MasukSelina~The woman straightened up again. The remnants of the old bonds tugged at her, but she fought on. The staff in her hand pulsed. She aimed once more.Raymond pulled me close. His voice was barely a whisper.If one of us has to stay, it’s me. The wolf is silent. The curse is gone. I can hold the anchor. You go back. You live. You make the Academy safe. You find out what your father was really planning.No. The word burst from me like a command. I cupped his face in both hands. The thread between us flared—green, gold, blue, and now a new white born of my soul.Not one. Both. Or neither. You said *together*. That applies here, too.The mountain reacted. Space contracted until the light became almost unbearably bright. The woman screamed and thrust the staff forward one last time. The black beam struck the thread at the exact moment the mountain made its final demand.Something inside me snapped.Not the thread. Something deeper. The pure soul everyone coveted. It opened wide. Agai
Selina~Raymond’s voice cut through the noise in my head."Selina. Listen to me. If we hesitate now, it will tear us apart. If we give it what it wants, one of us might stay here. Forever."I shook my head. Tears burned in my eyes, but I didn't let them fall. The mountain pressed in. The cold draft beneath the warm thread grew sharper. I felt something inside me begin to answer. My Fae blood. The pure soul everyone wanted. It responded to the Core’s call as if it had been made for it.Raymond cupped my face. He pressed his forehead against mine. The thread stabilized for a heartbeat."Together. Only together. Not what the woman wants. Not what the mountain forces. What *we* choose."I wanted to answer. The words stuck in my throat. For the mountain would wait no longer.A second pulse surged through the space. This time, it targeted the thread directly. I watched as blue and gold strands detached from our skin and flowed into the surrounding will. It didn't hurt. It felt like loss. Li
Selina~We pressed our hands together. The thread flared up. Green, gold, and the Core’s new blue mingled and crashed against the black wave. The impact unleashed a shockwave that knocked several attackers off their feet. The woman staggered back a step, her expression twisting."You learn fast. But the mountain is greedy. And I’ve offered it something it can’t refuse."She jerked her staff upward and drove it straight into the courtyard floor. Black cracks formed and crept purposefully toward us. At the same time, the mountain’s call grew louder. It wanted us. Now. The part of us already within it pulled with a force that squeezed the air from my lungs. My knees buckled. Raymond caught me and held me upright, even as his own body trembled under the same strain."Selina." If we yielded to the pull, it would drag us both back into the Core—and this time, it might not let us go. If we fought against it, the thread would snap, and the curse—or something worse—might return.The black fiss
Selina~The descent from the marked rock felt longer than any path I had ever walked. Every step downward tugged at the invisible thread that was now leaving a part of me behind on the mountain. Raymond walked close beside me. His hand remained on my arm most of the time, as if he needed to reassure himself that I was still made of flesh and blood, not stone. Rowan led the way; Alfred and the older guardian brought up the rear. The wind carried the scent of snow, blood, and something burnt—lingering traces of the woman who had escaped.A small group was already waiting down by the East Gate. Geraldine stood at the front, holding an open book she could barely keep a grip on because her hands were trembling. Liora stayed in the background, watching us with an expression I couldn't decipher. Silence fell as Raymond and I stepped through the gate. The people sensed the change. The lines beneath the courtyard were singing differently. Deeper. More connected.Geraldine stepped closer, study
Selina~Then the severed thread answered.Power flowed from the mountain into me, and from me into Raymond, and back again. A closed circuit. The silver extension around my neck shattered into glowing shards. The Guardian screamed and recoiled. His form grew thinner. More translucent. He was losing substance because the curse that had sustained him could no longer find purchase in Raymond.The first hybrid spoke again, and her voice now came directly from the stone.Finish him. Now. Before he latches onto something else. The mountain gives you the breath to do it.Raymond and I acted simultaneously. I summoned the blue light of the Core. He summoned the wolf and the new thread. Together, we struck at the Guardian. Green, gold, blue, and the wolf’s wild gold hit the silver form at its center. The Guardian expanded one last time, tried once more to reach for me, and then disintegrated into a rain of dull silver dust that settled on the floor and was absorbed by the Core.The woman screa
Selina~The woman with the broken chain screamed in rage and tore a dark knife from her cloak—a blade covered in runes I had never seen before. She sliced her own palm, and the blood that welled up wasn't red. It was black, smoking, and rising against gravity.The blood of the first huntress. The blood that had originally bound the curse. She flung it into the red circle, and the entire space distorted. The first hybrid’s blue protective barrier flickered. The Guardian laughed with a voice that was now partly my own.The thread burned. Raymond’s knees buckled. I held him tight, feeling the curse within him reach for the upper hand one last time. His golden eyes went blank for a moment.The first hybrid screamed something in a language the stone itself seemed to understand. The blue light exploded outward. The Guardian was thrown back. The woman staggered. The black blood in the air burned away into ash-gray dust.But the price had not yet been paid.The blue maw opened wider. The pr







