Chapter 1: Kade Before Her

  The sky above Velaris bled violet.

  Kade stood at the edge of the obsidian spire, his presence carved from shadow and control, a silent god surveying a city that shimmered with ancient power. Below him, Velaris pulsed — not with life, but with legacy. Towering structures rose like jagged black teeth from the earth, streaked with glowing veins of silver energy. The siven lines.

  They hummed beneath the surface of everything. Buildings. Streets. People. Himself.

  The siven was their inheritance — an invisible force woven into the marrow of every Velari. Not seen, but felt. It responded to thought, to instinct. To desire. A network of energy that bound each Velari to their world, to their purpose, and sometimes… to each other. Where humans had nerves, they had threads.

  He exhaled, slow and measured. A predator conserving energy. But the pressure in his chest did not ease.

  The threads were stirring again.

  Kade clenched the carved stone rail beneath his gloved hands, fingers digging into the cold surface until the stone cracked faintly. It had started three weeks ago — the flickers. Silver at first. Then gold. Now... persistent.

  His siven lashed against his skin like a whip of restless smoke, visible for a blink before it vanished. Control. That was everything. And he was losing it.

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  Behind him, the wind shifted through the archways of the Spire, carrying the faint hum of the city's core. Deep beneath the palace, the Heart of Velaris beat slowly, in rhythm with the ancient tech that shaped this realm. And now, that rhythm no longer matched his own.

  The pulse had changed.

  A pull.

  He turned his face skyward, jaw clenched, silver eyes narrowed against the eternal twilight. The feeling was back — stronger this time. Not a thread exactly, but a tether. One that didn’t belong. It coiled behind his sternum like a command. No name. No face. Just presence. Distant, unfamiliar... intoxicating.

  His mind recoiled from it.

  His body craved it.

  The doors behind him whispered open, and the scent of star-oil and steel followed.

  "You felt it again," Velion said, his voice calm and sharp as ever. He moved beside Kade like a mirror in motion — clean lines, silver gaze, no wasted emotion. Velion — his second, his oldest shield, his unwanted conscience.

  Kade didn’t respond. He didn’t have to.

  "It’s more frequent now," Velion continued. "You’re losing sleep. Control."

  "It isn’t a bond," Kade said flatly, though even the words tasted like a lie.

  Velion’s brows lifted. "You expect me to believe that? Your threads have been erratic for days. The Council already suspects something is unraveling."

  Kade turned his gaze back toward the city, hands flexing at his sides.

  "I don’t care what they suspect."

  "You should."

  Silence fell between them, filled only by the subtle thrum of the siven below.

  "You think I don’t know what this looks like?" Kade said finally, voice low. "A prince with untethered threads. A pull he can’t name."

  "Not untethered," Velion replied. "Anchored. To something outside our realm."

  The word settled heavily between them.

  Impossible.

  No one crossed the Veil without aid. Not since the last Gatekeeper had vanished. And yet, Kade could feel it — her. No name. No form. Just heat and golden pressure in his chest that made him want to rip through the world until he found its source.

  "You need to sever it. Whatever it is," Velion said, softer now. "Before it’s too late."

  Kade didn’t answer. Couldn’t.

  Because deep beneath his ribs, his siven surged again — not violently, but hungrily. And this time, when the golden thread whispered across his soul like silk through flame...

  He didn’t push it away.

  He let it in.