Chapter 7

Seraphina finally stepped forward.

Her legs were shaking, but she didn’t stop. She looked at him—really looked—and the world felt like it cracked open beneath her feet.

Same dark hair. Same tilted smirk. Same cold, storm-gray eyes.

But something was… wrong.

There was no warmth in him. No light. The Rowan she remembered used to laugh like sunlight breaking through clouds. This one looked like a shadow in human skin.

“Rowan…” Her voice trembled. “How are you alive?”

He tilted his head slightly. “You want the short version or the nightmare one?”

Kael didn’t lower his sword. “You’re not him.”

“Oh, but I am.” Rowan stepped forward. “You just don’t know what it takes to survive in the Hollow.”

Lucien’s grip on his blade tightened. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Rowan stopped a few feet away. “Believe me, I didn’t come for a family reunion. I came for her.”

His eyes flicked to Seraphina.

She took a step back without meaning to.

Caleb stepped between them. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”

Rowan raised a brow. “You think you can stop me, red witch?”

Caleb’s face didn’t move. “Try me.”

For a second, the air felt like it might explode. Power crackled between them—like lightning held in a glass jar.

But Rowan only chuckled. “Relax. I didn’t come to kill anyone. Not yet, anyway.”

Seraphina finally found her voice again. “Rowan… where were you all this time? We searched. We cried. We thought—”

“You thought I was dead,” he finished. “I know. I watched the funeral from the cliffs.”

“What?” Her voice cracked.

“I wanted to go to you,” Rowan said softly. “I did. But I couldn’t. Not after what I became.”

He held out his hand—and black smoke curled from his fingertips. Magic. Hollowborn magic.

Lucien swore under his breath.

“You’ve been corrupted,” Kael said. “You’re one of them.”

Rowan didn’t deny it.

“I made a deal,” he said simply. “One that kept me alive… and showed me the truth.”

“What truth?” Seraphina whispered.

“That we’re nothing more than pawns in someone else’s game,” Rowan said. “That the Elders used us. That you were never meant to live, Sera. You were meant to burn.”

“Stop,” she said.

“You’re the Queen of Fire. The destroyer of realms. The Hollow King doesn’t fear you because you’re good—he fears you because you’re chaos.”

“Rowan!”

“I came to warn you,” he said. “The Hollow is moving. Faster than anyone thought. Your power is calling them. Every second you stay here, people die.”

“Then help us stop them,” she said.

Rowan smiled, but it was cold. “I can’t do that.”

Kael growled. “Then why are you here?”

“To offer her a choice,” Rowan said. “Come with me. Or watch your new pack die one by one.”

Silence.

No one moved.

Seraphina’s heart felt like it was being torn in two. This was her brother. Her blood. He had raised her, protected her, died for her. And now… he was standing with the enemy?

She looked into his eyes and saw a war inside him.

“I’m not going with you,” she said.

His smile vanished.

“I thought you’d say that.”

He lifted his hand. Black fire danced around his palm.

“Then let me show you what’s coming.”

He threw the fire straight at Kael.

Seraphina screamed.

And everything exploded.

The blast knocked Seraphina off her feet.

She hit the ground hard, ears ringing, chest burning. For a second, everything was just smoke and fire. She coughed, trying to push herself up, heart pounding.

“Kael?” she called out, choking on the ash in the air. “Kael!”

A figure emerged through the haze—Caleb. His cloak was scorched, but he was still standing, glowing red symbols forming around him like armor.

He helped her up. “Stay behind me.”

“No—Kael—” She stumbled forward.

Then she saw him.

Kael was lying on the floor near the far wall. His shirt was torn, blood running down his side, but he was alive. Barely. He tried to push himself up, one arm trembling.

“Don’t—touch—her,” he growled.

Rowan stood near the center of the room, hand still raised, smoke curling from his fingers. His expression had changed. No more brotherly warmth. Just cold fury.

“You’re protecting him?” Rowan asked Seraphina, his voice low and sharp. “The boy who hated me?”

“He’s not the one trying to kill us,” she snapped.

Rowan’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t come to kill you. But I will if I have to.”

Lucien stepped beside Caleb, his wolf eyes glowing. “Then you’ll have to.”

Rowan didn’t flinch. He looked at Seraphina again, almost pleading. “You don’t understand. The Hollow King doesn’t just want you… He needs you. You’re the key to everything. If he gets to you first, it’s over.”

“Then help me stop him,” she said.

“I am helping you. I’m trying to stop you from destroying everything.”

“I’m not a monster, Rowan!”

“No,” he said. “But you will be.”

He moved forward—and Seraphina lit up again. Flames surged over her skin, white and gold, bright and hot. Caleb raised a shield in front of her just in case.

Rowan stopped.

His eyes flickered with something like sadness.

“You’ve already changed,” he said. “Too much. The Sera I knew would never look at me like that.”

