They were expelled from Court.

  The Bone Harrower did not speak as they left. He rose from the throne, shadows sealing around him and her once more, and turned away without ceremony. The court parted instantly, figures pressing themselves flat against the obsidian floor as he passed. Seris followed, her steps faltering, the echo of kneeling bones still ringing in her ears.

  Once the gates closed behind them, the city felt different. It didn't feel quieter, just closer.

  The grand avenues narrowed into winding passages that spiralled upward through the necropolis. The architecture here was less ceremonial, more intimate, structures grown tight against one another, bone fused to stone in layered ribs and arches. The red glow dimmed, replaced by a pale, corpse light that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves.

  Seris felt exposed.

  The shadows no longer swallowed her whole. They trailed instead, thin and watchful, like hands hovering just shy of touch. She could feel eyes on her again.

  She swallowed and quickened her step.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, unable to keep the tremor from her voice.

  He did not answer.

  They walked on.

  The silence stretched until it began to feel deliberate, almost punishing. Seris clenched her hands at her sides, nails biting into her palms. She told herself she would not speak again.

  Then something moved above them.

  A vast shape shifted across the ceiling of bone and iron, its bulk scraping softly as it passed from one structure to another. Dust rained down in a fine, white drift. Seris stopped short, heart lurching violently.

  “What was that?” she whispered.

  The Bone Harrower halted. Slowly, he turned to face her.

  The shadows drew back from his mask just enough that she felt the full weight of his attention land on her. It was not anger she felt through the bond.

  It was warning.

  Do not speak unless invited, he said, his voice threading directly through her skull. Not here.

  Her mouth went dry. She nodded once, sharply. He turned away and continued walking.

  They ascended higher, the paths narrowing further until the city fell away beneath them in steep terraces and spirals. From this height, the Deadlands stretched endlessly beyond the walls, a pale sea of bone and ruin beneath the bruised sky. The scale of it made Seris dizzy.

  Finally, they stopped.

  Before them rose a tower set apart from the rest of the necropolis. It was grown from the skeleton of something enormous; far larger than any beast Seris had ever seen. A single colossal spine curved upward into the dark, ribs arcing outward to form balconies and platforms. The skull crowned the structure, hollow eyes glowing faintly from within.

  Her stomach clenched.

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  “This is—” She stopped herself.

  The Bone Harrower regarded the tower in silence.

  This is where you will live.

  The words landed heavily.

  Seris stared up at the structure, dread coiling tight in her chest. She swallowed, even her own tongue feeling too big for her mouth and throat. She struggled to get her words out, like fear had a grasp around her neck. “Alone?”

  Yes.

  The answer was too immediate for protest.

  They entered through an opening between ribs, the interior warmer than she expected. The air smelled faintly of ash and old incense. Inside, the space was… beautiful.

  Not in a way that made her heart sing, nor brought a smile across her face. No, it was beautiful in a way that made her skin crawl.

  Soft fabrics draped the walls, pale and sheer, stitched with symbols she did not recognize. A wide bed sat at the center of the chamber, its frame carved from dark wood rather than bone, its linens clean and untouched. A table held a bowl of water, fresh fruit, bread.

  Living things. How? And why? She thought. But no answer came.

  Light filtered in through high apertures in the bone, casting the room in a muted glow. From the far side, a balcony opened out over the Deadlands, the wind carrying distant bells and the low murmur of the city.

  “Is this a... cell,” Seris said quietly, not sure whether to be enchanted or repulsed by her surroundings.

  No. Cells imply escape.

  She shuddered.

  But you will remain here whenever I ask of it. You will be safe here.

  The way he said it made her chest tighten.

  “Safe from... who? You?”

  Everyone else.

  The unspoken words pressed into her thoughts with crushing clarity.

  She took a step back. “And if I don’t want to stay?”

  He turned to her then, fully. The shadows coiled close, responding to his stillness. For the first time since the Court, she felt the bond shift, not tighten, but loosen, just enough to let something through.

  Vastness.

  Cold, ice on skin.

  Then suddenly, an indifferent weight of his existence crashed over her like deep, colder water. Her knees buckled and she caught herself against the table, gasping as the sensation faded just as abruptly as it had come.

  You remain because I allow it, he said calmly. Leaving would only kill you now.

  She stared at him, breath ragged. “That’s not protection. That’s a cage.”

  If you protest any further, I will show you what a cage is.

  She froze, but still had enough anger breaking through her fear. “You claimed me. In front of them. Is that what this is?”

  Yes. But not in the way you think.

  The answer stole her breath.

  “Why?”

  For a long moment, he did not answer. When he did, the words came slower.

  It is the only way that you can stay here alive. Unclaimed, you would have been devoured within seconds.

  He turned away, moving toward the balcony, stopping just short of the threshold. The shadows clung tighter there, resisting.

  Do not mistake my restraint for freedom, Seris. There are boundaries I cannot cross. I am protecting myself, not you.

  A small pang of exhaustion warmed over her shoulders, and she wasn't sure whether it was his or hers. Her gaze followed him, noting the way he did not step into the open air.

  “And me?” she asked softly, fearing the answer. “What am I to do here? Am I like that woman... I don't...”

  No. Of course not.

  He paused.

  Right now, you are a variable.

  The bond stirred, not with threat, but with something older. Heavier. Regret, perhaps. Or memory.

  I was not always this, Seris.

  The admission slipped through before he could seal it away. She felt it echo, raw and unfinished. Before she could respond, the shadows surged gently, urging her backward toward the bed.

  Rest, he commanded. You will need strength to survive what comes next.

  “What comes next?” she asked.

  He paused at the doorway, half-turned.

  My world does not tolerate weakness for long.

  Then he was gone.

  The shadows withdrew, leaving Seris alone in the tower. She sank onto the edge of the bed, heart pounding, the city murmuring below. The Bone Harrower had given her something along the lines of comfort. Shelter, yes. Safety, not really.

  It should have felt like mercy.

  Instead, Seris lay awake long after the city fell quiet, staring at the bone-curved ceiling above her and wondering how many others had once slept beneath it, if they ever slept at all. Wondering how many had believed, as she did now, that this was temporary.

  That there would be a way out.

  Outside, something vast shifted across the tower’s spine. Seris closed her eyes as she comprehended the uncertainty of what would be demanded of her, or what she would be shaped into.

  The only certainty she had was that the world she had once known was gone.