Chapter 9: The Secret Alliance

BUTTERFLY CASCADE — CHAPTER 9 BRIEF

State entering Ch9:
- Mira and Dorian escaped the Loom after confronting Malchor. They are permanently bonded (physiological merger confirmed in Ch08 — "I signed it anyway").
- Malchor has activated the Severance Key but it FAILED — their bond was too strong. He is still hunting them.
- The Starfall Drift is accelerating — 75% sky coverage, reality thinning is audible.
- CARRIED SECRET #1 (Dorian): His family's lineage was the original architects of the Starfall breach. Mira does NOT know. This MUST be revealed this chapter.
- CARRIED SECRET #2 (Mira): The Soul-Tether has an Imperial back-door override. Dorian does NOT know.

CHAPTER 9 BEATS:
1. OPENING: Brief moment of safety — they've reached a hidden safehouse (Dorian's family bolt-hole in the old city). First time truly alone since the permanent bond was confirmed.
2. CONFESSION: Dorian confesses the family secret. His ancestors — the original Solas Accord Architects — deliberately destabilized the first Starfall barrier to gain political power. The breach is his family's fault. He has spent his entire career trying to secretly repair it.
3. MIRA'S REACTION: She doesn't rage. She asks: "Is that why you kept trying to send me away?" His protectiveness was guilt, not just duty. She realizes the bond they now share is BOTH the cause (Solas family) and the cure (the Grey) made manifest.
4. COUNTER-REVELATION: Mira tells him about the Soul-Tether back-door (the Imperial override Dorian doesn't know about). Now both secrets are in the open between them.
5. CLOSING HOOK: Dorian shows her a hidden document from his family's archive — a map to the Original Breach Site, the only place where the Starfall drift can be permanently sealed. But getting there means crossing through active Ministry territory, and Malchor has just locked down the Capital. Dorian's sacrifice echoes Aldric Solas (referenced in family history) — this time, he won't let history repeat.

TONE: Intimate, raw, the quiet after the storm. This is the chapter where they stop being rivals turned allies and become partners with full mutual knowledge.