LOGINChapter 47: The Last TrialNeris's POV"They're already inside."Lucien's voice is tight as we crouch at the edge of the chamber entrance, the same hidden passage beneath the ruined arena that started all of this weeks ago, now crawling with Kessel's forces stationed at every visible approach."How many," Cassian asks, his injuries still healing but his focus absolute."More than we can fight through cleanly. He's expecting resistance.""Then we don't fight cleanly." Evren checks his blade one final time, something steady settling behind his usual reckless energy now, tempered by everything the last night has already cost him. "We create enough chaos that Neris can slip through to the relic while they're busy dealing with us.""That's not a plan, that's three people throwing themselves at overwhelming odds," Lucien says."It's the only plan we have time for." I meet each of their eyes in turn, understanding settling into something calm despite the fear still coiled tight in my chest.
Neris's POV"He's gathering them now."Lucien's voice is grim as he lowers the small device he's been using to intercept fragments of Council communication for the past hour, exhaustion carved into every line of his face after a night that shows no sign of ending."Gathering who," I ask, though the sinking feeling in my chest already suspects the answer."The twelve ruling Alphas. Exactly as the chamber beneath the academy was always designed for, except Kessel's accelerated the timeline considerably since the bridge." He sets the device down, meeting my eyes. "They're converging on a secondary location now, since the original chamber's too compromised to use safely. Somewhere fortified, considerably better defended than an academy full of students.""To do what," Cassian asks, still favoring his injured side though his voice carries more strength than it did hours ago."To use the relic," Lucien says. "Not simply as a testing artifact this time. As a weapon.""Explain," I say, dread
Neris's POV"Evren, look at me."He doesn't. His black eyes stare through me, past me, focused on something none of the rest of us can see, his body coiled and trembling like a predator deciding whether the room is worth the effort of destroying."That's not him anymore," Lucien says, backing away carefully, urging Cassian to do the same despite his weakened state. "Whatever's in control right now, it isn't Evren.""Then I need to reach the part of him that still is." I hold my ground, my own wolf pressing forward protectively even as every instinct screams to retreat. "The voice said the fragment came from my bloodline. If that's true, I should be able to follow it back.""Follow it back how?" Cassian's voice is tight with pain and worry both. "You can't exactly walk into someone else's mind, Neris."You can, the voice says, quiet and certain. It requires only intention, and the same connection you used to stabilize him the first time. Touch him. Let the mark guide you inward instead
Neris's POV"Something's wrong with my arm."Evren says it too calmly for what I'm seeing, sleeve pushed back to reveal skin already darkening along his forearm, veins standing out black beneath the surface like ink spreading through water."Since when?""Since the compound attack, maybe. I thought it was just bruising." He flexes his fingers, wincing. "It's gotten worse the last hour. Feels like something's clawing from the inside."Cassian, still weak from the bridge, pushes himself upright despite Lucien's protest. "Let me see."The mark beneath the darkened skin resolves slowly into something unmistakable — three interlocking crescents, faint but unmistakably the same shape burned into my own collarbone."That's not possible," I say, my chest tightening. "That's my mark.""Kessel said he'd already reached you," Cassian says grimly. "This must be what he meant."Evren's jaw tightens, sweat beading at his temple despite the cold morning air. "Reached me how? I haven't left anyone's
Neris's POV"Come closer, Neris. Let's not waste the last hour of darkness on formalities."Kessel's voice carries across the old bridge, calm as always, and behind him I see Cassian slumped against a support post, hands bound, blood matting one side of his face, alive but barely holding consciousness."Let him go first," I say, stopping a careful distance away, hands visible, exactly as instructed."That's not how this works, and you know it." Kessel steps aside slightly, giving me a clearer view of Cassian's condition, deliberate in the cruelty of it. "You've come alone, as requested. I'm impressed by your restraint, given what I suspect you actually wanted to do the moment you received my message.""What do you want.""The same thing I've always wanted." He gestures, and two guards step forward, flanking me on either side without touching me yet. "Full cooperation. No more resistance, no more running, no more delaying an outcome that was always inevitable.""And if I refuse.""Then
Neris's POV"We go now."Evren's already moving toward the tree line before the words finish leaving his mouth, blade still drawn, blood still drying on his sleeve from a fight that ended twenty minutes ago and already feels like a lifetime."Evren, stop." Lucien catches his arm, and Evren rounds on him with a fury I've rarely seen directed at either of his friends."They took him, Lucien. Every minute we stand here debating strategy is another minute he's alone with people who murder instructors and burn down entire families for existing.""And charging into unknown enemy territory with no plan gets you captured too, or worse, gets him killed the moment they realize we're coming." Lucien's voice stays level, but something underneath it has gone hard, urgent in a way that matches the crisis without matching Evren's raw panic. "We need information before we move. Numbers, position, what they actually want in exchange for him.""We know what they want." Evren's jaw is tight, fury barely







