LOGINHey loves! Lady P❣️ here 💕 We're 50 chapters into our journey, and everything has changed. The figure in the forest isn't Cordelia. It's a woman named Cora. And she claims to be a Drakos. But Ymir just gave up her power. She just lost her mark. She just became mortal. What does Cora want? Why is she here? And what does it mean for Ymir? Drop your predictions below 💛 Don't forget to vote! See you in Chapter 51! — Lady P❣️
Ziki's dream stayed with me through the night. I lay in bed with my eyes open, watching the shadows shift across the ceiling, my mind circling the same questions over and over. The creature was bound for my lifetime, but the binding would break when I died. My son carried the same blood I did, the same power, the same mark. And the creature had already found him once, in his dreams, in his drawings, in the words He visits me scrawled in a child's handwriting. What if the binding wasn't enough? What if Ziki was the key, the heir, the one the creature truly wanted? I got up before dawn and walked to his room, standing in the doorway while the pale morning light crept across his bed. He was asleep, the stuffed wolf clutched against his chest, his small face peaceful. I watched him breathe for a long time, then made a silent promise. I would protect him, no matter the cost. --- Training that morning was useless. I sat in the clearing with Iris, my eyes closed, my breath slow,
Iris came back on a Tuesday. I didn't know she was coming, didn't know she was anywhere near the territory, didn't know anything except that I was in the garden with Ziki, watching him chase butterflies through the roses, when I heard the gates open and the guards call out. I looked up, expecting a messenger, expecting a trader, expecting anyone but her. And then I saw her. She was walking through the gates with a small bag slung over her shoulder, her silver hair pulled back in its familiar knot, her face weathered and tired but her eyes sharp as ever. She was wearing the same gray cloak she had worn when I first met her, the one that smelled like lavender and old books and safety. Ziki saw her before I did. He stopped chasing butterflies and stared at her for a long moment, his small face scrunched in confusion. He didn't know her, had never met her, had only ever heard me speak of her in passing, in stories, in memories. "Mama, who's that?" I didn't answer. I was already
I didn't take Cora to the pack house immediately. She was too weak, too scared, flinching at every sound and every shadow. She hadn't eaten in days and hadn't slept in longer, and the look in her eyes—the hollow, hunted look—told me she had been running from something terrible for a very long time. So I took her to the old hunting cabin at the edge of the territory. It wasn't much, just a single room with a dusty fireplace and a bed that hadn't been used in years, but it was warm and it was safe and it was far enough from the pack house that Cora could breathe without looking over her shoulder every few seconds. I brought her food, bread and cheese and a flask of water, and she ate like a wild animal, fast and desperate, her eyes darting to the door every few bites like she expected someone to burst through it at any moment. She drank the water in three long swallows, and then she sat on the floor in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest and her back pressed against t
I didn't tell anyone about the figure. I didn't wake Xavier. I didn't call for the guards. I just stood by the window, staring at the place where the figure had been, my heart pounding, my mind racing. I waited for it to come back. I waited for something to happen. But the forest was still, and the figure didn't return. By the time the sun rose, I had convinced myself it was nothing. A trick of the light. A shadow. My exhausted mind playing games with me. But I didn't believe that. Not really. --- I spent the morning walking the perimeter. The guards reported nothing unusual. No tracks. No strange scents. No disturbances. The forest was quiet, still, peaceful. But I knew what I had seen. In the old days, I would have reached for my power. I would have sent out a wave of energy, felt for the presence, tracked it to its source. But the old days were gone. The power was gone. The mark was gone. I was just a woman now. A mortal. A nothing. But I was still the Luna. So I
I woke to the smell of herbs. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar—wooden beams crisscrossing in patterns I had never noticed before, pale morning light filtering through a small window. The bed beneath me was soft, the blankets warm, and the air smelled of clean linen and something faintly metallic. Blood. My blood. I tried to sit up, and the pain hit me like a wave. My ribs screamed. My palm throbbed. My head pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears. I fell back against the pillows, gasping. "You shouldn't move." I turned my head. Elara was sitting in a chair beside the bed, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on my face. She looked tired. Worn. Like she hadn't slept since the ritual. "How long?" I asked. "Three days." I closed my eyes. Three days. Three days of nothing. Three days of dreaming. Three days of lying here while the world moved on without me. "Ziki?" "He's safe. He's been asking for you every hour. Xavier has been keeping him company." "Xav
The creature struck Xavier before I could scream. It moved faster than anything I had ever seen, a blur of shadow and teeth and ancient hunger. One moment Xavier was running toward me, his hand outstretched. The next, he was flying backward, his body crashing through the trees, the sound of splintering wood echoing through the clearing. "No!" I screamed. I pushed myself off the ground, ignoring the fire in my chest, ignoring the blood still pouring from my palm, ignoring everything except the need to reach him. But my legs gave out. My body failed. I stumbled, I fell, I dragged myself forward on my hands and knees, the salt of the circle stinging my wounds. Xavier was crumpled at the base of a tree, blood seeping from a wound on his head, his eyes closed. He wasn't moving. He wasn't moving. "Xavier!" I crawled toward him, my vision blurring with tears. "Xavier, wake up. Please. Please wake up." He didn't move. The creature laughed. A sound like the earth cracking open.







