Riven didn't speak for a long time.
After the Threadfiends dissolved into piles of ash and broken light, he quietly repaired the Cell, hands trembling more than I expected. He wouldn't look at me—not at the fire in my hands, not at the Mark on my skin.
I finally broke the silence.
"What does the Mark mean for you?"
He stiffened. "For me?"
"Yes. You keep telling me what it means for me. That it's dangerous. Permanent. But you're bound to the same thread."
He looked at me then, eyes dark and distant. "It means… I'm no longer your guardian. I'm your mirror."
"What?"
"Desire Threads choose balance," he said. "One heart can't overpower the other. If the Mark appears on one side, the thread will burn the other into match."
He pulled back his collar—and there it was.
The same loop. The same red light. On him.
We were Marked. Together.
And I didn't know whether to feel cursed or chosen.
Suddenly, one of the high shelves snapped in half—on its own. A black orb the size of a candle dropped onto the ground and cracked.
Smoke poured out.
A face appeared inside it. Pale skin. Eyes like knives.
"Riven Vaire," the voice hissed, echoing off the walls. "The Council requests your presence. Immediately."
Riven swore under his breath. "They know."
"The Marking has been sensed across the Threadveil," the voice continued. "You are to present the girl, the thread, and your blade. Refusal will be treated as treason."
The smoke snapped back into the orb and vanished.
I stared at him. "The Council?"
"The ones who govern all Threadweavers," he said grimly. "The ones who will either protect us—or destroy us."
"You're… scared of them."
He nodded. "Because I used to be one of them."
Silence again.
"Do we go?" I whispered.
"We don't have a choice," he said. "But we won't go unarmed."
He held out his hand, and a silver thread unraveled from the ceiling into his palm. It shimmered, then hardened into a second blade—thinner than his fateglass, sharp enough to cut through dreams.
He looked at me.
"You're not a student anymore, Sera," he said quietly. "You're a weapon. And the world just found out."