Novels by Juliet Blair

“Is that him?” a young voice whispered from somewhere along the valley’s edge, but Ryder didn’t turn. He didn’t hear the packs gathering. He didn’t see the shadows forming a wide crescent around the field. He heard only the fading echo of her voice inside him, soft enough to break him, strong enough to guide him.He walked forward, slow steps over dew-coated grass that shimmered in the early light. The world seemed painted in silver and gold, every color too bright, too gentle, as if reality was trying to offer comfort he had no idea how to accept. He felt the warmth of the sun on his skin , a warmth he hadn’t known in years , but it didn’t reach the parts of him that mattered.“Ryder,” an elder murmured from the crowd, voice filled with awe and confusion. “He’s alive.”He didn’t answer. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, as if her voice might be waiting just beyond it. Wind curved around him in soft spirals, brushing his arms, his shoulders, the back of his neck. He knew that touch.

“Where is she?” Ryder’s voice croaked into the cold morning air before he even understood he was awake. The sound didn’t feel like it came from his throat. It felt torn out of him, dragged up from some depth he hadn’t visited in years.He opened his eyes slowly, cautiously, as if the world might collapse the second he looked at it. Above him stretched a pale sky washed in the colors of first light , soft gold bleeding into silver, and silver fading into the faintest blue. For a moment he simply blinked, confused, trying to gather himself. The last thing he remembered was the unbearable pull of the shadow realm, Sienna’s name struggling to stay on his tongue as everything inside him cracked apart.Now… dew coated his hair. Grass cushioned his back. Warmth touched his skin, unfamiliar and startling. He sat up sharply, breath catching. The warmth didn’t disappear. It stayed. Steady. Gentle. Real.His chest rose and fell with a rhythm that felt newly born.He touched his heart with trembl

“Ryder, get up,” Sienna whispered urgently, her hands sliding beneath his arms as she tried to pull him onto his feet. “We can’t stay here.”“I’m trying,” he muttered, his voice weak but determined, forcing his legs beneath him even as they trembled like they no longer belonged to him. “Just… give me a second.”“We don’t have a second.” She glanced over her shoulder, heart pounding so hard she felt the beat in her teeth. The place where Lunaris had vanished still crackled with residual light, like the very air feared to settle. “She’ll come back. Or worse, something she sent will.”Ryder exhaled a shaky breath, gripping her shoulder not because he needed balance but because he needed her closeness. “Where are we going?”“The old Moon Temple,” she said without hesitation. “It’s the only place she won’t destroy outright. She still needs what’s buried beneath it.”Ryder huffed a laugh as they stumbled into the tree line, his arm slung over her shoulders. “You mean that ruin you dragged m

The Goddess Marks Them Both“Don’t move,” Ryder warned, his voice ragged as he pressed a shaking hand to the tree beside him. “She’s here.”Sienna froze mid-step, her breath sharp in her chest. The night around them, previously silent except for the distant rustling of wind across the ruined temple grounds, seemed to tighten. The air condensed, thick like cold smoke, then shifted with purpose. Every torch flame bent toward a single point behind them.“Ryder,” she whispered, unable to keep the quake from her voice, “don’t look back.”“I already did.” His jaw locked. “Too late.”Light exploded across the abandoned clearing, violent, blinding, a burst of moonfire that clawed the shadows off every stone. Sienna instinctively shielded her face, but Ryder didn’t. He stood exposed beneath the storm of radiance, breath torn from him as if the light fed on his pounding heart.Lunaris stepped from the radiance as if it were the fabric of her robes, her presence so massive it crushed the air int

“Open the gate,” Sienna ordered the moonlit corridor itself, her voice steady as steel though her pulse trembled beneath her skin. “I know you hear me. You’ve always heard me.”The torches along the walls dimmed as if exhaling, their flames bending toward her, and the air thickened with the unmistakable presence of something old, ancient enough to remember the first kings. The stone beneath her feet vibrated, humming like a heartbeat awakening after centuries of silence. It wasn’t the first time the Citadel had shifted around her, but tonight it felt deliberate. Sentient. Expectant.She stepped forward.The corridor stretched ahead, then twisted, doors vanishing, arches melting into silver vapors, walls folding into themselves. The castle obeyed her, guiding her toward the hidden exit reserved for chosen vessels of the goddess. Sienna didn’t look back. There was nothing behind her she couldn’t leave, except memories, and she carried those like wounds.“You shouldn’t go alone,” a voice

“I heard him again,” Sienna whispered into the dim chamber, her voice barely carrying beyond the archway where moonlight pooled like liquid silver. “You can tell me I’m imagining it, but I know his voice. I know when the world bends.”The High Seer, ancient and thin as parchment, didn’t lift her eyes from the scroll she was unrolling. Her fingers trembled not from age, but from fear she didn’t dare name out loud. “Your Majesty,” she murmured, “the dead do not call to the living. Not after this many years. Not after what happened at the gate.”Sienna stepped closer, the hem of her gown whispering over marble as if the floor recognized her and shifted to meet her steps. Her expression held no anger, only a quiet certainty that unnerved even those who served her most loyally. “Ryder has never been dead,” she said softly. “He was taken, not lost.”The Seer finally looked up, and the flickering torches reflected in her milky eyes. “You rule with grace, but your heart clings to a spirit tha

