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Chapter 104 : Shadows at the Gate
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2025-04-13 22:35:25
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Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 105 : The Line Drawn
Lyra POVThe scouts returned at dawn.Mud-streaked, hollow-eyed, their wolves panting from the long run. They came with no injuries - but no peace, either.โThe eastern tree line,โ one reported, voice gravel-rough. โThereโs movement in the hollows. Shadows that donโt cast light. Itโs him. We know it.โLyra nodded, absorbing each word like stone absorbing rain. She didnโt flinch. Didnโt blink. She simply said, โThen we fortify. Every outpost from Hollow Reach to the Veil Spine gets fire runes and silver-lined weapons. No one patrols alone. If anyone sees him - him, not shadows, not dreams - they report to me. Directly.โThe scouts hesitated, glancing between one another, then nodded.The war council convened by mid-morning. Nyxar stood at her right, silent as ever, while Elara ran point on magical defenses. The barracks had been roused hours before sunrise. Steel clanged in every courtyard. Witches painted wards on armor, blood-mixed sigils glowing faintly against the leather.And stil
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-14Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 106 : Ash and Echoes
Harbinger POVThe darkness welcomed him like an old friend.It moved when he moved. Breathed when he breathed. Twined around his shoulders like a living mantle as he drifted through the ruins of the old forest temple, the shattered remnants of gods long forgotten crushed beneath his feet.Kane sat in the center of the stone circle, head bowed, sweat beading at his brow despite the cold. He hadnโt moved in hours.Still resisting.The Harbinger tilted his head, amused. He circled the boy slowly, boots making no sound on the broken marble. Kaneโs energy flickered - unstable. Like a flame exposed to too much air.โYou're unraveling,โ the Harbinger said softly. His voice was silk over razors, ancient and echoing. โAnd still, you cling to her.โKaneโs jaw tightened. โIโm not yours.โThe Harbinger crouched behind him, a whisper at his ear. โNo. Not yet. But you will be.โA flick of power, and the circle of runes flared beneath them, casting everything in a red glow. Kane flinched but didnโt
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-15Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 107 : The Edge of Ruin
Lyra POV The air reeked of blood and burning wards. From the highest spire, Lyra watched shadow creatures pour through the eastern breach - just as planned. Their forms rippled with unnatural grace, bones wrong beneath stretching skin, eyes like coals. The trap was set. Glyphs flared to life in a massive ring around the breach, turning the battlefield into a burning cage. And still they came. The creatures werenโt slowed by fire. They thrived in it. โFall back to second line!โ Elara shouted, sword dripping with black ichor. โProtect the witches! Get the civilians below-โ A bolt of shadow tore past her and struck the ground at Lyraโs feet. The stone cracked. The heat of it sizzled against her skin even as she raised a shield instinctively. She spun. And there he was. Kane. No mask. No armor. Just him - worn leathers and that familiar, twisted expression of grief and rage. His eyes, however, were not his own. They blazed with the Harbingerโs mark - red, ringed in black. Hi
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-17Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 108 : The Last Thread
Lyra POV The battlefield had gone silent. Smoke drifted in slow spirals, carrying the scent of charred magic and iron. The fires were still burning, but no one moved to put them out. The witches stood frozen in their circles, eyes wide. Warriors clutched weapons they would never raise. Because all eyes were on her and on him. Kane knelt at the heart of the broken ring, cracked stone glowing with sigils that no longer pulsed. His hands dug into the earth, breath coming in ragged gasps, and his back arched in pain as the Harbingerโs presence writhed inside him - like a second heartbeat made of shadows and fire. But it was still Kaneโs face. Still his eyes. Lyra stepped forward slowly. She couldnโt feel her feet. Couldnโt feel her hands. Only the pulsing ache in her chest - the last thread of their bond, frayed and bleeding. Ekreth stood to her right, arms folded, waiting like a vulture made of smoke and starlight. His wings curled inward as if to shield her from what came
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-17Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 109 : Kaneโs Pyre
Lyra POV The pyre stood at the edge of the Hollow Grounds, where even shadows seemed afraid to linger.Smoke curled upward in slow, lazy spirals, black against a bruised sky. The earth beneath Lyraโs boots felt scorched, barren - like it remembered too. The scent of charred wood, old blood, and unspoken goodbyes clung to the air, suffocating.She stood alone.The others waited behind the circle of warded stones, where the barrier shimmered like a ghost in the dying light. Not one of them crossed it. Not Nyxar, not Elara, not the witches who still whispered her name like a half-broken prayer. They knew this was not a moment meant to be witnessed.Grief, Lyra had learned, wasnโt something that could be comforted. It wasnโt something you wrapped in soft words or shared through tears. It was a blade, and she had been holding it for days - bleeding quietly from the inside.Now it was buried in her chest, where no one could see it but her.Kaneโs body lay wrapped in his old wolfhide cloak
