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Prologue
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2026-01-09 23:55:29Prologue
The sky burned red as fire rained down on the city of Celestial Falls. Thousands of large leathery wings flapped blocking out most of the light. The city felt as if it was midnight in the middle of the day. The roars of the beasts were deafening as they swooped down grabbing anyone who was unfortunate enough to be on the streets. People screamed in agony as their loved ones and children were taken never to be seen again. Celestial Falls had been a quiet place to live before the portal opened and the creatures arrived. One day they were happily going on with their lives and in an instant, they were living in a city of fire and blood. They came when the portal opened, demons, beasts, and shadows that appeared directly from nightmares. They poured from the mountains like a sickness, crawling down through the trees dragging darkness behind them. Crops rotted in their wake. Churches burned in their unholy fire, and no prayer could stop the hunger coming in waves. The people begged for mercy; none came. Not until she arrived. Sariyah. She stepped from the heart of the Black Woods, alone and cloaked in shadows, as the city writhed in what would have been its final hour. The skies split above her. The monsters turned toward her with open jaws and dripping claws. She did not raise a weapon; she raised her hand. Shadows formed from her fingertips. With a whisper the air turned to ash. The demons screamed, shadows peeling from their forms as they dissolved into nothing. The ground split, the sky howled. Every creature that hunted in the name of darkness was banished. When the smoke cleared, she stood alone at the edge of a ruined temple. Her skin untouched, her eyes black as the void between the stars. Her dark hair flowing as if blown by wind that wasn’t there. The people bowed to her and wept in gratitude, she only smiled. “I have delivered you from this evil,” she said. “And I offer my protection to this city. I will keep the darkness that stirs at bay, but all things have a price.” She would sit on the Obsidian Throne in the Black Spire Castle and an offering would be made. Every hundred years, on the blood moon, one man would be given to her. He would be hers, body and soul for all eternity. The people, desperate and grateful agreed. The first offering came willingly, seeing it as an honor. A war orphan who believed her to be a goddess. He kissed her hand before the gates closed behind them. They heard his screams for three days. The second offering tried to run. The city guards dragged him to her feet. The third was a priest who believed he could pray her away. He could not. And so, the centuries passed. Celestial Falls rebuilt, not with stone, but with blood and sacrifice. The monsters never returned; the crops never failed. The city grew proud, prosperous, and untouched. All she asked was obedience, all she took was one man every hundred years. No one spoke of what she did with them. Until the tenth offering refused and the fire she once saved them from began to rise again.
Pinakabagong kabanata
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 49
EmberThey burned incense in the fitting chamber to make it smell like roses. It does not hide the scent of fear. The palace hums outside the door, servants rushing, metal clinking, distant laughter rehearsed for a celebration no one believes in. Every corridor feels tighter now, the walls closer, as if the city itself is holding its breath for my binding.Two guards escort me inside, one remains by the door, the other leaves. Indira waits near the window, hands folded, eyes lowered. She does not bow. The door shuts with a heavy click. Silence swells between us. I stand in the center of the room while she circles me, measuring without touching.“You’ve lost weight,” she murmurs.“I’ve lost sleep.”Her mouth almost curves, almost. The dress rests on a mannequin behind her, black silk layered over something deeper. Ember red flickers beneath the outer sheen when the light strikes it. Gold embroidery spills down the bodice in intricate sigils, Sariyah’s chosen crest, altered just enough
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 48
OrionIt’s been two nights since Ember left with the knowledge of the prophecy carved into her heart. She hasn’t come back. Which means she’s thinking, she’s planning, and we are running out of time.Lazriel stands at the center of the cell tonight, cloak removed, sleeves pushed to his forearms. The torchlight flickers over old scars etched into his skin, sigils branded there long before I met him. The others are silent. Caelan watches from the bars, jaw tight.I lean back against the stone wall of my cell, arms crossed, pretending calm. I am not calm.“You’re certain this will work?” Caelan asks quietly.“No,” Lazriel replies. Honest. As always. He kneels and begins drawing a circle onto the dungeon floor using crushed bone ash and something darker, something that smells faintly of burnt myrrh and grave soil. The sigils are precise, and old. Older than the Gate itself.“You’re not actually killing anyone for this,” I say.His mouth twitches slightly. “Not tonight.”At the far end of
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter47
OrionThe dungeon feels smaller tonight, like the walls are listening. Seren sits pale but steady beside Corin, who hasn’t moved more than an inch away from her since the prophecy. Bram paces, Caelan stands near the bars like he could tear them down if anger alone were enough.Lazriel is the only one who looks calm. I hate him a little for that. “We’re running out of time,” he says quietly.“No,” Corin snaps. “We’re running out of options. That’s different.” Her hand rests on the hilt of her blade, knuckles white.The words still echo in my head. Shadow must kill Flame.“Say it,” Bram mutters suddenly. “Let’s just say it out loud so we can all collectively hate it.”No one moves. Lazriel’s gaze shifts to me. “The ritual requires Flame alive,” he says evenly. “If Ember dies before the Gate fully binds to her, the connection destabilizes.”Caelan turns slowly. “You’re not suggesting—”“Yes,” Lazriel says. Silence slams down.Corin rises to her feet in one smooth motion. “Absolutely not.
