Two days into the journey, and they'd barely spoken.

Gabriel walked ahead, his pace steady and relentless. Tess followed a few paces behind, watching the set of his shoulders, the way his hand occasionally moved to the pack where the book rested.

The compulsion hadn't returned. Not since they'd left the farmhouse. With the book this close, carried on his back, the pull had lessened to something manageable. Almost ignorable.

Almost.

The road stretched east through dead fields and skeletal forests. Winter held everything in its grip, the ground frozen hard beneath their boots. They'd passed two abandoned farmsteads already, their roofs collapsed, their walls crumbling.

No one spoke of what had been left behind. No one mentioned Mera's face when Gabriel had rejected her help, or the others heading south toward ships and the Isle of Giants.

They just walked.

Camp came as the sun dipped toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of grey and orange. Gabriel found a clearing sheltered by bare trees, a small depression in the land that would hide their fire from the road.

He dropped his pack without ceremony and began gathering wood.

Tess watched him work. Efficient movements, no wasted effort. Like he'd done this a thousand times before. Probably had.

The fire caught quickly. Small flames grew into something steady, casting flickering light across the clearing as darkness settled around them.

Gabriel sat on his pack, staring into the flames. Silent.

Tess couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you going to say anything?" Her voice cut through the quiet. "Or are we just going to walk in silence for four weeks until you get yourself killed?"

Gabriel didn't look up. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. Something. Anything." She moved closer to the fire, sitting across from him. "You told them everything back at the farmhouse. The cult, the torture, Lucius. But you didn't tell them about Cathedral Square."

His jaw tightened.

"What happened there, Gabriel? Why did you lose control for a woman you didn't even know?"

"I put her there." The words came out flat. "In that alley. I could have killed her. Should have. It would have been faster. Cleaner." He finally looked up, meeting her eyes. "Instead I let her go. And the Church took her. Tortured her. Made an example."

"So you tried to save her."

"I tried to fix my mistake."

"By charging into Cathedral Square surrounded by guards?" Tess's voice hardened. "That wasn't fixing anything. That was suicide."

Gabriel said nothing.

"The red smoke," Tess continued. "Melissa said you attacked her. That you didn't recognise her. That there was nothing in your eyes."

"I don't remember."

"Convenient."

"It's the truth." Gabriel's expression remained empty. "I remember the scaffold. The woman hanging. Then nothing until I woke up in the safe house."

Tess stared at him across the fire. "You could have died there. Would have, if Gilbert hadn't knocked you out."

"I know."

"And now you're walking toward another death. A wyvern hunt with just the two of us and no real plan."

"Yes."

"Why?" The question came out sharper than she'd intended. "Why drag me into this? Why not just go alone like you wanted?"

Gabriel was quiet for a long moment. "You insisted on coming."

"That's not an answer."

He looked away, back to the fire. "I didn't want anyone else to die because of me. Hanitz died holding that gate. The woman in Cathedral Square died because I made a choice. Mera and the others heading south. At least they're moving away from this. Away from me."

"And me?"

"You wouldn't let me leave you behind."

Tess's hands clenched. "You left me behind in Galveston."

The words hung in the air between them.

Gabriel's expression didn't change, but something shifted in his posture. A tension that hadn't been there before.

"When you left to go after Lucius," Tess continued, her voice low and dangerous. "You didn't even tell me. Just walked out. Gilbert had to stop you. Had to force you to take him."

"You needed rest. You all did"

"Don't." Tess stood abruptly. "You left because you didn't want me there. Because you were going to die trying to kill your brother, and you didn't want me to watch you die."

Gabriel stood as well, facing her across the fire. "Yes."

"Yes?" Her voice rose. "That's it? That's all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say?" His tone remained flat, but there was an edge to it now. "That I was wrong? That I should have taken you with me to get beaten half to death by Lucius? That I should have let you watch him break every bone in my body?"

"You should have trusted me enough to make my own choice!"

"You would have died!"

The words echoed in the clearing. Gabriel's breathing had quickened, his control slipping.

"Lucius isn't like anyone you've fought," he continued, voice harsh. "He's not some bandit or monster or corrupt guard. He's the Executioner. The Church's weapon. And he barely had to try. He shattered my swords with his hands. Broke my ribs with his fists. I couldn't even touch him."

"And you think I don't know that?" Tess moved around the fire, closing the distance between them. "You think I didn't see him in Eldenreach?"

"Then you understand why I left you behind."

"I understand that you're a coward."

Gabriel's expression went cold.

"You heard me." Tess was directly in front of him now, close enough to see the faint glow starting to build in his eyes. "You're a coward. Not because you ran from Lucius. But because you won't let anyone help you. Won't let anyone in."