She hesitated. “The Rowan I knew would never throw fire at me.”

That made him pause.

For a long second, neither of them moved.

Then Rowan turned away.

“I won’t fight you anymore. Not today.”

Lucien growled low in his throat. “You think you can walk away after that?”

Rowan ignored him. “I’ll return soon. With a better offer.”

“What offer?” Seraphina asked.

He looked at her one last time. “A choice. Between what you want… and what you are.”

Then he disappeared into the shadows—literally. His body became smoke, twisting through the cracks in the wall and vanishing.

Silence fell.

Only the crackle of Seraphina’s flames filled the space. Then even that faded.

Caleb exhaled slowly. “Well… that went great.”

Lucien ran to Kael and helped him sit up. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Kael muttered, wincing. “Just feels like I got hit by a mountain.”

Seraphina knelt beside him, heart aching. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know he’d attack.”

“I know,” Kael said, looking up at her. “You hesitated. You still love him.”

She didn’t answer.

How could she explain the storm in her chest? The guilt, the grief, the burning ache of seeing her brother again—and losing him all over?

Lucien looked around the ruined chamber. “We need to move. Now. He’ll be back, and probably not alone.”

Caleb nodded. “I’ll set a diversion spell. We can retreat through the north path.”

Seraphina stood up slowly. Her eyes were on the wall where Rowan disappeared.

She felt different now.

Like something inside her had cracked open.

Her brother was alive. And dangerous. And not just dangerous—aligned with the Hollow King.

“Come on,” Kael said gently, resting a hand on her arm. “We have to keep going.”

She nodded, but her stomach twisted.

Because deep down… she wasn’t sure what scared her more.

The Hollow King.

Or the part of her that understood why Rowan chose darkness.

The tunnels were cold and quiet as the group moved deeper underground.

Seraphina walked in the middle, her thoughts miles away. Every step echoed against the stone walls, but all she could hear was Rowan’s voice.

You were never meant to live, Sera. You were meant to burn.

She clenched her fists.

Caleb walked ahead, casting small red sparks on the walls, marking the safe path forward. Lucien stayed at the back, his wolf senses alert for any signs of pursuit.

Kael limped beside her, wounded but refusing to rest.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.

He gave a tired smile. “I’ve been worse.”

She didn’t smile back.

“Do you really think Rowan’s gone forever?” she asked.

Kael hesitated. “No. He’s too stubborn. And now… he’s too dangerous.”

She nodded, but the ache in her chest grew sharper.

They turned into a narrow passage, the air growing colder. Caleb’s flame dimmed slightly.

“This way leads to the Temple of Whispers,” he said. “The only place left with answers about the Hollow King.”

Seraphina looked up. “What kind of answers?”

“Old ones,” Lucien said from behind. “Ones most people forgot. Or tried to.”

The tunnel opened into a large underground chamber. Broken pillars and fallen statues littered the ground. A cracked dome ceiling let a bit of moonlight filter through.

In the center stood an altar, shaped like a wolf’s head.

“This is it,” Caleb whispered. “The altar of the First Blood.”

Seraphina stepped closer. Her fingers brushed the stone, and a jolt of power ran up her arm. Her flames flickered to life without her calling them.

“It’s reacting to you,” Kael said.

“Because she’s part of the prophecy,” Lucien added. “The Moonblood and the Fireborne. Together, they change the fate of the packs.”

Seraphina frowned. “But what does that mean?”

Before anyone could answer, the room began to shake.

The stone beneath her feet cracked. Dust rained down from the ceiling.

“What now?” Kael groaned.

From the shadows, a voice slithered through the air.

“So close to the truth… and yet still blind.”

Everyone spun around.

A figure stepped from the darkness. Dressed in robes made of midnight smoke. No face—only a mask carved from bone.

Caleb’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible…”

“Who is that?” Seraphina asked, her voice tight.

Lucien growled. “A priest of the Hollow King.”

The figure laughed. “Not a priest. A herald.”

It raised its hand, and black mist poured from its palm, rushing across the floor like living smoke.

Kael moved in front of Seraphina again, wounded but ready.

The mist swirled around them.

Seraphina lit up her fire, but the mist didn’t burn. It kept coming, surrounding them, choking the light.

“You don’t know what you are,” the herald said. “But you will. Soon.”

Caleb tried to strike it with red magic, but the spell vanished into the dark. The figure didn’t even flinch.

“Why are you here?” Seraphina shouted.

“To mark you,” the herald said. “To let the Hollow King know… that his queen has awakened.”

A sharp wind slammed into them, and the herald vanished—leaving behind only a mark glowing on the altar. A mark shaped like a burning crown.

Seraphina staggered back, chest rising and falling fast.

“A queen?” she whispered. “What does that mean?”

Kael stared at the mark. “I think… it means they’re not just trying to take you.”

Lucien finished for him.

“They’re trying to crown you.”