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Chapter 20 - Kaia
publish date:
2026-04-22 18:43:04
BryantAt least they are working together.
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Crown of Tempests Chapter 25 - Iris
Morning came slowly at Everley House. There was always a certain stillness at daybreak in the dormitories. Quieter than most places on campus, thanks to wards softly echoing down corridors of stone and students more invested in nocturnal spellcasting than rising with the sun. Winter sun filtered through stained glass windowpanes high above my bed frame, throwing faint rainbows across glass potion bottles and chalk dust smeared on my wooden desk. I awoke before the morning bells. I lay motionless under my blankets for a moment, watching the ceiling come back into focus. Then I remembered. The training arena. Kaia’s fingers digging into my shirt. Lightning meeting open sky like the second half of a split bolt. Heat flared in the back of my skull once full memory kicked in, stubborn and refusing to fade away. I rolled over on my side, groaning lightly as I brought one hand up to cover my eyes. Uselessly. I could remember every detail of last night with crystalline precision. T
Crown of Tempests Chapter 24 - Kaia
By the time Emberbound assembled for the meeting, the atmosphere around campus had changed from whispers to logistics. Obscura had always simmered with tension beneath the surface. Magical school with dragons and witches and vampires and werewolves wasn’t going to be entirely comfortable. But since the ward strike and Iris’s containment attempt, things had taken a turn for the worse. Hostile. We gathered once again in the room beneath Aurelian House, where Nora had first dragged Iris into Emberbound meetings. The wards woven through the walls thrummed softly under the table, blocking any outside eavesdroppers. I settled into a chair near the head of the long table as the others trickled in. Maeve slipped into the seat opposite me first with all the pent-up restlessness still jittering through her frame. “Can we please just attack something now?” she groaned, tugging a hand through her hair. “Because I’m getting fucking bored of waiting around for whatever creepy shadow peop
Crown of Tempests Chapter 23 - Iris
Something about the archives underneath Obscura had always felt alive. Alive in the sense that ancient magic never sleeps, rather than breathing and coughing. It was always heavy down there, too, old wards overlapping old wards where every generation of magi insisted on adding protections instead of scrubbing away those that had come before. Scratch my quill gently against the parchment; it was quiet enough that the sound echoed unnaturally through the archive room. Evelina Dray sat across the table from me like she’d grown up curled up with centuries-old secrets instead of most of the books that surrounded us. A tiny lantern hovered between us, casting warm light over scrolls and maps and brittle parchment that had been requested from several restricted archives. I had given up hours ago on pretending this was normal research. “This symbol has been replicated in three separate documents,” I said carefully, sliding a sheet of parchment across the table to Evelina. “Two of the
Crown of Tempests Chapter 22 - Kaia
The public kiss in the courtyard had accomplished exactly what Iris wanted it to. It squashed the rumors. Unfortunately, it also traded those whispers for something far worse. Judgment. I knew exactly what atmosphere awaited me as I stepped into the Hawthorne training yard two days later. The large stone sparring ring behind Hawthorne House was filled with quiet chatter, the acidic tang of wolf magic thick in the chilly morning air. Several Hawthorne wolves were already working through drills in the circle, positioning themselves sharply and competitively. As soon as I entered through the iron gates, the low murmurs around me shifted. Watchful eyes followed my every step. None of them was surprised. Rhett hung back towards the outskirts of the circle with arms crossed, leaning casually against one of the tall wooden posts delineating the training area. Tova lingered beside him, tossing a practice blade between her hands idly while she watched the silent drama unfold wit
Crown of Tempests Chapter 21 - Iris
By the time we arrived at the war room below Aurelian House, adrenaline had worn off enough to leave room for dread. Focus. The dome room resonated quietly with overlapping wards meant to keep any loose chatter from escaping the space. In the center was a long, dark oak table carved with barely visible runic grooves Elias had likely added within the last year. Kaia slid into the chair next to me without permission or preamble, already calm and present after her altercation. I sank into my seat before glancing up at her. Nora stood across the table, her hands pressed against the wood, confidently relaxed; her hands steady on either side of her, as if she had incinerated enough supernatural bullshit to keep that neutrality forever. Elias stood behind her against the rock wall, arms crossed, and a looping helix of faint gold runes orbiting above his fingers. Evelina sat next to Nora, left, calm, keen-eyed, and poised, one knee propped over the other, as if we were planning city o
Crown of Tempests Chapter 20 - Kaia
The pressure did not disappear when the courtyard cleared. It settled. That was worse. Most students filtered back toward the dormitories under faculty escort, but the air across Obscura held a tightness that said the night wasn’t finished with us yet. The wards had steadied, but steadiness after a probe always carried a warning. Whoever had tested the barrier knew exactly how long it took us to stabilize it. And they were going to use that. I stepped back first, breaking the contact between us before the moment stretched too long under everyone’s watchful eyes. Iris didn’t pull away as she had in the past. She straightened calmly, her composure sliding back into place without the careful distance she used to maintain. Nora approached us across the courtyard, firelight reflecting faintly off the bronze thread woven into her jacket. Elias followed close behind, his hands already glowing with low rune-light as he recalibrated something only he could see. “That wasn’t a full strike
Crown of Tempests Chapter 10 - Kaia
Christmas morning hit the house like a living thing.Not gently. Not quietly. It arrived with sound and heat and motion, with doors opening and closing, with food already cooking and bodies moving through shared s
Crown of Tempests Chapter 7 - Iris
Yule had always been quiet for us.Not empty. Intentional. A turning inward rather than outward. My mother taught me that the solstice was not about celebration but alignment, about acknowledging the longest night
Crown of Tempests Chapter 9 - Iris
Christmas crept in quietly, the way it always did for us.Not with music or noise or excess, but with intention. My mother and I worked side by side in the living room, laying out warded greenery along the windows
Crown of Tempests Chapter 8 - Kaia
The house didn’t just wake up.It filled.By the middle of the first week, the quiet broke under the weight of familiar voices and footsteps that didn&rsqu
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