The Grove trembled.
Kael felt it first—deep beneath his spine, where Lifebinding stirred. The roots below them twitched like a web catching a predator's tread.
Riven rose instantly, blade already drawn.
Ash's fur bristled in the doorway.
"Someone's here," Kael said, standing. "Not bandits. Something worse."
The bark along the chamber walls shivered—runes glowing faintly red this time.
Not Lifebinder green.
Circle crimson.
Riven's eyes narrowed. "A Seeker."
They emerged from the heart of the tree just as the intruder stepped into the glade. Cloaked in bone-white robes, the figure carried no visible weapon—but the air bent around them with invisible force. Floating brands of forbidden glyphs hovered over their outstretched palm.
A Circle Enforcer.
A Seeker of Rogue Magic.
They hadn't sent someone to capture Kael.
They'd sent someone to erase him.
"You are Kael Virelle," the Seeker intoned, voice echoing oddly. "Declared failed at Awakening. Since then, exposed to forbidden magical rites and unstable grafting. In violation of Article 3 of the Magical Code—"
"I didn't choose any of that," Kael spat.
"You survived it. That is enough."
A pulse of magic lashed out.
Kael moved to shield Riven, but she shoved him back, stepped in front.
"Get behind me," she growled.
Kael hesitated.
"I said move!"
The Seeker lifted his hand—and the world screamed.
Magic tore through the grove, a spiral of searing red light. Riven met it with a wall of root and flame, their threads woven from her own blood and Kael's still-simmering fire.
The barrier buckled.
But held.
Barely.
Kael gritted his teeth. "I can't hold back anymore."
"You'll burn yourself," Riven snapped.
"Then I'll burn."
He stepped forward, hand glowing, eyes bright green.
And this time, the fire didn't rage.
It listened.
Roots surged beneath the Seeker's feet. Flame licked along the bark. The Grove fought with him now. For him.
The Seeker snarled, leaping into the air, glyphs flaring—
Kael caught him mid-air with a tangle of living branches, twisted by heat, fused with fury, and flung him against the altar stone.
The Circle spell shattered.
The Seeker gasped—stunned—and for a moment, human eyes met Kael's.
Not cruel.
Not monstrous.
Just afraid.
But Kael didn't kill him.
He stepped back.
Let him breathe.
"Tell them," Kael said quietly. "I didn't fall. I changed."
The Seeker vanished in a flash of crimson light, teleport glyph triggered with the last of his strength.
Silence returned.
Kael stood panting, fists clenched.
Riven approached from behind—and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her forehead to his spine.
"You didn't lose control," she whispered.
"I didn't win either."
"Yes, you did," she said. "Because you chose to spare him."
Kael turned, pulling her into his arms, holding her tight.
"I don't want to lose you."
"You won't," Riven breathed. "Even if the whole world comes for us… I'll choose you back."
That night, under the Grove's watchful canopy, Kael didn't dream of fire.
He dreamt of roots and breath and skin.
Of warmth in the dark.
Of lips he'd tasted, arms that held him, and the unshakable truth that something inside him was no longer only his.