Chapter 5

The word clung to the air like smoke.

“Sister.”

Seraphina froze.

Her legs, scraped and trembling from the run through the forest, refused to move. Her heartbeat roared in her ears as her eyes locked with his—those glowing, golden eyes that mirrored Lucien’s in color but carried a depth of something… older. More ancient.

She gripped the bloodstained dagger tighter.

Lucien stood protectively in front of her, his body tensed and ready to shift again despite the silver still poisoning his veins. “Back away from her.”

The man—Kael—lifted his hands slowly. “I mean her no harm. You, either.”

“Lucien,” Seraphina whispered, “he’s wearing the same pendant.”

Lucien’s gaze narrowed. “That doesn’t mean anything. It could be stolen.”

“I didn’t steal it,” Kael said calmly. “It was given to me—by Elira Blake. Your grandmother. And mine.”

Seraphina’s breath caught. “That’s impossible.”

“I know how it sounds,” he said, voice steady but not forceful. “But she had a son before your mother. A secret she buried to keep both of us safe.”

“That’s a lie,” Lucien spat. “Elira Blake fought to her last breath to keep the bloodline pure. She never spoke of a son.”

“She couldn’t,” Kael said. “Because I was marked.”

He unfastened the collar of his cloak. Beneath it, the skin at his collarbone bore a twisted scar in the shape of a crescent moon—distorted and broken in two. It looked like it had once been burned into him.

Seraphina stared at it. Something about the mark made her stomach turn.

“What is that?” she asked.

“The Hollow King’s seal,” Kael answered grimly. “They branded me with it when I was taken. I was barely two weeks old. My cry during the Blood Moon drew them. My mother thought she’d lost me for good.”

“But you survived?” Seraphina asked, voice small.

Kael nodded. “The Marked took me to the deadlands, where the Hollow King meant to raise me as his heir. But something rebelled in me. Something tied to her blood. I escaped at thirteen and have been in hiding ever since.”

Lucien still didn’t lower his stance. “Why come back now?”

Kael looked directly at Seraphina. “Because the veil cracked when she bled on the stones. That pendant didn’t just light up—it signaled the old pacts. Now that the Hollow King knows where she is, he’ll stop at nothing.”

Seraphina’s hand drifted to her pendant. “So what now? I’m some kind of chosen sacrifice?”

“No,” Kael said. “You’re the last gatekeeper. The last moonborn with pure blood. And that means—”

“—they’ll all come for her,” Lucien finished grimly. “Every cursed creature, every feral Hollowborn that’s been waiting in the shadows.”

Seraphina didn’t know what to believe.

Everything in her wanted to recoil, to deny that her grandmother—Elira, fierce and loyal and stubborn—would’ve hidden something this big. A son? Another heir to the bloodline?

But as Kael stood there beneath the trees, the mark on his skin still faintly glowing, she felt a strange ache in her chest.

Somewhere, in some distant place inside her, she knew.

He was telling the truth.

“I saw her once,” Kael said, his voice softer now. “When I was seventeen. I came to the edge of the wards around the old cabin and watched her from a distance. She was lighting the lanterns. Singing to herself. I didn’t have the courage to speak.”

“Why not?” Seraphina asked.

“Because I was still carrying the Hollow King’s taint.” His jaw clenched. “I didn’t want to bring danger to her doorstep.”

Lucien finally lowered his arms, though he didn’t fully relax. “So you’ve been hiding in the shadows all this time? Why didn’t you warn us sooner?”

Kael looked up at the moon. “Because the gate was sealed. The wards Elira created kept the Hollowborn dormant. But Seraphina bled at the well. The blood of a gatekeeper breaks the lock. And now the veil is bleeding.”

Seraphina took a deep breath. “So what do we do?”

“We run,” Lucien said. “You’re not ready to face what’s coming.”

“No,” Kael cut in. “She can’t run. That pendant around her neck is bound to the land. If she goes too far, the magic collapses, and the dead things walk freely. We have to stand. Here. Now.”

Seraphina swallowed hard. “I don’t know how to fight whatever’s coming.”

Kael’s gaze was unwavering. “You will. Because I’m going to train you. And because we don’t have a choice.”

They returned to the house by dawn.

It looked like a war zone.

The front door had been torn from its hinges. The living room was shattered glass and broken beams. Blood smeared the floor. Seraphina tried not to look at the claw marks carved into the walls.

“Was this just the Hollowborn?” she asked quietly.

“No,” Kael said. “Those were his scouts. They were testing the wards. Testing you.”

Lucien paced near the broken window. “They’ll return in greater numbers. You know that.”

Kael nodded grimly. “That’s why we don’t waste time.”

He pulled a scroll from the inside of his coat—a thick, aged piece of parchment bound with a crimson ribbon. He laid it flat on the dining table, brushing aside shards of porcelain.

Seraphina leaned over it.

Symbols shimmered in faint gold ink. A map, but not of roads or rivers. Instead, it showed circles of energy—lines of power buried beneath the land. In the center was a symbol she recognized now: the crescent moon cradling a sun. Her grandmother’s seal.

“This is the old grid,” Kael explained. “Leylines. The true foundation of the gates.”

Lucien leaned in, frowning. “That’s how she built the ward network?”

“Yes. There are five anchors—five places where the moonblood touched earth. Each one has to be reignited.”

Seraphina stared at the map. “To what end?”

“To restore the veil,” Kael said. “And trap the Hollow King where he belongs.”

