INICIAR SESIÓN“My queen.”The words echoed inside my mind.I couldn't move.Couldn't breathe.Couldn't even scream.The crown rested against my head, cold and impossibly heavy.Silver light surrounded me.Black shadows twisted around my feet.And somewhere beyond them, the Devourer was waiting.Watching.Claiming.I heard Ronan shouting my name.“Lyra!”His voice sounded far away.Almost like a memory.I tried to answer.Nothing came out.The darkness closed around me.Then the world changed.I was standing inside a forest.Moonlight spilled between ancient trees.The air smelled of rain.I looked down.I wasn't wearing the torn dress from the underground kingdom.I was wearing white.A silver crown rested on my head.And standing in front of me was Ronan.
“Run, Ronan.”The voice came from my own mind.I froze.Ronan stared at me.“What did you say?”I couldn't answer.My breathing had stopped.The voice had sounded exactly like mine.But it hadn't felt like me.It had felt like something buried beneath me.Something terrified.Something desperate.“Lyra?”I looked into Ronan's eyes.“I'm scared.”He immediately pulled me against him.“I know.”“No.”I shook my head.“You don't understand.”His arms tightened around me.“Then tell me.”I looked at my hands.Silver light flowed beneath the skin of my left hand.Black light moved through my right.The two energies twisted around each other like living snakes.“Azael is inside me.”Ronan's face went pale.“We'll get him out.”
The First Blade shattered in my hands.Silver fragments exploded through the chamber.I screamed.Ronan grabbed me and pulled me against his chest as pieces of ancient metal flew past us.One struck the stone wall beside my head.Another sliced across Ronan's shoulder.Blood immediately soaked through his clothes.“Ronan!”“I'm fine.”“You're bleeding.”“I've had worse.”I stared at the broken pieces scattered across the floor.The blade was supposed to destroy Azael.Instead, it had turned black.And shattered.Azael laughed.The sound echoed through the chamber.“You finally understand.”I turned toward him.“What did you do?”“Nothing.”He smiled.“You did it yourself.”I looked at my hands.Black veins were spreading from my palm toward my wrist.T
“My blood has finally found its queen.”Malachar's voice rolled through the chamber.I couldn't move.Neither could Ronan.The creature standing before us looked nothing like the king I had imagined from the ancient paintings.He was enormous.Black armor covered his body, cracked with silver lines that pulsed like veins.A broken crown rested on his head.His eyes burned with an unnatural silver light.And yet there was something familiar about him.The shape of his face.The darkness surrounding him.The way his eyes seemed to look through Ronan rather than at him.It was as if I were looking at the beginning of everything Ronan had become.The first Shadow King.Malachar.Ronan slowly raised his sword.“You're not taking her.”Malachar smiled.“You still think this is about taking.”“What else
The world went dark.Not dim.Not shadowed.Dark.The kind of darkness that swallowed sound, warmth, and even the memory of light.I couldn't see Ronan.I couldn't see Lucien.I couldn't see my mother.I could only feel the Moonheart beneath my skin.It was beating.Once.Twice.Then faster.My entire body shook.“Ronan!”No answer.“Lucien!”Nothing.I reached into the darkness.My fingers found stone.Cold.Wet.I pushed myself upright.“Ronan!”A low groan came from somewhere nearby.I turned toward it.“Ronan?”“Lyra…”Relief nearly broke my knees.I crawled toward his voice.My hands found his chest.He grabbed my wrist.“I'm here.”I pressed my forehead against his.
“Now, little moon…”Azael's voice came from Ronan's mouth.The shadows wrapped around us.“...let us go home.”The world beneath the sea vanished.I couldn't breathe.Couldn't see.Couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet.There was only darkness.And Ronan's hand around my wrist.“Ronan!”I pulled against him.Nothing.His grip tightened.“Ronan, fight him!”His voice came back to me, distant and broken.“I'm trying.”Then Azael laughed.The sound vibrated through my bones.“You always were stubborn.”I stopped fighting.Something was wrong.The voice wasn't coming from Ronan anymore.It was coming from everywhere.Above me.Below me.Inside me.The darkness began to thin.A red light appeared in the distance.Then







