dripped with dark light.

And he was smiling.

"You're early," he said to the creature wearing Alero's skin.

The girl turned. "You."

Kael blinked. "Who the hell is that?"

The boy looked amused. "You'll find out soon enough."

He pointed the blade at Alero's body.

"You weren't supposed to unlock until the moon turns black. The bond accelerated the process."

"You tampered," the creature growled.

"I'm a historian," the boy said innocently. "And prophecy is full of cracks."

Before she could respond, he stabbed her.

Right through the gut.

Kael roared.

But instead of collapsing, Alero's body shimmered, eyes going wide-then blinking back to herself.

She gasped, the mark on her ribs glowing bright.

The creature inside her shrieked, curling in on itself, and for one suspended moment, Alero was back.

She dropped to the ground, convulsing.

Kael crawled toward her, ignoring the pain, dragging himself through ash and frost.

He reached her, catching her face in his hands.

"Alero, look at me. Stay with me."

Her eyes opened.

Clear.

Terrified.

"I heard you," she whispered.

He exhaled.

But the boy wasn't done.

He crouched beside them, blade still steaming with shadow.

"You've got maybe a day," he said. "Before it comes back."

Kael narrowed his eyes. "And you are?"

The boy smiled.

"Call me Simply. I'm the one who knows how this ends."

And just like that, he vanished.

Kael didn't move for a long moment. He held Alero, feeling her heartbeat slow, then even out. Her body was trembling-not just from exhaustion, but from something more profound. Something haunted.

She blinked. "Kael?"

He brushed a streak of blood off her cheek. "Still here."

"I wasn't," she whispered. "I was somewhere else. Deep. Cold. I couldn't breathe."

He nodded slowly. "But you clawed your way back."

"I didn't think I could."

He looked at her, steady. "You did."

She exhaled, then closed her eyes, leaning her head against his shoulder. "That boy-Simply. What was he?"

"Trouble," Kael muttered. "But the kind that shows up when the timeline gets frayed."

"What does that mean?"

Kael's jaw flexed. "It means fate's in flux. And we're right at the center."

Silence fell between them again. But not the terrifying kind. It was tired. Human.

Kael's voice was low. "I think the Council planned to kill you."

Alero didn't flinch. "I think so too."

"Not because of what you are. But because they don't understand it."

She looked at him. "Do you?"

Kael shook his head. "Not fully. But I believe in what you choose to be."

Alero swallowed hard. "And if I can't choose? If the thing inside me wakes again?"

"Then we'll fight it. Together."

Her hand curled around his. "I don't know if I'm strong enough."

"You don't have to be," he said. "We'll carry it. Until you are."

From the edge of the clearing, the wind picked up again.

Snow began to fall.

This time, it wasn't angry.

Just cold.

They sat in silence, broken things stitched by shadow and hope.

But far beneath the ground, in veins of forgotten magic, something ancient stirred.

Waiting.

Watching.

Smiling.

The battle wasn't over.

Not even close.