I didn’t walk out of the Vault.

I collapsed through it.

Burned robes. Shaking limbs. Blood in my mouth. Gold still flickering under my skin like threads of fire.

But the crown remained.

It clung to my head like it had been forged from my thoughts.

The High Priest was waiting. He stood at the edge of the hall, hands folded, his expression somewhere between wonder and calculation.

“You lived,” he said.

I said nothing.

There was nothing left in me to say. He turned without waiting and motioned for the guards. “Take him to the Upper Sanctum.”

They didn’t drag me this time. I walked—barely. Every step echoed like a warning.

The room they locked me in wasn’t a prison.

It was worse.

No bars. No chains.

Just silence.

And a mirror.

Not a normal one.

This mirror was ancient. Tall as a man. Its surface shimmered—not silver, but smoke. And it watched me.

I could feel it. The priest returned after what might’ve been an hour… or a day. He carried a bowl of water. Set it before me.

“A test of restraint,” he said softly. “Drink only if you believe you’re still human.”

I didn’t move.

My throat was fire. My bones were ash. But my pride—my fear—kept me still.

“Good,” he murmured. “Then listen.”

He stepped closer.

“There are those in the court who wish to dissect you. Break you. Reclaim the crown by force.”

I looked up.

“And you?” I rasped.

“I wish to use you,” he said without hesitation.

Not hide it. Not soften it.

“I can teach you to control the crown. To silence its hunger. To survive the days ahead.”

He paused.

“But only if you give me one thing.”

I waited.

“Loyalty.”

He reached into his robes and pulled out a small glass vial. Inside—liquid silver.

“Blood. A binding pact,” he explained. “Give me your oath, and I’ll give you a path.”

I stared at the vial.

Then at the mirror.

The boy in the reflection didn’t look like Tavren anymore.

Didn’t look like Kael, either.

He looked like something that didn’t have a name yet.

“What happens if I say no?”

The priest’s eyes gleamed.

“Then you’ll die by the same flame that woke you.”