LUCIEN'S POV:SONG OF THE CHAPTER: LOVE U BY HOWL I stand on the cliffs just outside the Guen stronghold, stormclouds coiled tightly above me, the sky too still to be trusted. The scent of rain lingers, but it hasn't fallen. It's as if the sky itself is holding its breath. Elen stands beside me, silver-blue hair dancing like a banner in the wind. He is watching the sky too, but his expression is calm... too calm. "You're not just a stormwalker," he says finally, voice quiet like thunder before the quake. "You're the turning key." I arch a brow. "You’ve said that before. Vaguely and mysteriously. Like a damn Windborne oracle. Care to be less poetic and more useful?" Elen turns his strange, cloud-swirled eyes to mine. "Fine. The prophecy calls you the Stormwalker; he who walks the edge of storms, who splits fate from ruin with a single breath. But that path doesn’t end with the Boundless."Oh, more trouble? Nice. The wind howls as he says it, like the very air is trying
CHAPTER 114: DRAGONHEARTPOV: RheaSONG OF THE CHAPTER: The first thing I notice when I wake up is the silence. Not the kind that is comforting and not the kind that means rest. This one is loud. It echoes in the bones of my ears and pulses inside my chest like a space that used to hold something important but now just rings hollow.My body feels strange. Not broken, not bruised. Just... feels borrowed. Like it belongs to someone else now. I blink at the ceiling above me which is carved with stone, shifting patterns like wind trapped in rock and I can feel Lucien before I see him. His presence wraps around me like a storm barely held at bay."You're awake." His voice is soft but raspy, like he's used it too many times while I was unconscious. I turn my head. He’s seated beside the bed, dark hair a mess, storm eyes rimmed red. His hand tightens around mine before I even realize he’s holding it. "Three days," he whispers. "You didn’t move for three days."My mouth is d
CHAPTER 113: AFTERSTORMLUCIEN'S POV:SONG OF THIS CHAPTER: NEED YOU BY FIREBOY DML~~~ The room is too quiet, too still and I hate how loud my thoughts get in its silence. Rhea hasn’t stirred since the Crown fused into her. It’s been three days, a freaking seventy-two hours of not hearing her voice, not seeing her eyes or feeling her fire through the bond.And gods, I miss her fire. I sit beside her, my hand closed around hers like it’s the only thing keeping her tethered. I count her breaths obsessively. One every five seconds. Soft and shallow. Her skin is warmer than normal, like the sun lives in her veins now. The dragon mark on her wrist pulses faintly every few minutes, flickering gold and ember-red, like it’s remembering what she’s become. Nyrielle told me it would happen. That after the shards merged, Rhea would need time to re-forge herself. But what no one told me is that it would feel like waiting for death. I haven’t slept. I barely eat. Rowan sends food
CHAPTER 112: CROWN OF THREEPOV: RHEASONG OF THE CHAPTER: MY DEMONS BY STARSET (ACOUSTIC)~~(MOMENTS BEFORE THE DREMARI DIES:)The wind is too quiet.It’s the kind of stillness that only comes after something sacred has shattered. The kind that hangs heavy in your lungs, tastes like copper and grief. The Dremari lies on the stone altar, more shadow than substance now. His form is flickering each breath a struggle, each movement like smoke curling in reverse. The crater around us glows faintly, the remains of his protection spell still etched in the cracked ground. I kneel beside him, the others keeping back with Lucien standing closest with his jaw tight and fists trembling. Rowan leans heavily on one arm and blood trailing down the ruin of the other. Nyrielle crouches next to Elen, trying to keep him conscious.And the Dremari… he’s dying. “I’m not ready,” I whisper. My voice is hoarse. “Don’t leave yet. You haven’t told me how.”His head turns slowly toward me. His eyes ar
SONG OF THE CHAPTER: WAR OF HEARTS BY RUELLERHEA'S POV: It begins with a sound, like the howl of the world itself being split down the spine. One moment, the clouds are bruised purple and pulsing. The next, they rupture, revealing nothing but white-hot light and shadow claws clawing into reality.The veil collapses. I stagger back, shielding my eyes as the sky opens like a wound. Creatures pour through; the Boundless, grotesque and shifting like the space between dreams and nightmares. Some walk on six legs, others fly on wings made of bone. Their eyes glow void-black, hollow as if the universe forgot to fill them. All of Guen trembles. The air buzzes with magic which feels raw are unfiltered. The kind that feels like it might rip you apart molecule by molecule.Ezra roars."To arms! Protect the line!" The gates shatter as the first wave hits. The steel crashes, magic ignites and screams start to increase. Lucien appears beside me in a flash of blue lightning. His
SONG OF THE CHAPTER: "IN THE END" BY BLACK VEIL BRIDES (ACOUSTIC VERSION)RHEA’S POV: I don’t sleep. I don’t even blink. Well, to be fair, I can't do any of those. The moment the veil sealed again after the dragon lord vanished with my mother, the entire stronghold tilted on edge. Now, everyone walks like ghosts trying to memorize the walls. Soldiers double the rounds. Fae emissaries whisper in hallways. Ezra and Rowan barely leave the war room. The boy, the Windborne, lingers in silence, like he knows more than any of us and just doesn’t feel like telling.And Lucien? Lucien hasn't let go of me since the rift closed, like he's terrified that if he lets go, I’ll be pulled in next. He was training with the Windborne boy and Rowan yesterday to control and harness his powers. I'm so proud of him. He hasn't had a break since he woke up from that damn coma. We sit now on the roof of the Guen Pack's northern tower. The wind brushes my skin like it’s trying to remind m