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CHAPTER 72
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2026-04-21 11:00:20“But if I use my powers…” I started, my voice catching as the thought fully formed, heavy and sharp all at once. “The demons might sense me.”
The clearing felt colder just saying it out loud.
“They’ll come for me,” I continued, my throat tightening as the weight of it pressed down harder. “They’ll come for all of us. I won’t just be putting myself in danger—I’ll be putting all of you in danger too.”
A knot formed in my chest, making it harder to breathe, harder to keep my
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Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 72
“But if I use my powers…” I started, my voice catching as the thought fully formed, heavy and sharp all at once. “The demons might sense me.”The clearing felt colder just saying it out loud.“They’ll come for me,” I continued, my throat tightening as the weight of it pressed down harder. “They’ll come for all of us. I won’t just be putting myself in danger—I’ll be putting all of you in danger too.”A knot formed in my chest, making it harder to breathe, harder to keep my voice steady.“What if I can’t control it?” I added, quieter now, the fear slipping through despite my effort to hold it back. “What if I make it worse?”Corin didn’t let go.If anything, he stepped closer, his presence firm, unshaken, even if the uncertainty still lingered beneath it.“Then we prepare for that too,” he said. “We don’t wait for it to happen. We stay ahead of it.”He glanced briefly toward the others before looking back at me, something more fo
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 71
Varka continued, her voice steady, deliberate. “Opening that portal demanded everything. Even with your magic bound, it answered you. It tore a path between worlds and carried you through it.”Her gaze sharpened slightly.“That alone should have ended you.”The clearing felt colder.The memory of those first days in Lunara pressed in harder now—the weakness, the emptiness, the way it had felt like something inside me had been hollowed out completely. Not just exhaustion. Not just injury.“You were not meant to survive the crossing itself,” Varka said. “You were meant to be carried through it… and nothing more.”My breath caught at the way she said it, like survival had never been part of the outcome.“But I did survive,” I said, quieter now, because the certainty I had clung to before was slipping. “I healed. Elara helped me—”“You healed,” Varka interrupted gently, “because something within you wanted you here.”T
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 70
Blinding, endless gold, flooding through the darkness so suddenly it stole the rest of the images away. It wasn’t soft like the light around me. It burned, cutting through everything else, forcing itself forward like it had been buried too long and was finally breaking free.A strangled sound left my throat as the force of it hit.The energy surged outward from my chest, no longer controlled, no longer contained within the slow rhythm of the ceremony. It pushed back against the light around me, clashing with it, not blending, not yielding.The difference was immediate.The golden light from the tree was steady, ancient, controlled. But this, was not.It twisted through me, sharp and unfamiliar, carrying something colder beneath its brightness, something that didn’t belong to the same source. It lashed outward, and the roots beneath my feet reacted violently, their glow flaring so bright it became almost white as cracks spread through the ground around me.The chanting broke all at onc
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 69
The entire clearing seemed to breathe with it. Soft light glowed along the bark, running in thin lines that reminded me of the veins on leaves, but this felt older. Deeper. Like the source of something that had existed long before the crystal itself. Nymphs stood around the base of the tree, more than I thought there were. They were already gathered in a wide circle, their bodies still. Their clothing blended into the forest so naturally, for a moment it looked like the clearing itself had come alive. Their eyes turned toward me the second we stepped forward. Every single one of them. My chest tightened. “This is where it happens,” Katana said softly, though her voice carried clearly through the space. I swallowed, my gaze lifting again to the tree, trying to take it all in, but it felt impossible. The closer I looked, the more it felt like my nerves were going to give in. Everyone’s staires didn’t help either. Corin’s hand brushed against mine, a soft gesture that he
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 68
Katana inclined her head slightly. “It will be held deep within the forest, where the roots of the old magic still breathe. My mother will lead it herself.”Something in her voice carried weight now. Respect. Importance. Katana inclined her head. “My mother has called for it. The forest has felt what happened at the Heart Crystal. It knows what you are, Liora.”I swallowed slightly. “The crystal didn’t awaken my power,” I said. “It just… recognized me.”“Yes,” Katana said, her voice calm. “Because only true royal blood can answer the Heart Crystal. Only the blood of Lunara’s royal line can restore its power and feed the kingdom.” She stepped a little closer, her gaze sharpening just slightly. “And now the forest has felt that same truth.”A quiet tension settled around us.Corin’s hand tightened around mine. “And this ceremony?” he asked. “What exactly is it meant to do?”Katana didn’t look away from me. “It is meant to anchor her magic,” she said. “To bind her to the light of Lun
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 67
“Yes,” Garrick said. “They could welcome you… or they could try to control you before you have the chance to take back what’s yours.”Take back.The words didn’t sit right with me.I didn’t feel like someone returning to claim a throne. I felt like someone who had just found out she was part of something much bigger than she understood.“They’ve built their own way of ruling,” I said slowly. “If I step into that… I don’t even know what I’d be stepping into.”“Exactly,” Rhys said. “And neither do they. That’s what makes you dangerous.”Dangerous.The word echoed in my mind.I tightened my grip around my sword, feeling the faintest trace of that warmth still buried beneath my skin.A few days.That’s all Garrick had given me, a few agonising days before they came.Before they saw me.Before they decided what I was to them… a threat, or a weapon they could use at their disposal.I lifted my gaze, looking out across the training grounds, but my thoughts weren’t there anymore. They were al
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 49
The silence between us did not soften after my last words. It settled heavier instead, pressing into the space like something alive, something waiting to see which of us would break first. My chest rose and fell unevenly as I held his gaze, refusing to step back now that everything had finally been
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 48
Rhys shifted slightly beside me, clearly enjoying every second of this, though he didn’t interrupt again. He didn’t need to.The tension between us was already enough.Corin stepped closer, his voice lowering slightly, though his eyes didn’t leave mine. “You
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 8
I shot upright, my heart slamming against my ribs. For a second, I thought I’d imagined it. But then came another—shrill, desperate. The camp was in chaos. I could hear shouting, the clinking of metal, the thunder of boots pounding against the dirt. My pulse raced as fear clawed up my throa
Bound by Crystals and Shadows CHAPTER 7
I sighed, trying not to roll my eyes. “ Yes, ma’am,” I muttered under my breath. Corin chuckled quietly beside me, which earned him one of Elara’s sharper looks. “ And you,” she said, pointing at him, “ should know better than to encourage her.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking almos
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