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 46
OrionThe dungeon doors groan open like the castle itself is tired of pretending this place isn’t a grave. Chains scrape stone. I’m already on my feet before I see him. Bloodied and bruised. Clothes torn like they’d been halfway ripped off his body and then decided he wasn’t worth finishing. His hair, once immaculate, dramatic, infuriatingly perfect, hangs loose and damp with sweat and blood. Lazriel. For half a second, I don’t recognize him. Then he lifts his head and smirks.“Well,” he rasps, voice wrecked but unmistakably him, “this is not how I imagined our reunion. I was hoping for applause.”The guards shove him forward. He stumbles. I lunge instinctively—but Caelan is already there. Caelan catches him like his body moved before his mind could argue.“Easy,” Caelan says, furious and shaking, hands gripping Lazriel’s arms like he’s afraid he’ll disappear if he lets go. “I’ve got you.”Lazriel laughs weakly. “You always do.”That does it. Caelan pulls him close, forehead pressing
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 45
EmberAzrael stands at the right hand of the throne. Not beside me. Not behind me. Sariyah’s fingers curl lazily around the armrest, dark metal biting into her skin, and Azrael leans close to murmur something meant only for her. I can’t hear the words, but I see the angle of his mouth, the faint smile that never quite reaches his eyes.My spine locks as I kneel where I’ve been instructed. The stone is cold through the silk of my gown. Bastion’s hand rests possessively on my shoulder, fingers flexing as if to remind me I’m still here. Still his. Still obedient.Azrael finally looks at me. His gaze slides over my face like a blade testing the grain of bone. There is no warmth or recognition of any kind in his face, just assessment.“Your heir adapts quickly,” he says to Sariyah. “You’ve done well shaping her.” The word shaping lands like a collar snapping shut.Sariyah hums in pleasure. “She is learning what she is.”I wait. I wait for him to say it. For him to tell her I’m awake. That
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 44
BastionShe stands at the window again. Always looking outward, like the world beyond the castle walls is still whispering to her. Like something out there is calling her name and she’s pretending not to hear it. It makes my jaw tighten. I tell myself it’s nothing. Queens look at their cities. Brides dream. Ember has always been like this, somewhat distant, thoughtful, too much fire in her veins to ever fully settle. But she didn’t used to feel out of reach. I move closer, letting my presence press into the space behind her. She doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t lean into me either. That matters more than it should.“You should be resting,” I say. “Sariyah expects us at council tonight.”She hums softly in response. Not disagreement but not agreement either. Just… acceptance. It should calm me. Instead, it makes something coil tighter in my chest.I remember what it felt like to stand beside her in the square. The way the crowd roared her name. Her, not us. Not me. Even when they chanted qu
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 37
EmberI’m standing perfectly still when it hits me. A tight pressure so deep in my chest, like the ground beneath my heart just gave way.I press a hand to my sternum, breath stuttering as something dark and vast surges against the edges of my mind. Shadow, not cold, not cruel, but unleashed. Unanc
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 36
OrionThe last thing she said to me was I hate you. The last thing she did was sentence me to die.That memory lives under my skin now, sharp, festering, impossible to remove. I replay it every time the dungeon goes quiet. Every time the bond stays cold and silent, like a grave that refuses to answ
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 35
EmberI don’t remember inviting him, but Bastion arrives anyway, like he always used to, quiet, familiar, carrying a tray of food as if this is still our life from before the offering and before this whole mess ever started.My rooms glow warm tonight. Candles and silk it all seems too perfect.“Yo
A Flame in the Shadow Chapter 34
OrionThe cheering reaches us first. It pours down through the stone like poison, laughter, applause, celebration, seeping into the dungeon until it’s impossible to breathe around it. I know what it is before the words ever come. I feel it in the bond, twisted and muffled and wrong, like someone ha
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