OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: OF SLEEPING WEAPONS AND STRATEGISTS WHO DON'T SLEEP

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: OF SLEEPING WEAPONS AND STRATEGISTS WHO DON'T SLEEP

Riyee's POV
Eclipsa Sanctum – Sigil Heart Hall | 18:00

The moment classes ended, we gathered again here in the war hall. KD is upstairs in my room. I dragged him with me here in Eclipsa Sanctum. Because right now, we don't trust anyone around us.

He's upstairs now. In my room. Keryn said he needed to rest, and before he could protest, she shoved something into his hands and ordered him to drink it.

She called it "Calm Your Mind" Soup.

KD called it "mysterious potion with suspicious aftertaste".
Then he fell asleep within ten minutes.

Now we were here. The nine of us gathered in the Sigil Heart Hall, the war chamber lit in faint gold pulse.

Everything we will discuss here is about KD and his Echo-9 Lucem.

Xythe spun Hecate, his revolver, around his fingers with controlled, idle elegance. But I knew him well enough to see past the performance—he was already running scenarios in his mind, weighing outcomes, calculating risks.

"So," he began, voice even, "what's our move now?"

Alexie sat on the far table, legs up, running a cloth over Eris, her spear.

"KD almost got me," she muttered, not afraid—just honest. "He didn't miss because he hesitated. He missed because Seb yanked me out of range. He's fast."

"That wasn't KD," I said, keeping my voice steady as I wrapped my fingers around Artemis, my hybrid arc-bow. "That was Lucem. And that version of him? That's not someone who knows us."

"Lucem," Seb murmured, flipping his Aegus knife once before locking his grip. "How do you stop someone like that?"

I shot him a look sharp enough to slice through the tension.

"Relax," Seb said, hands lifting in a slow, measured gesture. "I mean contain, not kill. He's yours, Ari. I'm not asking you to bind your heart—just the part that's wired to kill."

"Then phrase it better," I snapped. My voice cracked slightly at the end, and I hated how much they all noticed.

Saichel chuckled under his breath while adjusting Chronos, the skeletal wires fitted into his gloves. "You know, this is the most fun I've had in a war room in weeks. Forbidden love, unstable weapon, questionable orders... all we need now is popcorn and betrayal.."

"Saichel," I warned, sharp enough to make him pause.

"Sorry," he said, not really sorry, that mischievous smirk never leaving his face.

Then Lyle—sitting like a king bored of the battlefield, flicking Ares, his orichalcum playing cards—spoke up.

"We need a plan," he said. Flat. Sharp. Like a blade hidden in silk.

The room went still, every eye locking onto him. Even Saichel, who thrived on chaos, paused mid-smirk. I could feel the weight behind Lyle's words, the quiet authority that made everyone—myself included—listen before breathing again.

"We confirmed something today," he continued. "Lucem is waiting inside Khaizer Dylan. And he responds to specific triggers—mostly subconscious, and especially during dreams."

He looked directly at me.

"From now on, sleep with the Frost Monarch."

My breath caught. "What?"