Crowned in Silver Blood
Everly took Grayson's hand fully in hers, silver light and something darker, older, distinctly his own, meeting and tangling together between their joined palms, and together they stepped toward the archway, the entire clearing holding its breath around them, every soldier, every ally, every fractured family member watching in silence as two people walked willingly toward an outcome none of them could predict.
The moment their combined shadow crossed the threshold, the black light surged violently outward, swallowing them both whole, and the last thing Everly heard before the darkness closed completely around her was her mother's scream, raw and desperate, and beneath it, faint and layered,