Vows of convenience Hearts in Collision のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 181 - チャプター 190

(Saphira’s POV)Darkness has weight.It presses against your skin, fills your lungs, makes every sound feel louder than it should be. The alarms had died with the lights, but the silence that replaced them was worse thick, waiting.The heart monitor was still screaming.High. Erratic. Panicked.“Lights,” Caelum snapped into the void.Nothing happened.The only glow came from the monitor beside Alaric’s bed, its green pulse jerking like it was fighting for permission to exist.“Time’s running out,” the woman’s voice said calmly. “That’s not theatrics, Saphira. That’s biology.”My hands trembled. I curled them into fists to steady myself.“Don’t,” Lucien warned quietly. “This is what she wants.”She laughed softly. “He still thinks this is a negotiation.”Boots shifted around us. I couldn’t see the others, but I felt the shadows tightening the circle, weapons trained, patience razor-thin.Caelum stepped closer to me. I felt his presence before I felt his hand at my back, solid and warm,

(Saphira’s POV)Caelum didn’t look real.Not here. Not in the wreckage of a life I’d carefully erased.Smoke curled around him like a living thing, gray and bitter, the scent of gunpowder burning the back of my throat. His jacket was torn at the shoulder, blood darkening the fabric but he stood solid, unshaken, gun steady in his hand.As if the world had bent itself just to deliver him to me.“Down,” he ordered, voice low and lethal.I dropped without thinking.A shot cracked over my head. Caelum fired back, the recoil sharp, controlled. One of the masked men went down hard, collapsing against the shattered window frame.Lucien cursed somewhere behind me, firing twice more before dragging me sideways, away from the line of fire.“Stay alive,” he snapped. “Both of you.”“Funny,” Caelum shot back without looking at him. “That was my plan.”The room erupted again glass crunching under boots, bullets biting into walls, the air alive with violence. I pressed my back to the overturned table

(Saphira’s POV)The air grew heavier with each step, thick with dust and an acrid metallic tang. Every footfall echoed against concrete walls that seemed to close in on us, the shadows lengthening like predatory creatures. The hum of machinery above us had morphed into a low, menacing growl, vibrating through the floor like it had a heartbeat of its own.Caelum moved ahead, his gun raised, eyes scanning every corner. Lucien trailed beside me, silent, precise, his own weapon at the ready. I followed close, every nerve on fire. My chest heaved, not just from the climb down the stairwells, but from the realization that this was no random trap. This was a carefully orchestrated nightmare.“We’re being funneled,” Lucien murmured, his voice calm but tense. “They want us exactly where they can control every angle.”I swallowed, trying to steady my voice. “But why? Why bring us here?”“Power,” Lucien replied. “Fear. Leverage. And maybe… just maybe… because someone’s enjoying the hunt.”Ahead,

(Saphira’s POV)The catwalk groaned under our weight, metal twisting and shivering like it had a life of its own. Every heartbeat felt like a drumbeat counting down the seconds before we fell. Below us, the mechanical beast thrashed, its glowing red sensors sweeping the labyrinth, analyzing, calculating, ready to strike.Caelum’s hand gripped mine like steel, anchoring me. “Focus,” he ordered, eyes locked on the pulsing control hub ahead. “One step at a time.”I nodded, teeth clenched, adrenaline scorching through my veins. Every muscle screamed in protest, but fear had morphed into a sharpened edge. This wasn’t just about survival anymore it was about taking the fight to them.Lucien’s voice crackled through the earpiece, tense but controlled. “Saphira, Caelum watch the panel. It’s reactive. Any misstep triggers defensive mechanisms.”I swallowed hard. “Then we move slowly.”We inched forward. The catwalk wobbled beneath our feet, metal straining, sparks flying from joints overtaxed

(Saphira’s POV)Time slowed, and yet it accelerated all at once. The new adversary moved with inhuman speed, and my instincts screamed to react before it was too late. Every fiber of my body tensed as Caelum stepped in front of me, shielding me with a precision that made my heart ache not from fear, but from trust.“Stay behind me!” he ordered, his voice low, a steel thread cutting through the chaos.I obeyed, knife ready in hand, eyes darting to every shadow. The corridor was narrow, the walls close, and the hum of machinery vibrated through my bones like a warning. Sparks rained down from damaged panels above, and the smell of burning metal filled my nostrils.The figure lunged first. Caelum met it head-on, parrying with brutal efficiency. The clash of metal rang out, ringing in my ears like an alarm. The new opponent was faster, stronger, its movements fluid, deadly a machine, yes, but eerily intelligent.I pressed myself against the wall, trying to stay out of the immediate fight,