Filed to story: Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend Book PDF Free by Anna Campbell
Ethan crouched nearby, expression unreadable. “We don’t know anything for sure. The Gate… it plays tricks with time. With space. That chamber could be holding him. Or it could be showing us only what it wants.”
“But why?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Why him?”
No one answered.
Because maybe there wasn’t one.
Or maybe none of us were ready to say it aloud.
That he’d stepped too close.
That he’d stayed a second too long.
Varra stepped forward, flame bowed. “I will stand with you-not by force, but by promise”
Nate looked at me, eyes shining with hurt and hope.
The Gate hummed.
The runes pulsed.
And in that crystalline moment, I knew the choice lay in the empty space between us.
Flame trailed from my fingertips.
The Gate leaned toward my flame.
But I didn’t move.
I whispered:
This is my name.
And in that heartbeat-
* Jiselle*
The storm had quieted-but only on the surface. Beneath the silence of the crumbling akademy walls, the air vibrated like a Held breath. Like the world itself was waiting for ealnething to crack.
We moved through the inner vault corridors with quiet urgency, Eva leading us by instinct more than sight. Her flame flickered in a way I’d never seen before-thin and trembling, like a thread being pulled too tight.
I glanced at Nate beside me. His hand never left the small of my back, fingers grazing just enough to steady me, just enough to remind the room I was not alone. His body remained between mine and any potential breach, even now, even here when we didn’t know what waited ahead.
“Eva,” Bastain called softly. “Where’s the pull taking you?”
Her eyes fluttered. “Down. Always down.”
It wasn’t long before we reached the ritual chamber-old stones circled in half-buried runes, shattered remnants of a sigil that looked carved into the bone of the world. Nate’s jaw tensed the moment we stepped inside. I felt it too.
This place remembered magic.
And blood.
The Gate pulsed beneath our feet.
“I don’t like this,” Ethan muttered, one hand crackling faintly with his elemental gift.
“Neither do 1,” I whispered, then turned to Eva. “Is this where the vision ends?”
She didn’t answer.
Because she wasn’t breathing right.
Her shoulders hunched in on themselves, her arms folding across her middle as if her own body had turned against her. Her knees buckled, and I was at her side before she hit the floor.
“Eva!” I dropped beside her, catching her weight.
Her eyes were wide-too wide-and completely glazed.
“Something’s wrong,” I said quickly. “Something’s happening.”
“She’s slipping into it again,” Bastain murmured grimly, crouching beside me. “But this isn’t like before. Her gift is… anchoring.”
A moment later, Eva screamed.
It wasn’t loud. it was raw.
Like the world tore through her throat and dragged itself out in pieces. Her hands clawed at her skin, her feet kicked against stone, and her mouth moved without sound until the words finally came.
“Blood. Blood-he’s bleeding-Ethan-Ethan!”
I snapped my head toward my twin.
Ethan trore, every lich of his body locked in place.
“I’m right here,” he said quielly. “I’m right
“It’s not now!” Eva sobbed “It’s coming The Gats doesn’t want you -it wants her, but it it take you there
Rastain grabbed her wrists gently, futtering grounding spells under the breath, trying to center Ner focus.
Nate moved behind me, hands on my shoulders now, keeping me upright. “Your flama,” he whispered. “It’s reacting.”
And it was.
Violet light coiled through my skin like veins made of fire. It didn’t tash out-but it yearned. Pulled Stirred with Eva’s panic and Ethan’s gunned silenes
“I can calm it,” I whispered. “I think I can calm her.”
Nate nodded. “Then do it. I’ve got you.”
I pressed both hands to Eva’s cheeks, ignoring the heat crawling through my palms. “You’re here,” I whispered “With me. Come back to m
Her pupils dilated, fluttered-then focused.
“Jiselle,” she croaked.
“I’m here,” I whispered. “I’m always here.”
The flame receded-just a little.
Bastain lowered her hands gently, letting her sit back on her knees. Eva was panting, tears streaking down her cheeks.
“It’s not just Kael,” she murmured. “Someone else is summoning the Gate. From here. From inside.”
A silence fell.
One that rang.
“One of them?” Ethan asked. “A Gatekeeper?”
Eva shook her head. “No. Someone who doesn’t need to serve it. Someone who believes they are it.”
She looked at me. “The stones are listening now, Jis. Every wall. Every floor. The Gate isn’t just waking-it’s anchoring. It’s using your name to breathe.”
My stomach turned.
Bastain stood, face pale.
“Can we stop it?” I asked.
He moved toward the sigil-stained floor. “I can try to close the threads. If I sever the weave…”
He didn’t finish the sentence,
Instead, he knelt, pulled a blade from his satchel, and traced an old rune into the dirt-one I’d only seen once before.
My breath caught like a thorn in my chest.
The sound of stone grinding against stone rang louder than it should’ve-like the chamber itself was mourning what it had just swallowed. I stood frozen, fingers still locked in Nate’s, heart beating far too loud for a space so suddenly silent.
“No,” I whispered.
The word wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be.
Because when I turned-when’t looked behind me there was nothing but the cold curve of the sealed wall. No gap. No sound. No Max.
The fire in my chest surged once, then fell eerily still.
“Where is he?” I asked again, voice rising. “Where’s Max?”
Ethan’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. His eyes were fixed on the wall. Fixed on the place where Max had stood just moments before.
Eva crumpled to her knees, her breath shuddering as if the vision still clung to her ribs. Bastain stumbled temples. “He was right there,” he rasped. “I didn’t see him move. I didn’t see back from the broken seal, sweat lining his
I dropped Nate’s hand.
And I ran to the wall.
The stone was still hot. Still thrumming. Still humming with whatever magic had sealed it shut. I pounded my palm against it anyway, flame rising with every beat of my fist.
“Open it!” I shouted. “We have to get him out-Bastain, do something!”
“I can’t!” he snapped, voice cracking with guilt. “It wasn’t me who closed it! That wasn’t a barrier-it was a trigger. A ward turned burial site.”
My knees hit the floor.
The heat of the stone pressed into my palms, into my knees, into the hollowed-out ache behind my ribs. It didn’t feel like rejection. It didn’t even feel like punishment.
It felt like a decision.
The chamber had decided.
And Max had been the cost.
Nate was suddenly beside me, his arms curling around my shoulders as I shook.
“He could still be alive,” I whispered, but it didn’t sound like a sentence. It sounded like a prayer. A breath being bartered with a god I didn’t believe in.
“He’s strong,” Nate said. “And he wouldn’t fall easy.”
“But he wasn’t supposed to fall at all.”
Ethan crouched nearby, expression unreadable. “We don’t know anything for sure. The Gate… it plays tricks with time. With space. That chamber could be holding him. Or it could be showing us only what it wants.”
“But why?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Why him?”
No one answered.
Because maybe there wasn’t one.
Or maybe none of us were ready to say it aloud.
That he’d stepped too close.
That he’d stayed a second too long.
That maybe just maybe he’d meant to.
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