The city whispered beneath her.
Amber Castell stood at the edge of a ruined bell tower, her cloak stirring faintly in the cold breath of the wind, silver eyes half-lidded as she watched the alley far below.
She had known Lucian would survive.
That was never the question.
The question was how much he would lose before he realized what game he was playing.
She had left the sigil in the blood, knowing he would see it. Knowing he would understand what it meant.
And the coin?
That had been a test.
A weight in his palm, an invitation he could not ignore.
Amber watched him pocket it, even from this distance, her sharp eyes catching the slight tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers flexed involuntarily before closing around the metal.
He was hesitating.
Good.
Hesitation meant he was still trying to hold on.
Trying to fight the inevitable.
Trying to pretend he was not already bound to the Hollow War.
Fool.
The city had already made its choice for him.
Amber had always been good at waiting.
It was a skill she had learned before she was Amber Castell, before she was the Hollow Queen, before she had been carved into something sharp enough to cut the world.
Men like Lucian—hunters, killers, men who walked the line between survival and damnation—they always thought the battle was the fight itself.
They thought death was the worst thing that could happen. But Amber knew better.
The real war was in the waiting.
The slow unraveling.
The moment when a man realized he was already lost, and the only choice left was how deep he wanted to sink.
She had seen it in his eyes just now.
Lucian Vance was not afraid of her.
Not yet.
But he was afraid of what she knew.
And soon, that fear would become something else.
Amber shifted her gaze, watching as Lucian and the gunslinger disappeared into the night, heading back toward the decayed remnants of Raine Ashford's home.
She let them go.
For now.
Because the real reason she was watching wasn't just Lucian.
It was the child.
Selene Vale.
The girl who should not exist.
The girl who had been erased and yet remained.
The girl who would bring the Hollow King back.
Amber pressed her fingertips together, thoughtful.
The Dominion had tried to erase the Hollow King's name from history.
They had tried to wipe away the war, the memories, the remnants of what he had been.
And yet, here she was.
Selene Vale.
A fragment of something that should have never returned.
And Lucian had chosen to protect her.
Which meant he had already chosen his side.
Even if he didn't know it yet.
Amber turned away from the city, stepping back into the ruined bell tower's depths, her silhouette swallowed by the broken stone and creeping ivy.
The night was still young.
And the game was just beginning.
Lucian could try to fight the current.
He could try to keep the girl hidden, to protect something that could not be protected.
But in the end?
He would come to her.
Because he would have no choice.
Because Selene Vale was the key to everything.
And because, The Hollow King was already waking.
------
The Obsidian Wastes stretched around them, a city of crumbling stone, narrow alleys, and magitech lanterns that flickered uncertainly in the damp air.
The streets were quiet now.
Too quiet.
Sierra noticed it too.
"People are watching." She didn't turn her head, but her voice lowered just slightly. "They always watch when bodies hit the ground."
Lucian knew it. The Wastes had eyes in the walls, in the windows, in the shadows that stretched too long.
And soon, word would spread.
That Lucian Vance had walked away from an Umbral Blades ambush. That Sierra Blaze had fought at his side. That the Hollow Queen had left him a message.
And most importantly, that Selene Vale was still alive.
Which meant the hunt wasn't over.
It had only just begun.
Lucian turned, shaking off the weight of the moment. Selene came first.
He moved swiftly, Sierra falling into step beside him, weaving through the maze of damp streets and back-alley corridors.
"Will you now tell me what this was all about?" She questioned and Lucian knew he had to answer. But she will question more, of his intentions and his decisions that were different this time.
"Let's go to Raine's first", For the time he didn't say anything as there were too many ears and too many eyes hidden in the darkness of this city.
It pulsed around them, the distant hum of Dominion patrols, the muttered voices of thieves and survivors, the faint clicking of someone reloading a weapon in the dark.
By the time they reached Raine Ashford's apartment, the rain had started again, dripping from the rusted lanterns above the door.
Lucian knocked.
There was a pause.
Then, a groggy, irritated voice from inside.
"Nothing knocks at my door at this time...." The door unlocked with a slow creak, "except trouble." he looked at both of them.
Lucian exhaled. Sierra smirked.
Raine Ashford stood on the other side, barefoot, but this time he looked a bit presentable. His brown shirt buttoned up and his hair less messy than when Lucian came to leave Selene.
"Well thats new," Sierra let out an amused laugh looking at him being clean and presentable.
Raine's sharp eyes flicked from Lucian's bloodied coat to Sierra's amused expression, and then back again.
Then he sighed, his hand going up to his forehead.
"Why do you always bring trouble to my doorstep?"
Lucian stepped inside. "Because you haven't died yet."
Raine cursed under his breath but let them in.
The apartment was cluttered but a bit organized now. An old magitech lamp buzzing weakly on the counter.
And there, curled up on Raine's worn-out couch, was Selene Vale.
Her coat was gone, replaced with a too-big shirt, her silver eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. But the moment Lucian stepped inside, she looked up.
Awake.
Alert.
Like she had never been asleep at all.
Sierra slowed beside him, studying the girl with an unreadable expression. Then she looked at Lucian and Raine, curious, confused, waiting for them to explain.
"This has nothing to do with me," Raine shrugged his shoulders and walked towards his desk.
Lucian moved to the balcony, with Sierra following him. He took out the contract paper from his pocket.
"This was a job by Dominion." He exhaled.
"But the man on the paper was already dead and i his place I found her there."
Sierra looked at Selene through the cracked glass.
"And what do you plan to do further?" She asked.
"Haven't thought of that yet." Lucian's gaze moved at the Dominion patrols far ahead in the distance. This place despised them but they still pretended that they had a control over it.
"That's very unlikely of you." Sierra said walking inside.
Sierra exhaled, her gaze flickering, just for a second, to the shadow stretching behind Selene, the way it curved wrong against the lamplight.
She didn't say anything.
But she didn't need to.
Selene Vale was not normal.
And everyone in that room knew it.
Lucian turned to Raine. "How is she?"
Raine dragged a hand through his hair. "Alive. Clean. Fed. Didn't let me examine her, though."
Lucian glanced at Selene. She was still watching him, quiet and steady.
"She doesn't trust you yet."
Raine snorted. "Smart kid."
Sierra stepped forward, arms crossed. "There still should be plan, don't you think?"
Lucian let out a slow breath.
He didn't know.
Amber Castell had marked him. The Umbral Blades weren't finished. The Dominion would never stop hunting Selene.
And sooner or later, they would all have to face Campion Rizger himself.
But for now, he did what he always did.
He survived.
"We move carefully," he said. "We stay ahead of them."
Sierra nodded, rolling her shoulders. "And when they catch up?"
Lucian met her gaze.
"Then we make sure they don't walk away."
The room fell into silence.
Outside, the rain kept falling slowly, silently, not effected by the tension inside.