A Flame in the Shadow
For a thousand years, the city of Crescent Falls has survived beneath the shadow of an ancient savior. Each century, a man is chosen as an offering to Sariyah—the being said to have once driven demons from the world. When Bastion, the man Ember loves, is taken after daring to refuse her, Ember’s grief turns into defiance, and she vows to bring him home no matter the cost.
Her search forces her into an uneasy alliance with Orion St. James, a dangerously charming immortal with a violent past and secrets tied to Sariyah herself. Bound together by a magic neither of them wants nor understands, Ember and Orion are drawn into a hidden war beneath the city—one involving cultists, monsters, and an ancient order known as the Watchers.
As Crescent Falls begins to fracture, Ember experiences unsettling visions that hint her bloodline is far more entangled with Sariyah than anyone ever suspected. Strange new powers awaken within her, blurring the line between protector and destroyer, while enemies gather and old loyalties are tested.
With the city on the brink of collapse and unseen forces moving in the shadows, Ember must decide how far she is willing to go to save Bastion—and whether becoming something darker is the only way to stop an evil that has ruled unchallenged for centuries.
Because some thrones are not inherited.
They are taken.
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Chapter: Chapter 8EmberThe path to the old sanctum wasn’t on any map. It was stitched together from memory, whispers, and blood-stained warnings carved into alley bricks. Caelan led, hood up, blades hidden but close. Orion walked beside me, his hand never far from the dagger at his hip. We passed through the Witchmarket, where the forgotten and the damned bartered in curses and bone, and descended into the tunnels beneath the city’s spine. It stank of mildew, old magic, and something fouler.“Why do all roads to forbidden knowledge smell like rotting priest?” Orion muttered.Caelan didn’t look back. “Because you’ve been in too many temples.”“I’ve been banished from too many temples. Big difference.”I arched a brow. “You’ve been banished from a lot of places, haven’t you?”“Only the boring ones.”I smirked, just a little.We reached a sealed iron gate half-buried in stone. Caelan knelt, whispering something in a guttural tongue I didn’t recognize. There was a pause. Then something shifted behind the
최신 업데이트: 2026-01-14
Chapter: Chapter 7EmberThe town hadn’t stopped smoldering. From the crumbling rooftop where I sat, I could still see the firelight flickering like a heartbeat in the distance—slow, persistent, dangerous. I was trying not to take it personally. The bond between me and Orion felt louder tonight. Not painful. Just… insistent. A low, steady thrum beneath my ribs. I couldn’t tell if it was trying to warn me or seduce me.“Brooding again?” came his voice, smooth and sharp like a dagger wrapped in silk.I didn’t look. “Go away.”“You say that like it’s an option.” He dropped down beside me with all the elegance of a falling shadow. “But lucky us—we’re still magically tethered like a pair of cursed soulmates from a really bad poem.”“Don’t call it that,” I muttered.“What? Soulmates? Oh no, Flame. I’m not that sentimental.”“Don’t call me that either.”He smirked. “But it suits you. All sparks and fury. Dangerous if someone gets too close.”“I said no.”“I heard you.” He glanced out at the burning skyline. “I
최신 업데이트: 2026-01-13
Chapter: Chapter 6OrionWe didn’t have time to linger on the ruins. Not when we were being watched. I felt it first—like breath on the back of my neck. A presence just out of reach. My shadows twitched at my heels.“You feel that?” I asked Ember, low and careful.She frowned. “What?”I didn’t answer. I stepped away, shadows slinking around my boots like silent hounds. The presence was near—close enough to taste. I followed it through the crumbling treeline, through damp moss and whispers of ash. A figure darted behind the ruined column of an old shrine. I didn’t react, didn’t let him know I was onto him.“Stay here, don’t make a sound.” I whispered to her.He moved like a ghost through the ruins—quiet, deliberate, too damn good to be ordinary. But not good enough to shake me. I stayed to the shadows, matching his pace as he weaved through the crumbling forest path behind the temple ruins. His cloak fluttered slightly as he ducked between trees, something silver flashing at his hip. Not a common blade.
최신 업데이트: 2026-01-13
Chapter: Chapter 5EmberThe fire crackled low in the ruined catherdral, casting flickering shadows across the stone floor. We had made camp in what was once a place of devotion, though to which god or monster, I wasn’t sure. The stained glass had long since shattered, and vines choked the altar like nature had tried to strangle the holiness out of it. I guess that was fitting, considering who I was stuck with.Orion stretched out on the remains of a pew, arms behind his head, ankles crossed, as if being magically shackled to someone wasn’t a complete violation of personal space and we weren’t in possible mortal danger.He watched me pace with casual amusement. “If you keep doing that, Flame, you’ii wear a trench into the floor. Then again..” His eyes flicked to my feet, voice dropping just enough to make my pulse misbehave. “Maybe I like watching you burn your path into things.”“Stop calling me that.” I snapped.“ I will stop when you stop glowing every time I do it.”“I’m not glowing.”He tilted his
최신 업데이트: 2026-01-10
Chapter: Chapter 4BastionThey say you can’t break a man who has something to hold onto. She knows that. She knows me. That’s why she’s trying to take Ember from my mind piece by piece.The cell I have been placed in is made of obsidian and the silence is deafening. My wrists are bound with a soul wire that hums every time I think of fire, or resistance, or of her. Not Ember but her. Sariyah.She enters like always – soundless, scentless, ominous. The room shifts with her prescence, growing colder and darker, as if even the stones know to fear her. She doesn’t look at me right away. She trails her fingers along the chains on the wall, humming some forgotten lullaby. I stay slumped in the corner, bones fractured and hope thinning. Then she turns. Those dark souless eyes settle on me.“I dreamed of you last night.” She says, voice soft, almost mournful. “You were weeping.”“I don’t cry.”She smiles. “Not yet.”I don’t move, dont react. She hates that. She wants rage, defiance, emotion. She will get none
최신 업데이트: 2026-01-10
Chapter: Chapter 3Ember“I can feel you thinking.” I muttered, pacing the floor.Orion leaned against the doorway of the old rundown house we had taken shelter in, arms crossed, eye on the storm outside. The place smelled of mildew and the moisture was thick in the air. His silhouette looked carved from smoke- motionless, but full of coiled energy, like if I blinked he would disappear.“ I dont think,” he said. “ I calculate.”“Fine. Calculate faster I want this gone.”He tunred, expression unreadable “ You think I dont?”The tether between us hummed with tension. I had tried to run from him earlier, down an alley, but the second I had crossed some invisible line, the pain had lanced through me like a blade. He staggered too. It wasn’t just a bond, it was a curse.“We weren’t supposed to connect like this,” he said at last. “You stepped on a rune meant to anchor power. I tried to pull you out before it triggered, but the rune didn’t just recognize your power. It recognized mine, and it forced them toge
최신 업데이트: 2026-01-09
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