"I'm trying to keep you safe."

"By walking toward certain death? By hunting a wyvern with no plan? By completing some demonic trial that will turn you into exactly what the cult wanted?" Her voice cracked slightly. "That's not keeping me safe, Gabriel. That's running away from everyone who gives a damn about you."

Tess's hand shot out, shoving his chest hard enough to make him step back. "Because some of us care! Even when you're being a self-destructive idiot who tries to save strangers and attacks nuns and leaves his friends behind without a word!"

Gabriel caught her wrist before she could shove him again. "You shouldn't have come."

"Then send me back."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because—" He stopped. The words caught in his throat.

Tess pulled her wrist free and hit him. Not a shove this time. A proper punch to his jaw that snapped his head to the side.

Gabriel's hand moved to his face, touching where her fist had connected. He looked at her, something flickering behind the emptiness in his eyes.

Tess hit him again. Same spot. Harder.

This time Gabriel caught her wrist before she could pull back. "Stop."

"Make me."

They stood frozen, her wrist in his grip, her other hand already rising. Gabriel's breathing had gone shallow. The red glow in his eyes was brighter now, but different somehow. Not the empty rage from Cathedral Square. Something else.

"Tess—"

She closed the distance between them and kissed him.

For a heartbeat, Gabriel didn't move. Didn't respond. Just stood rigid, caught completely off guard.

Then something broke.

His free hand came up to her face, fingers threading through her hair as he kissed her back. Not gentle. Not careful. Desperate, like a man drowning and finally breaking the surface.

Tess's hands moved to his chest, gripping his shirt, pulling him closer.

When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Gabriel's forehead rested against hers.

"This is a mistake," he said quietly.

"Probably."

"I'm going to die hunting that wyvern."

"Maybe."

"You should go back. To Kelmar. Wait for the others."

Tess's hands tightened on his shirt. "Shut up, Gabriel."

"Tess—"

"I said shut up." She kissed him again, shorter this time. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going back. And if you try to sneak off without me, I'll track you down and hit you again."

"You already hit me twice."

"I'll make it three."

Despite everything, the dead woman in Cathedral Square, the impossible hunt ahead, the trial waiting in the mountains. Gabriel's lips twitched. Not quite a smile. But close.

They stood there for a moment longer, the fire crackling beside them, darkness pressing in from all sides. Finally, Tess pulled back, though her hands remained on his chest.

"We need a plan," she said. "For the wyvern. For whatever comes after. We can't just walk into this blind."

"I know."

"There's a town three days ahead. Thornstud. It's known for monster hunters."

Gabriel nodded slowly. "We stop there. Gather supplies. Information."

"Weapons," Tess added. "Better weapons. You need another sword, one doesn't suit you"

"Then I'll get another."

The practicality of it settled between them. A plan, however slim. Something better than just walking east until they reached the mountains and died trying.

Gabriel's hand moved to his pack, to where the book rested. "It's quiet now. The voice. With the book this close, the compulsion isn't as strong."

"But it's still there."

"Yes."

Tess stepped back fully, moving to sit by the fire again. "Tell me about the vision. What you saw when your blood touched the pages."

Gabriel sat across from her, and for the next hour, he talked. About the field of ash and the dead Dracamerians. About the seven winged figures and the slaughter they'd committed. About Drusgard, the Eighth Divine, demanding vengeance from his throne of black stone.

About the wyvern hunt he'd seen, the heart consumed, the fire that erupted from within.

"That's what the trial requires," he finished quietly. "Hunt a wyvern. Take its heart. Consume it. Complete the awakening."

"And become what?" Tess asked. "What happens when you drink a wyvern's heart?"

"I don't know. The vision ended before I could see."

"But you can guess."

Gabriel stared into the fire. "I become what the cult wanted. What Ariya spent six months trying to create. A Dracamerian. Or close enough."

"Is that what you want?"

The question hung heavy between them.

"I don't know," Gabriel admitted. "I don't know what I want. I just know the voice won't stop. The incomplete awakening is tearing me apart. And the only way to end it is to finish what they started."

Tess watched him across the fire. "Or die trying."

"Or die trying."

Silence fell again, but different this time. Not the oppressive quiet of two strangers walking together. Something else. An understanding, maybe. Or acceptance of what lay ahead.

"First watch," Tess said, standing. "You sleep. We have a long walk tomorrow."

Gabriel nodded and moved to his bedroll, but he didn't close his eyes immediately. He watched Tess settle into position by the fire, her hand resting on her sword hilt, her eyes scanning the darkness beyond their small circle of light.

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