The path to the ruins was never a smooth one. Even now, I could feel the weight of the memories pressing against me, like hands on my shoulders, pulling me back into a time I wasn’t sure I was ready to face. But there was no avoiding it. I needed answers. I needed to understand what had happened to me, to him, to the life I had once known.
The wind howled through the trees, a cold, biting reminder of how far I had come from the place where I had once been a different person. The air felt heavy with the past, the remnants of things I couldn’t fully grasp yet—pieces of a story that I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember, but couldn’t seem to forget.
I had to go back. The ruins where my first mate had supposedly died. The place where everything had changed.
The trees seemed to
I couldn’t breathe. The weight of the words I had just heard settled into my chest like a stone, and I was paralyzed, frozen in place. Ronan, Caspian, Kieran—they all seemed to disappear as I took in the reality of the situation.The Prophet was here.I could feel the air changing around me, the quiet stillness of the forest now alive with a heavy tension. A crackling energy that prickled my skin, as if the very earth beneath me was holding its breath. I turned in a circle, desperate for something, anything that could ground me, but the movement only deepened the feeling of being trapped. There was nowhere to hide. No place to run. The Prophet’s shadow was everywhere.The last time I had been here, in these woods, the world felt… different. The ground beneath my feet felt mo
I could feel his eyes on me. Heavy, pressing into my back as if they could reach through my skin and rip out my soul. The air around me was thick with tension, suffocating, pushing me deeper into the shadows of my own doubts. I knew what he was going to ask before he said it. Kieran always did that—knew exactly what to say to pull the rug out from under me.His voice came low, but the sharpness of it cut through the silent night air like a blade.“Do you still trust us, Seraphina?”I froze. The words hit harder than I expected, like a punch to the gut. I had been trying to avoid them, trying to outrun them for so long, but now they were here—right in front of me. I couldn’t pretend anymore. Not with him standing there, his eyes burning through me.&n
The path to the ruins was never a smooth one. Even now, I could feel the weight of the memories pressing against me, like hands on my shoulders, pulling me back into a time I wasn’t sure I was ready to face. But there was no avoiding it. I needed answers. I needed to understand what had happened to me, to him, to the life I had once known.The wind howled through the trees, a cold, biting reminder of how far I had come from the place where I had once been a different person. The air felt heavy with the past, the remnants of things I couldn’t fully grasp yet—pieces of a story that I wasn’t sure I wanted to remember, but couldn’t seem to forget.I had to go back. The ruins where my first mate had supposedly died. The place where everything had changed.The trees seemed to
I could feel it—him—the weight of his presence behind me. The air seemed to thicken, pressing in on me from all sides. My breath quickened, but my feet didn’t move. I couldn’t move. It was as if my body had gone still in fear of what I might do.A sound broke through the oppressive silence—the soft crunch of leaves underfoot, the unmistakable sound of someone approaching. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. I could feel Ronan’s energy, his presence, reaching for me even before I saw him.“Seraphina.”His voice was calm, but there was something underneath it. Something that cracked with an emotion I couldn’t place. Concern? Worry? Fear?I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t.
The silence in the clearing was suffocating, thick with the weight of all the unspoken words. The Prophet’s army, the betrayal, the power I had unleashed—it all seemed to collapse in on itself, folding into one overwhelming truth. Nothing was as it had been. Everything had changed.I should have felt angry. Furious. But the only thing I felt was a bone-deep exhaustion, as though the weight of the entire world had been placed on my shoulders, and I was barely strong enough to hold it up.I should have known this was coming. The way the Prophet had played his cards, the way he manipulated every move. I had thought, somehow, that we could control the outcome. That I could control it. But what if I couldn’t?What if my power, my bloodline, wasn’t the key to saving everyone? What
The silence felt like a punch to the gut. Everything had stopped—just like that. The world went quiet. The storm of energy I had unleashed faded, leaving behind only the weight of what I’d done.I could feel my body trembling, my breath shallow and ragged, my mind swirling in a fog. What had I just done? What had I become?My hands were shaking, but I could hardly feel them. My vision blurred, my thoughts scattered. Every piece of me was stretched to the breaking point. The power, the raw, untamed force I had let loose—it had taken control of me. And now I was left to pick up the pieces.“Seraphina.” Ronan’s voice cut through the fog. His presence was like a tether pulling me back toward reality, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.