The rest of the class passed in a blur.
Aria didn't even remember how she got back to her dorm room. Her head was spinning with fragments of the mirror—two versions of herself, Kael's crest, and the way the magic had reacted like it recognized something ancient buried inside her.
She wasn't just bonded.
She was something else.
---
Later that night, a knock came at her door.
She hesitated, then opened it to find a parchment envelope, sealed with red wax and stamped with a serpent coiled around a flame.
She'd heard about this seal before.
The House of Umbra.
One of the six secret Houses in Aetherfall—elites bound by power, legacy, and ancient bloodlines.
Inside the envelope was a note:
> Miss Aria Velthorn,
Your soulbond anomaly and magical signature have earned you an invitation to join the House of Umbra.
We meet at midnight, beneath the Glass Halls. Come alone.
She barely had time to panic before someone else knocked—loudly this time.
She opened the door, heart racing, and saw—
Kael.
Dressed in all black, hoodie up, his mark still glowing faintly beneath his collar.
"We need to talk," he said, brushing past her into the room.
"You—do that a lot," she mumbled.
He ignored her and turned, eyes sharp. "You got a letter, didn't you?"
Her lips parted in surprise. "How do you know that?"
"Because I did too. Three years ago."
Aria blinked. "Wait… You're in one of the secret Houses?"
He hesitated.
Then nodded once.
"I'm Umbra," he said. "But I didn't choose them. They chose me when I awakened the bond. They... study soulbond mutations, forbidden spells, bloodline corruption."
Aria frowned. "Why would they want me?"
Kael looked at her—really looked.
"Because your Reflection showed something no one's seen in centuries. A dual soulbound. Light and void. That shouldn't be possible."
She swallowed hard. "So, what do I do?"
He stepped closer. "You don't go alone."
"But they said—"
"I don't care what they said." His voice was low, intense. "If they try to use you, I'll burn that whole house to the ground."
Something pulsed between them—the bond tightening.
She could feel his worry.
Not just about the secret House.
About her.
He turned to leave, then paused at the door.
"Midnight. I'll be waiting by the Glass Halls."
Then he was gone.
---
Midnight – Beneath the Academy
The Glass Halls weren't halls at all—they were ruins.
A shattered section of the original Aetherfall Academy, buried underground after the Great Rift War.
Aria stepped into the dim space, her boots crunching over shards of enchanted glass. Crystal reflections danced around her like echoes of a past long buried.
She wasn't alone.
Five figures in cloaks stood in a circle, faces hidden, each bearing the serpent-flame crest.
One of them stepped forward—a girl with bronze skin and a voice like silk.
> "Welcome, Aria Velthorn," she said. "Your bond is... fascinating."
Aria glanced around. "Why did you call me here?"
"Because there's something hunting bonded pairs," the girl said, pulling back her hood.
She was beautiful. Ethereal. Her left eye shimmered gold, the other pitch black.
> "And your bond may be the key to stopping it—or unleashing it."
A chill settled over Aria.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The girl smiled.
> "I'm Serel. Heir of the Umbra House. And I know the truth about Kael Azrael."
---