LOGINMy gaze sweeps across the courtyard, taking in the faces, the laughter, and the sense of peace that still feels surreal.And then my eyes find her.Xena.I can’t bring myself to call her Lola, just as she can’t bring herself to call me Sadie. To everyone else, we are Lola and Sadie but to each other
“Sadie?” Alec murmurs gently beside me, voice low and coaxing. “You ready?”I turn, and he’s there, exactly where he’s always been. Tall, steady, eyes soft in a way I once thought I’d never be on the receiving end of. He’s holding our son in his arms, swaddled in a light silver blanket that shimmers
He already knows. He always does.“Ready?” I say quietly, though everyone hears me.“Definitely… Been waiting to make you officially mine for months,” he says, earning a chuckle from everyone.Slowly, he puts Aspen down, who is smiling from ear to ear.We told her the truth, that Alec is her dad, an
The night is quiet. Not the tense quiet that comes before war, not the brittle silence of grief but a living stillness, deep and steady, like the world has finally exhaled.It has been a month since the battle. A month since blood stained this land. A month since Kaden fell. A month since I learned
Kaden sees it too late. He lunges, but we are faster.I raise my hand and time stops and light pours from me in radiant waves. Lola steps forward, shadows trailing her like smoke. Light and shadow coil around us, not fighting, but circling, choosing. The air thickens, charged, every particle vibrat
The guilt is suffocating. It crawls up my throat like it wants to rip me apart from the inside.This isn’t how it was meant to be. This isn’t how it was meant to end. Kaden wasn’t supposed to win.I wipe away the tears. No! I refuse to let her die.I feel something crack open in my chest at my deter
I was lying on the grass, the sun shining warm on my skin. My eyes were closed, my breathing even. I was trying to relax, trying to stop my mind from replaying the disappointment of today’s class.Just like always, I failed to grasp the technique our trainer has been teaching us for weeks. Xena pick
Xena.The moment it happens, I feel it.A pull in the air. A sharp, glowing shift that thrums deep in my bones like a long-forgotten melody finally remembered.Sadie.She’s done it.She’s summoned the scepter.I clench my jaw as I pace the stone floor of my chamber, the shadows bending with my mood.
“I do,” Raven replies calmly. “But think about it, Sadie. The prophecy said you have the power to destroy the curse. What if destroying the curse means killing Kaden? Prophecies are never literal—they’re all riddles and double meanings. Maybe this is what it meant all along.”Panic builds inside me.
I feel like a weight has been placed on my shoulders. Like there’s this massive boulder crushing down on me.They make killing Kaden seem so easy—like it’s a walk in the park. But what if it’s not? I mean, the deities tried to kill him and failed. What makes them think I can?Forget the prophecy. Fo