Savannah braced her hands against the cool metal railing as the elevator doors rattled shut behind them. For a moment, the dim emergency lights of the sub-level corridor cast deep shadows across the concrete walls, warping their shapes into something almost alive. Cole led the way, tension in every line of his shoulders, and Jackson walked beside her close enough for their arms to brush whenever the narrow corridor forced them together. The secrecy of this floor, buried beneath Sterling Tower, carried a weight that pressed against her ribs. This was where Harrison hid secrets. This was where the origins of the entire scheme lived. And this was where Cole insisted they had to go if they wanted the upper hand.“Keep your steps quiet,” Cole murmured without looking back. “This part of the building wasn’t designed for civilian access. If the wrong system picks up our movement, we’re done.”Savannah took a steady breath and matched his pace. Jackson slowed slightly, adjusting his stride to

The alarms were already screaming across Sterling Tower the moment Savannah and Jackson burst out of the maintenance shaft. Red lights flashed in rhythmic pulses, bathing the steel hallways in sharp crimson. Security doors slammed shut section by section like a metal beast sealing its ribs. The building felt alive breathing, heaving, resisting.Cole didn’t slow down. “Move! Harrison initiated a remote override. He’s trying to reverse what we did.”Savannah’s pulse hammered, her legs burning as she ran. Jackson stayed at her side, one hand hovering near her back, ready to catch her, guide her, shield her. Every now and then his gaze cut toward her, sharp and protective checking she was still beside him, still keeping pace.“What happens if he succeeds?” Savannah demanded breathlessly.“He reboots the tower from an offsite node,” Cole answered. “The release will trigger automatically. Everything we stopped will go public with zero chance of interference.”Savannah felt cold flood her st

“Move, Savannah!”Jackson’s voice cut through the shrill siren as the tower lights blazed red. Savannah sprinted after him and Cole, her breath sharp in her lungs, the metal walkway trembling beneath her feet as the emergency shutters began slamming down one by one. The entire building felt alive furious, shaking, reacting to a threat she couldn’t yet see.Cole grabbed the railing and swung himself around the corner. “Harrison must’ve realized we stopped the data dump. He’s activating the purge protocol!”Savannah’s heart hammered. “What’s that?!”“A full system wipe,” Cole shouted. “It’ll destroy every record including whatever evidence is on that drive!”And possibly kill them if they were still inside when the purge reached the server core.Jackson didn’t slow. He pushed open the service door, and cold air blasted them from the elevator shaft. “In. Now.”Savannah rushed in beside him. Her legs felt like fire. The elevator cage below was three floors down, blocked by an emergency ha

“Where did you get that drive?” Jackson’s voice was low, dangerous, echoing off the metal walls of the maintenance chamber. Cole didn’t flinch. He held the black drive between two fingers like it was both proof and curse. “Hidden behind the secondary server’s heat sink,” he said. “Harrison must’ve stashed it there before the lockdown activated.”Savannah wiped her trembling hands on her pants. Her body still buzzed from the electrical surge they’d endured minutes ago, but adrenaline kept her upright. “What’s on it?” she asked.Cole hesitated and that hesitation alone made Savannah’s stomach twist. “Everything Harrison didn’t want anyone to see,” he said. “Financial trails. Strategy memos. Meeting transcripts. And…” His throat bobbed. “Personal files.”Jackson’s expression hardened. “Personal?”Cole nodded slowly. “On you. On Savannah. And on Delilah.”A cold ripple slid down Savannah’s spine. “On me? Why?”“Because you weren’t just part of his plan,” Cole said. “You were the fulcrum.”

“Savannah don’t look down.” Jackson’s voice carried through the narrow metal walkway like a steady anchor, even though she could hear the tension buried beneath each word. She didn’t need to look down to feel the terrifying drop beneath the grated platform beneath her feet. The icy air rising from the lower levels of Sterling Tower’s underground server core scraped against her skin like invisible fingers. The red emergency lights flickered in uneven pulses, casting jagged shadows that made every step feel unstable, every movement tense with danger.She followed behind Jackson and Cole as the walkway shivered under their combined weight. Each footstep sent a low metallic groan through the shaft, echoing in a way that made Savannah’s spine tighten. She swallowed hard and whispered, “Are you sure this is the right way?” but Jackson didn’t turn. His eyes stayed forward, sharp and focused. “It’s the only way,” he replied. “The lockdown sealed every exit except this manual override tunnel.

“Move, Savannah now!”Jackson’s voice cut through the thunder of alarms, sharp as a blade. Red strobes pulsed across the server room, casting violent shadows on the steel walls. The air vibrated with the hum of overloaded circuits. Savannah’s lungs burned as she followed Jackson deeper into the restricted chamber, her heartbeat thrumming against her ribs.Cole slammed into another console, his fingers flying over the keys. “The lockdown wasn’t automatic! Someone triggered it manually!”Savannah didn’t need a name. One floated to her mind like smoke.Harrison.Her stomach twisted.Jackson stopped beside Cole. “How long until the full purge?”Cole didn’t look up. “Ten minutes. Maybe less. If the system completes it, all evidence tracks back to Savannah. The offshore accounts, the forged transactions all of it becomes ‘hers.’”Savannah felt the world tilt. “So I take the fall.”“No,” Jackson said sharply. “I won’t let that happen.”She met his eyes. In the flashing red light, he looked r