The cold air stung Kael's lungs as they fled through the darkened forest, branches tearing at their clothes, roots grasping for their ankles like the hands of the dead. Somewhere behind them, Selvara's wrath split the night a violet storm crackling through the trees.
But Kael and Lyra did not stop.
It wasn't until the first light of dawn bled pale across the horizon that they stumbled upon the sanctuary.
A ruin, half-swallowed by earth and ivy, its once-grand spires now broken teeth against the sky. Strange symbols, neither human nor demon, glimmered faintly on the walls, untouched by time.
"This place…" Lyra whispered, eyes narrowing. "I've heard of it. The old texts called it Thornwyn's Refuge."
Kael frowned. "What is it?"
"A temple to something older than our clans. A god neither side dares name. It was said to shelter those cursed by both blood and fate."
She turned to him, her voice barely a breath.
"Like you."
Kael's pulse pounded. The mark on his chest throbbed in answer. Without a word, he stepped inside.
The air within was thick with forgotten magic. Faint blue flames danced along stone sconces, though no one had tended them for centuries. At the center stood an altar of black stone, and upon it, a single phrase carved in ancient script.
Lyra traced the letters with trembling fingers.
"In darkness, love is the only light."
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then, without thinking, Kael reached out, his hand cupping her face. Lyra leaned into his touch, eyes closing, the weight of centuries of hatred and war falling away for that one fragile heartbeat.
"I shouldn't feel this," Kael whispered.
"Neither should I."
Yet when she opened her eyes, there was no denial in them. Only the same aching, forbidden pull that twisted in his own chest.
"I'll be hunted for this," she murmured.
"So will I."
He bent closer, his forehead resting against hers. The cold didn't touch them here. The ancient stones held them in a world apart from war and duty.
"I don't care," he said.
Neither did she.
And in that cursed, sacred place, beneath gods that had long since turned their faces away, they kissed. A fierce, desperate thing not a promise, but a war cry. A claiming of a fate neither could escape.
Unseen by them, the sigil on the altar pulsed, awakening.
And far away, a god in chains opened his eyes.