Chapter 64

Ash still drifted in the air like black snow, settling over ruins that had once been Dawnspire’s proud walls. Serenya’s lungs burned with smoke and power as she struggled to hold herself aloft. Her new wings—woven of starlight and fire—shivered with exhaustion, dimming at the edges. Below, Thalric’s broken crown lay in shards, but the man himself rose from the ashes, alive, his form cloaked in a new and terrible shadow.

Kaelen’s voice reached her, hoarse with disbelief. “You struck him down. He should be dead.”

Serenya landed heavily, knees buckling on the scorched stone. She leaned on Starveil, the blade’s light guttering like a fading candle. “I thought I ended him. But something darker has claimed him now.”

Thalric lifted his gaze, his eyes no longer human. They burned with a void-like hunger, as if the fire of the dragons had been consumed by something older, hungrier. “Do you see, little heiress?” His voice was no longer his alone—it echoed with another presence. “You’ve freed me from flesh. Now I am fire unbound. I am the crown eternal.”

A ripple of dread shuddered through the rebels on the field. Even the dragons circling overhead faltered, uneasy in his presence.

Kaelen drew his twin blades, planting himself protectively between Serenya and the shadow-cloaked duke. His shoulders squared, but his eyes betrayed his fear—not for himself, but for her.

“Stay behind me,” he ordered.

But Serenya shook her head, fury sparking even through her weakness. “No. If we face him, we face him together.”

Thalric laughed, a sound like iron snapping. “Together? That is your weakness. Love is a chain that binds your strength. Watch how easily I break it.”

He lunged. Shadows writhed from his hands like serpents, striking faster than steel. Kaelen met the attack with a roar, his blades carving through darkness, sparks flying. Serenya’s wings flared instinctively, shielding them from the brunt of the force, but each clash drained her further.

Kaelen fought with reckless ferocity, his movements sharpened by desperation. He had always been the shadow-guard, the protector walking unseen. Now, with fire and fury all around, he fought like a man with nothing left to lose.

“Kaelen, stop!” Serenya cried as Thalric’s power pressed harder, their strength buckling beneath it. “If we keep fighting, we’ll both fall.”

“I swore I’d protect you,” Kaelen spat, shoving her back as Thalric’s blow nearly split them apart. His blade rang with the force of it, sparks spraying into the dark. “Even if it kills me.”

Those words struck harder than any sword.

Serenya’s heart wrenched—this man who had carried her secrets, guarded her when no crown or prophecy did, was now willing to burn himself out to save her. But love that strong was exactly what Thalric sought to break.

With a single surge of his shadowfire, Thalric unleashed a blast that ripped across the battlements. The ground cracked and buckled. Serenya stumbled, her wings faltering. Kaelen grabbed her, pulling her close, shielding her with his body.

That was the moment Thalric chose.

A tendril of shadow lashed out, striking Kaelen square in the chest. His cry was torn from him as he was hurled backward, over the edge of the crumbled wall.

“Kaelen!” Serenya screamed.

Time slowed. She lunged, wings burning, but the strain was too great. She caught only a glimpse of his hand reaching for hers, his eyes blazing with both love and apology—then he was gone, swallowed by the abyss below.

The world shattered inside her.

Her knees hit stone. Her scream tore from her throat, raw and broken, as fire burst uncontrolled from her wings. The blaze scorched the sky itself, forcing even Thalric back for a breath.

He smiled cruelly, savoring the devastation in her eyes. “Now you understand, heiress. Love is weakness. He is nothing but ash, and you will be too if you fight me.”

But Serenya did not crumble. She rose, grief igniting into something sharper. Her tears sizzled on her cheeks as the wings of fire flared brighter than before. “You’re wrong,” she whispered. “Love is not my weakness. It is my wrath.”

She charged, every strike of Starveil ringing with fury, her flames forcing Thalric into retreat. Shadows clashed with starlight, the collision splitting the night sky with blinding brilliance.

Still, no matter how hard she struck, her heart screamed for the man lost below. The empty air between her fingers where his hand should have been was a wound deeper than any blade.

Her fury carried her through, but it also consumed her. The wings faltered, her strength dwindling. Thalric’s laughter echoed again, confident, unbroken.

And then—like a cruel twist of fate—the dragons roared. Their massive wings stirred the battlefield, retreating into the smoke as if abandoning both armies. Without their looming presence, the ruins fell silent except for fire crackling and steel groaning.

Maelis staggered toward Serenya, clutching her staff, eyes wide with grief. “He isn’t gone,” the seer whispered, voice trembling. “I felt it… Kaelen lives, though the abyss has claimed him.”

Serenya’s breath hitched, hope and pain colliding violently in her chest. “Alive?”

Maelis nodded weakly. “Alive, but not whole. The abyss corrupts. If you wish to save him, you must descend into it.”

Before Serenya could answer, Thalric’s shadows surged again, forcing her and Maelis apart. His smile curved like a blade. “Let her chase him into the dark. She will find only ruin.”

Serenya’s grip tightened on Starveil. Kaelen was alive. Torn from her, but alive. That was enough to keep her standing when all else seemed lost.

With one final flare of her wings, she launched upward, retreating into the night sky with Maelis clinging to her. The battle below blurred as she soared toward the mountains. Behind them, Thalric’s laughter followed, echoing like a curse.

By the time Serenya landed in the hidden glade of Esthaven, the fire in her wings had burned to ash. She collapsed to her knees, Starveil slipping from her grasp. Maelis knelt beside her, pressing a hand to her shoulder.

“You cannot face him again until you find Kaelen,” the seer whispered. “Your strength is bound to him. Alone, you will break.”

Serenya closed her eyes, every heartbeat throbbing with loss. The memory of Kaelen’s hand slipping from hers replayed endlessly, cutting deeper each time. Yet even through the agony, one truth remained steady: she would not leave him in the abyss.

She raised her head, eyes fierce with resolve. “Then I will go where no crown has dared. I will descend into the dark and bring him back.”

Maelis’s face paled. “Few who enter the abyss return. It feeds on what you fear most.”

“Then it will learn,” Serenya whispered, flames sparking faintly at her back, “that what I fear most has already been taken from me.”

The vow hung in the silence, heavy and unbreakable.

Far away, in the pit of shadows where Kaelen had fallen, his eyes opened. They glowed faintly with the abyss’s touch. He whispered her name once, before darkness swallowed him whole.