“We’re already here,” Elvira pressed on. “Do you understand how long this entrance has been sealed? How long it took to find it?”

  “Or,” I suggested cautiously, “we could… leave? The stairs aren’t about to pack up and relocate. We prepare, we come back, we don’t die.”

  She didn’t even dignify that with eye contact.

  “I’m not walking away now,” she said quietly. “Not when I’m this close. My reserve’s practically full. If anything moves, I’ll handle it.”

  Drake rose slowly. The zy smirk disappeared. Whatever irony he had been wearing evaporated.

  “No one is going anywhere,” he said quietly.

  And the air ignited. Just… ignited.

  A narrow strip of fme extended from his palm, dense, almost transparent at the edges, with a dark core within. It didn’t burn — it sliced the air. Finn didn’t even have time to step back. Drake moved forward — fast, efficient — and in the next second Finn’s arm was twisted behind his back.

  I genuinely didn’t see how.

  The bde of fire hovered at Finn’s throat. Not touching, but close enough to make the heat unmistakable.

  “Drake…” Finn exhaled, his voice trembled.

  “I warned you,” Drake said calmly.

  Calmly, which was significantly worse than shouting. Elvira reacted instantly. A pulsar fred in her palm — the same dense, blood-red mass of necro-energy I’d seen once before. It pulsed like a living heart.

  “Let him go,” she said, voice ice-cold.

  The pulsar quivered, ready to strike. Drake didn’t even turn his head.

  “Try,” he said.

  The fire edged closer, Finn sucked in air sharply, a thin burn marked his neck. Drake didn’t flinch. No rage. No drama. Just calcution. As though at any moment he could finish the motion — and feel nothing.

  “You won’t kill us,” Elvira said — though now it sounded more hopeful than certain.

  “Shall we test that?” he asked softly.

  And that was the moment I realised — he wasn’t bluffing.

  “Stop!” I stepped forward. “Drake.”

  He looked at me. The fme paused.

  “Please,” I said.

  There was a silence that felt far too long, then the fire vanished. Drake released Finn, who staggered back, breathing heavily. Elvira didn’t extinguish the pulsar immediately, she looked at Drake with a new, colder assessment.

  “You’re insane,” she said quietly.

  “No,” he replied evenly. “I warned you.”

  No apology. No remorse. Just fact. The tension thinned, fragile and sharp. And that was when I noticed that Moorka was gone. I gnced around instinctively. No smug bck shape. No flick of a tail. No quiet, judgemental presence near the wall.

  “Has anyone seen the cat?” I asked.

  Finn blinked. “Our catastrophic feline? No.”

  Elvira followed my gaze briefly, then shrugged.

  “She’ll turn up,” she said calmly. “Cats walk by themselves.”

  That did absolutely nothing to calm me. Soon Finn and Elvira vanished down the staircase like someone who had entirely forgotten about the “nearly dying” portion of the evening.

  I kept watching their silhouettes until the violet runes swallowed them up like stage lighting at a very ominous theatre production. The steps continued into darkness. I let out a slow breath.

  “Thank you,” I said quietly.

  Drake turned his head slightly.

  “For what?” There was a trace of amusement in his voice. “For not finishing them off?”

  “No.”

  He waited.

  “For saving us from the tenerants. And me… from the falling stones.”

  Silence. It struck me suddenly — no one had actually said that to him. Not then. Not now. He squinted slightly.

  “You don’t often hear that word from dark mages,” he said. “But you’re welcome.”

  Somewhere below, Finn yelled something. Elvira replied. Their voices echoed and dissolved into stone. I didn’t move. My legs felt absurdly heavy. In one evening we’d managed: gargoyle incident, smoke-monsters, ancient trap, purple runes, internal near-execution, and a descent into potential doom. Very productive.

  “Coming?” Drake asked.

  I gnced down the stairs. Then back at him.

  “Do I look like I have alternative pns?”

  A faint, almost reluctant smile.

  “Then don’t fall behind.”

  I stepped forward.

  The stair was slick, but this time I didn’t stumble. His hand settled against my back — not pulling me close, not openly supporting me. Just there. Ready. Close enough to catch me if necessary.

  We moved deeper. And with every step, it felt less like we had discovered something… and more like something had been waiting for us.