Mira had been created to kill Lyra.
Instead, she took her sister's hand.
The instant their fingers touched, the underground laboratory disappeared beneath a storm of gold and black.
Mira screamed.
Lyra screamed with her.
And somewhere inside both voices, Malachar laughed.
"Mira!" Toby lunged forward.
Cael caught him around the chest.
"Don't touch them!"
"Let me go!"
"You'll get pulled in too!"
Lyra's body arched backward.
Black veins spread from the crest over her heart, racing across her neck and face.
Mira's incomplete golden mark responded.
One missing wing appeared.
Then vanished.
Appeared again.
"What's happening?" Gareth shouted.
Seraphine struggled against the last chain holding her to the iron table.
"The Fourth Flame is doing what it was designed to do."
"Kill Lyra?"
"No!"
Seraphine pulled until blood appeared around her wrist.
"Separate them!"
Gareth understood.
Like Toby and Cael had separated the Shade from Mira.
Like they had separated Malachar from Aldren.
Mira had been engineered to do the same thing alone.
"Can she survive it?"
Seraphine did not answer.
Gareth turned.
"Seraphine."
"I don't know!"
That was worse.
Gareth broke her final chain.
She fell into his arms.
For one heartbeat they stared at each other.
Fourteen years of lies, stolen children, lost memories, and grief stood between them.
There would be time for that later.
If they survived.
"Help her," Gareth said.
Seraphine nodded.
They ran toward the sisters.
A wave of black force threw them backward.
Lyra opened her eyes.
One gold.
One black.
When she spoke, two voices emerged.
"She cannot save me."
Mira tightened her grip.
"Shut up."
Malachar laughed through Lyra.
"You were made from scraps."
Mira's face twisted in pain.
"You are not a daughter. Not a sister. Not even a person they wanted."
"Shut up."
"You were an experiment."
Golden light weakened.
Toby saw it.
"He's getting inside her head."
Cael shouted:
"Mira!"
She looked toward him.
"Don't listen to him."
Malachar smiled through Lyra.
"Listen to Cael instead? The boy who spent his life wishing everyone else hurt as much as he did?"
Cael froze.
The darkness around Lyra strengthened.
Malachar knew exactly where to cut.
Toby stepped beside his brother.
"Keep talking."
Cael stared at him.
"What?"
"He wants us quiet."
Toby looked toward Mira.
"So don't be."
Cael understood.
"Mira!"
Her eyes found him again.
"I was an experiment too."
Malachar's smile faded slightly.
Cael pulled open his shirt, exposing the scars.
"They told me these made me useful."
Mira's golden mark brightened.
"They lied."
Cael pointed toward Gareth.
"That idiot found out I existed yesterday and started acting like my father immediately."
Gareth almost objected.
Then decided against it.
Cael continued.
"Toby found out you lied to him for two years and still came back for you."
Toby nodded.
Seraphine stepped forward.
"And I saved you because you were a child."
Mira looked at her.
"Not because of your blood."
Seraphine's voice broke.
"Not because of your mark."
The golden light intensified.
"Because you deserved to live."
Malachar screamed through Lyra.
"ENOUGH!"
Black smoke exploded outward.
Mira nearly lost her grip.
Lyra's human eye appeared.
"Mira..."
"I'm here."
"Let go."
"No."
"He'll take you."
"Then we'll throw him out together."
Lyra began crying.
"You don't even know me."
Mira smiled through her own tears.
"Apparently that's normal in this family."
Cael laughed despite himself.
Then Mira pulled.
Not physically.
Something black began emerging from Lyra's chest.
Malachar.
The Shade shrieked.
"No!"
Mira's mark completed itself.
Two golden wings unfolded around the dragon symbol.
The Fourth Flame awakened.
Malachar tore free.
Lyra collapsed.
Gareth caught her before she struck the floor.
Mira remained standing.
Barely.
The Black King hovered above them.
Smaller than before.
But alive.
"How?" Toby whispered.
Malachar laughed.
"You thought Azrath could drag all of me through the Veil?"
Seraphine stared.
"You divided yourself."
"Long ago."
"How many pieces?"
Malachar's smile widened.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Then he rushed toward Mira.
Lyra opened her eyes.
"No!"
She pushed Gareth away and threw herself between them.
Malachar struck her.
Black smoke entered the crest over her heart.
