Novels by vivienbarnabas34

CHAPTER 17: THE WHITE WOLF AWAKENSScene 49: Emotional OverloadRaiken’s blue fire vanished beneath his hands.Hayate’s blood kept spreading across the pier.“Raiken.”He did not answer.His palms remained pressed over the wounds, but the light that had sealed broken flesh before refused to return. Kiyomi lay beside him, pale and shaking, one hand clamped over her mouth.The city clocks changed.12:00.Every phone in Silvercrest began to ring.The missing people lifted their heads.I saw them beyond the barricades, standing in the dark streets with their arms hanging loose. The nurse faced the harbour. The dockworker turned toward a fleeing crowd. The reporter stepped from the black ship onto the water.Their shadows rose behind them.“Move everyone back,” Raiken ordered.Daigo seized the nearest officer by the shoulder. “Get the civilians off the waterfront.”The officer stared at him.“Now.”His voice broke through the panic.Police began pushing the crowd toward the upper streets.

CHAPTER 16: HAYATE'S LOYALTY TESTScene 46: Rising ThreatsDarkness swallowed Silvercrest in one breath.Streetlights died along the coast. The towers beyond the harbour vanished behind black glass. Even the red beacons on the news helicopters blinked out.Only the risen kingdom remained lit.Blue fire burned along its bridges and palace walls, turning the bay into a cold, glowing wound.Raiken pulled me closer as people screamed behind the police barricades.“Stay beside me.”“I am beside you.”“Closer.”His hand settled at my lower back.Heat moved through the bond, sharp against the night air.Across the harbour, Elara’s image dissolved into the fog. Severin stood where she had left him, staring at nothing. Blood ran from his cut palm and struck the pier one drop at a time.Daigo looked toward the city.“This is not a power failure.”A low growl rolled through Raiken’s chest.“No.”Phones began ringing around us.Not one or two.Hundreds.The sound rose from abandoned cars, police

CHAPTER 15: THE ENEMY WATCHESScene 43: Eyes in the DarkThe third reflection held the Tide Crown above my head.I did not turn.Neither did Raiken.The mirror showed the room more clearly than the darkness around us. Hayate stood near the sealed doors. Daigo had one blade drawn. Tsukiko’s pale eyes faced the fireplace.Behind Raiken and me, the figure in the glass smiled.A woman.Long black hair. White dress. Skin too pale to belong to anyone living beneath the sun.She lowered the crown.It passed through my reflection.Cold tightened around my skull.I gasped.Raiken pulled me against him.“What do you feel?”“Something touching me.”His eyes flashed blue.The woman in the mirror leaned closer to my reflected face.“She can hear us,” she whispered.Her voice came from the glass and from the walls.Daigo stepped toward the fireplace.Tsukiko caught his sleeve.“Do not break it.”“That was exactly my plan.”“She wants the glass broken.”The woman smiled wider.Hayate looked over his

CHAPTER 14: FORBIDDEN PROXIMITYScene 40: Protection OrderGrandmother’s red eyes remained fixed on me through the doorway.The cottage cellar waited behind her, damp and dim, with Kiyomi chained beside the old stone wall.Raiken stepped in front of me.“No.”Grandmother smiled from the rocking chair.“You still answer for her.”His shoulders tightened.“I answer when someone tries to lure her into a trap.”The doorway trembled. Its edges bled black smoke into the library.Kiyomi lifted her head.“Ayame.”Her voice was weak.Hayate moved toward her.Tsukiko drove the end of her cane into the floor.The doorway snapped shut.The library returned in a rush of cold air.Hayate spun on her.“What did you do?”“Stopped you from walking into Orochi’s hands.”“She was there.”“So was something wearing a dead woman’s face.”His jaw flexed.Daigo folded his arms. “I dislike agreeing with her, but she is right.”Hayate looked ready to strike him.Raiken turned to the palace guards waiting outsi

CHAPTER 13: THE SEER'S WARNINGScene 37: Tsukiko's ResearchThe black mirror would not break.Hayate had thrown it against the wall.Raiken had crushed it beneath his heel.Daigo had wrapped it in silver chain and dropped it into the palace furnace.Each time, it returned to Kiyomi's empty bed without a scratch.By sunrise, the message still covered its surface.THE SECOND QUEEN REMEMBERS TOO.I stood over it with my arms folded.Raiken remained near the window, watching the wet footprints that ended at the open ledge. Beyond him, dawn spread weak grey light across the risen kingdom. Rescue boats crowded the bay. News helicopters circled beyond the towers.No one had seen Kiyomi leave.No one had heard her scream.Hayate had searched every room twice.He now stood beside the bed with his coat unbuttoned and dried blood on his collar. His usual stillness had cracked. One hand opened and closed at his side.A guard appeared in the doorway."The seer has arrived."Raiken turned.Hayate's

CHAPTER 12: AYAME'S FIRST VISIONScene 34: Restless SleepKiyomi slept behind a locked door.Hayate sat outside it with his back against the wall and a blade across his knees.Her red eyes had faded before we carried her into the eastern tower, but the voice from the mirror remained trapped inside my head.That is not me.I stood at the end of the corridor, watching the candlelight move over the palace walls.Fresh seawater still ran through the cracks between the stones. It carried the smell of salt, coral, and rooms closed for centuries. Outside the narrow windows, rescue boats cut across Silvercrest Bay while helicopters circled the risen kingdom.Raiken approached without making a sound.I felt him before I saw him.A slow warmth spread beneath my ribs, followed by the ache he was trying to hide.“You should be resting,” I said.“So should you.”His shirt had been replaced, but the dark fabric pulled across the bandage beneath his ribs. A bruise shadowed one side of his jaw.I loo