“But if I do that—if I become some kind of gatekeeper—what happens to me?”

Kael was silent for a beat too long.

“What?” she pressed.

“You’ll be tied to the veil,” he said finally. “You won’t be able to leave the boundary lands again. You’ll be the last light holding the night back.”

Seraphina felt the air suck from her lungs. “So… I’d be a prisoner.”

“A protector,” Kael corrected. “Like Elira was. Like all the women before her.”

She stepped away from the map, the weight of it crashing over her like a wave. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“No,” he said gently. “But you were born for it.”

Later that evening, after Lucien finally passed out on the couch and Kael sat sharpening his twin silver daggers in the back room, Seraphina stepped outside to clear her head.

The forest was quiet now. Almost too quiet.

Her fingers toyed with the pendant again.

“Sister,” Kael had said.

She wasn’t ready to say that back.

She wasn’t ready for any of this.

The howls began just past midnight.

Low. Distant. Then closer.

Lucien jolted upright in wolf form before the sound even reached the porch. Kael was already moving, blades in hand.

“What is it?” Seraphina asked, heart racing.

Lucien didn’t need to answer.

From the shadows, a new wolf stepped into view.

Not Marked.

Not Hollowborn.

But something else.

His coat shimmered like obsidian under the moonlight, and his eyes glowed violet. Unlike any she’d seen before.

Lucien snarled.

Kael went deadly still.

Seraphina stepped forward.

And the stranger smiled.

“Finally,” he said. “The Moonblood reveals herself.”

“And we’re supposed to just let you help?” Lucien growled.

Kael met his gaze, unflinching. “You can hate me later. Right now, you need me. Both of you do.”

The stranger didn’t stop walking.

With the confidence of someone who knew the ground he stepped on, he crossed the clearing, the forest strangely silent behind him. No birds. No wind. Even the trees seemed to hold their breath.

Lucien growled low, his claws extended and body shifting again as his wolf form surged forward. Kael stepped in front of Seraphina, his twin daggers glinting under the pale moonlight.

But the stranger only grinned wider.

“Please,” he said, voice velvet-smooth. “Is that any way to greet an envoy?”

Kael didn’t lower his weapons. “Envoy of what?”

The man stopped, finally, a few paces from the porch. “The Hollow Court.”

Seraphina’s mouth went dry. “You’re with him? The Hollow King?”

“Not with him,” the man replied. “Of him. There’s a difference.”

Lucien bared his teeth. “I’ll carve the difference into your chest.”

“Temper, wolf,” the man said lightly. “You’ve already lost one fight tonight.”

Lucien lunged—but Kael shot out a hand, stopping him with unnatural strength.

“Not yet,” Kael said darkly. “He’s here for a reason.”

The stranger gave him a mocking bow. “Ah, so the lost brother lives. We weren’t sure. The King assumed the blood had gone sour.”

Kael’s jaw tensed.

“What do you want?” Seraphina asked, her voice surprisingly steady.

The man looked at her then—really looked. His gaze softened, like he was examining a rare gem. “You. You’ve caused quite a stir, Moonblood.”

She squared her shoulders. “I’m not interested in being part of your games.”

He chuckled. “Oh, but you already are. The moment you bled, the board shifted. The Hollow King felt your presence stir the veil, and he’s… intrigued.”

“Well, he can stay intrigued from the deadlands,” Lucien growled.

But the stranger ignored him. “He’s sent a message, Seraphina Blake. One of mercy. Surrender yourself. Come willingly. And no blood need spill in this realm.”

Kael spat. “We all know that’s a lie.”

The man shrugged. “Mercy is fleeting. But the Hollow King is willing to give her one chance.”

“And if I say no?” Seraphina asked.

His smile deepened, but this time, it didn’t reach his eyes. “Then the Hollowborn will descend. Every Marked beast, every creature that once whispered your ancestors’ names in fear… they’ll rise. And they will devour everything that touches your blood.”

“You’ll never reach her,” Lucien snapped.

But the envoy just raised his hand.

Instantly, the ground behind him shifted.

Dozens of red eyes opened in the dark. Pale, gaunt creatures emerged from the forest’s edge—Hollowborn, twisted and snarling, their bodies hunched and rotting but fast, too fast.

Seraphina’s breath hitched.

“How did they get past the boundary?” Kael hissed.

“They didn’t,” the envoy said. “You broke it, little sister.”

Kael’s face paled.

Seraphina stepped back. “No. That’s not possible.”

The envoy tilted his head. “You bled at the gate. Opened the seal. The veil is cracked, and now… they are free.”

The creatures crept closer. Hungry. Twitching.

Seraphina shook her head. “I didn’t mean to…”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant,” the envoy said. “It’s done.”

He turned to leave, cloak billowing.

“I’ll give you three nights,” he called over his shoulder. “Come to the Hollow Gate by the blood moon. Or we burn this world to salt.”

And with that, he vanished into the dark, the Hollowborn slinking after him like smoke.

Hours later…

Kael slammed a heavy book down on the old table, flipping through brittle pages.

“We’re running out of time,” he muttered.

Lucien paced like a caged beast. “We fight.”

“We won’t win,” Kael said. “Not yet. Not without the anchors.”

Seraphina sat numbly by the fire. Her hands still trembled.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered.

Kael looked at her. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“I opened the veil.”

“You were baited into it,” he said. “They’ve been planning this. For years. You just lit the match.”

Lucien stopped pacing. “Then we put it out. Where’s the first anchor?”

Kael’s finger tapped the map