Mira grabbed her again.
"Not this time."
The Fourth Flame erupted.
Malachar screamed.
But this time the Shade did not escape.
It burned.
Black became gray.
Gray became white.
Then nothing.
Silence.
Lyra collapsed into Mira's arms.
The black crest over her heart faded.
Not disappeared.
Changed.
Gold.
A complete golden Sovereign Crest.
Mira stared.
"What happened?"
Seraphine whispered:
"You purified it."
Mira looked at her own mark.
Also gold.
Two sisters.
Two flames.
Neither black.
---
They returned to High Keep after midnight.
Lyra remained unconscious.
Gareth carried her himself.
No one objected.
Mira walked beside him.
Toby and Cael followed.
Seraphine came last.
She stopped at the gates.
Gareth noticed.
"What's wrong?"
Seraphine stared up at High Keep.
"I haven't walked through those gates since the massacre."
"You don't have to."
"Yes."
She looked at her children.
"I do."
Inside the infirmary, King Aldren was still alive.
Barely.
When Seraphine entered, his eyes opened.
"Seraphine."
She stopped beside his bed.
"Your Majesty."
"No."
Aldren smiled weakly.
"I think we've passed titles."
Seraphine looked at him for a long moment.
"You knew about Lyra."
"Yes."
"And the experiments."
"Some."
"You allowed them."
His eyes closed.
"Yes."
Gareth watched her hands curl.
He knew that anger.
Aldren whispered:
"I thought I was protecting the kingdom."
Seraphine laughed bitterly.
"Everyone who hurts children says they're protecting something."
Aldren had no defense.
"I'm sorry."
"So am I."
She turned away.
Aldren looked toward Toby.
Then Cael.
Then Mira.
Finally, unconscious Lyra.
"Four."
Gareth frowned.
"What?"
Aldren's face changed.
"Four flames."
Seraphine immediately turned.
"No."
"What is it?" Gareth asked.
Aldren struggled to breathe.
"The prophecy."
"What about it?"
"We misunderstood the number."
Cael sighed.
"Again?"
Aldren continued.
"Two born."
He looked at Toby and Cael.
"One made."
Mira.
"One buried."
Lyra.
Seraphine went pale.
"No."
Toby looked between them.
"What happens when all four awaken?"
Aldren whispered:
"The Crown chooses."
"The Crown?" Gareth asked.
Not the throne.
Not a metaphor.
Aldren pointed weakly toward the royal vault.
"The Sovereign Crown."
Edric entered behind them.
"My crown?"
Aldren looked at his son.
"It was never ours."
Silence.
"What do you mean?"
"The crown predates our dynasty."
Seraphine whispered:
"It belonged to Malachar."
Aldren nodded.
Cael immediately said, "Then destroy it."
"We tried."
"It can't be destroyed?"
"Not while the four flames are separated."
Toby frowned.
"What does the crown do?"
Aldren looked terrified.
"It chooses a host."
"For Malachar?"
"No."
His answer surprised everyone.
"For the power beyond the Veil."
Silence.
Mira whispered, "The Shades?"
"More than Shades."
Aldren's breathing became shallow.
"The first king never wanted Azrath's power."
Toby remembered the ancient memories.
"What did he want?"
"The Veil itself."
Aldren closed his eyes.
"And the crown was how he controlled it."
---
They went to the royal vault before dawn.
Gareth refused to leave the children behind.
At this point, keeping them uninformed had nearly killed them too many times.
Edric opened the vault.
Inside were royal artifacts accumulated over centuries.
Swords.
Seals.
Treaties.
The coronation robes.
At the center, beneath glass, rested the Sovereign Crown.
Black metal.
Five narrow points.
No jewels.
Toby approached.
His skin prickled.
Cael felt it too.
Mira's mark began glowing.
On the stretcher behind them, Lyra suddenly opened her eyes.
"Don't touch it."
Everyone turned.
Mira rushed toward her.
"You're awake."
Lyra stared at the crown.
"That's what he wanted."
"Malachar?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Lyra slowly sat up.
"Because his remaining pieces are inside it."
Silence.
Cael stared at the crown.
"You said remaining pieces."
Lyra nodded.
"The Shade inside me wasn't the last."
"How many?"
"I don't know."
Toby looked at the black metal.
"Then we destroy it."
The four siblings approached.
The crown reacted.
A pulse of darkness crossed the vault.
All four marks ignited.
Toby and Cael's supposedly extinguished crests suddenly reappeared.
Gold.
Gareth stared.
"Azrath said the marks belonged to you now."
Toby looked at his arm.
"He meant literally."
Four flames.
Toby.
Cael.
Mira.
Lyra.
The crown rose from beneath the glass without being touched.
Edric stepped backward.
"That's not supposed to happen."
The crown floated above them.
Black smoke leaked from its edges.
Then a voice filled the vault.
Malachar.
"At last."
Cael raised Kingsbane.
"I am getting very tired of killing you."
Malachar laughed.
"You haven't."
The crown rotated.
One of its five points glowed black.
Then a second.
Then a third.
Lyra stared.
"Three pieces."
"Of Malachar?" Toby asked.
"No."
Her face filled with horror.
"Three hosts."
The crown suddenly flew toward Edric.
Gareth tackled him aside.
It changed direction.
Toward Seraphine.
Mira blocked it.
Golden light forced the crown backward.
Then toward Gareth.
All four siblings shouted.
Their flames joined.
The crown crashed to the floor.
A crack appeared across its surface.
Everyone stared.
Cael smiled.
"It can break."
"Again," Toby said.
They joined hands.
Four marks ignited.
The crown cracked further.
A scream came from inside.
Not Malachar.
A woman's voice.
"STOP!"
Seraphine froze.
She knew that voice.
"Elara?"
The crown shook.
Queen Elara's voice screamed again.
"Don't break it!"
Edric stepped forward.
"Mother?"
Another voice emerged.
Brother Caldus.
"Please!"
Then another.
Rellan.
Then dozens.
Hundreds.
People thought dead.
All trapped inside the crown.
Toby stared.
"The Shades weren't only stealing bodies."
Lyra understood.
"They were storing souls."
Seraphine covered her mouth.
Edric approached the crown.
"Mother?"
A woman's face appeared reflected in the black metal.
Queen Elara.
Real.
Terrified.
"Edric."
He fell to his knees.
"Mother."
"I'm sorry."
Tears filled his eyes.
"Are you alive?"
"No."
The answer broke him.
"But part of me remains."
"How?"
"The crown."
Elara looked toward the four siblings.
"Malachar built it as a prison."
Toby whispered, "For souls."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because a Shade needs memories to become human."
Lyra stared.
"He's been collecting people."
"For centuries."
Cael raised Kingsbane.
"Then we break the crown and release them."
Elara screamed:
"NO!"
"Why?"
"Because Malachar is not the strongest thing inside it."
Silence.
The crown began trembling.
Something struck its interior.
Once.
The vault shook.
Again.
A crack spread across the floor.
Toby stepped backward.
"What is that?"
Elara's face filled with terror.
"The first soul Malachar ever imprisoned."
Another impact.
The crown split slightly.
A golden eye appeared through the crack.
Azrath had possessed golden eyes.
But this was not Azrath.
Seraphine whispered:
"Who?"
Elara looked toward the four flames.
"The woman Malachar feared more than Azrath."
The crack widened.
Inside the crown, something smiled.
Elara whispered the name.
"Lyra."
Everyone turned toward Gareth's daughter.
She stared back.
"No."
Queen Elara shook her head.
"Not you."
The crown exploded.
Black metal flew across the vault.
Golden fire filled the room.
A woman stepped from the flames.
Ancient.
Beautiful.
Terrible.
Toby recognized her from Azrath's memories.
The original Lyra.
Azrath's daughter.
The girl he had killed three thousand years ago.
She looked around the vault.
Then at Gareth's daughter, who carried her name.
Finally, she looked at Toby and Cael.
Her expression softened.
"My blood."
Cael raised Kingsbane.
"You were dead."
The ancient Lyra smiled.
"So was your king."
She looked toward the shattered crown.
Thousands of trapped voices screamed from its fragments.
Then her smile disappeared.
"You fools."
Toby tightened his grip.
"What?"
"You freed me..."
The entire castle shook.
"...but you also freed my brother."
Far beneath High Keep, something answered with a roar.
Not Azrath.
Human.
Angry.
And impossibly old.
The ancient Lyra closed her eyes.
"Aeron."
When she opened them again, fear had replaced every trace of power in her face.
"Run."