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-19Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 110 : The Ones Who Remain
Lyra POVThe embers still glowed behind her.Lyra didnโt look back.The scent of ash clung to her skin, tangled in her hair, curled in the back of her throat. Kaneโs name lingered there, unspoken. His memory pulsed with every breath.But she did not allow it to take her. Not yet.Later, she told herself, jaw locked so tight it ached. I will mourn him later. When the war is done. When I am alone. When I am allowed to shatter.But not now.Now, there were still choices to be made. Kingdom to hold together. Monsters to face.And one of them waited for her in human form - standing beside another creature just as ancient, just as terrifying.She found them where the Hollow Grounds bled into the broken remnants of the forest - where the warded stones gave way to open earth and the burnt sky cracked with thin threads of gold.Ekreth stood with arms crossed, tall and impossibly still. The last rays of dusk caught the edges of him, casting long, sharp shadows at his feet.He had taken a human
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-22Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 111 : Before the Ash Settles
Lyra POVThe city pulsed like a living thing.Not with war drums or warning horns, not with screams or smoke. But with something gentler. Steadier. Like a heartbeat finding its rhythm again after the chaos had passed.She walked its cobbled streets alone, the sky soft and bruised with dusk, her cloak drawn close against the cool wind.She didnโt want to be recognized.Tonight, she wasnโt the Queen. Not the warrior. Not the widow.She was just a woman - a ghost, maybe - drifting through the bones of a city that had outlived too much death.The streets were cracked and uneven where the stone had split from the last quake. Ivy had begun to creep over the ruins. Not the kind born of darkness and shadow like before - but living ivy. Green. Hopeful. Unafraid.It clung to burned-out walls, softening them. Claiming them.And everywhere she looked, life had begun again.A child ran past her, barefoot and shrieking with laughter, trailing a cloth banner behind her like it was a cape. Another pu
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-22Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 112 : The Gate
Lyra POV - Dawn The sky held no warmth when morning came.It broke over the horizon like a blade - pale and cold, slicing through the hush that had settled over the city. No birds sang. No bells rang. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.Lyra stood alone in the highest tower, watching the first light seep into the edges of the world. The city still slept below, curled into itself like a creature trying to heal. She could see the rooftops where ivy climbed, the market square where sweetbread had been shared, the fountains where pups had splashed. All the places that had made her heart ache the night before.Her eyes were dry now. Her chest hollowed and quiet, the way it always felt after grief had burned itself down to embers.The shirt sheโd held all night was gone. Folded. Left behind. Like a prayer she couldnโt take with her.She wasnโt bringing Kane into this. This was hers to carry. This was her moment to end what First Queen couldn't. Gave up what gods turn her into.The rit
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-04-23
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Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 116 : Still Standing
Lyra POV Ekreth was gone again. For a long moment, she simply sat there, the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders. Duty waited outside that door. An entire kingdom will look to her now - broken, battered, but victorious. They had won the war. The Harbinger was gone. The seal was locked and nothing should get through to this world.And Kaneโฆ Kane was gone too.The thought carved another raw wound through her heart. She pressed a trembling hand against her chest, as if she could hold the pieces of herself together a little longer. She was Queen. There was no one else. She can't hide here.The heavy cloak of authority settled around her shoulders. She did not look at Nyxar. She couldnโt. Not yet.A soft knock stirred the heavy silence.Lyra blinked slowly, pulling herself out of the half-daze she'd sunk into. Her fingers still curled around Nyxarโs, reluctant to let go. She didnโt want to move. Didnโt want to face whatever waited beyond this quiet, broken moment.Th
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 115 : The Weight of Staying
Lyra POV The door clicked softly shut behind Ekreth, leaving her alone with Nyxar and the sound of her own heartbeat.For a long time, she didn't move.She sat there, hands folded on her lap, staring at the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest beneath the blanket. Each breath was a fragile miracle. A proof that he still lived - that he hadn't slipped away entirely into whatever place gods went when they died."You stayed", Thalia murmured inside her, voice warm and thick with emotion."I had to."Lyra answered numbly."No, Lyra. You chose to."Lyra's chest ached at the words.She hadn't thought about it. Not really. When Nyxarโs light began to break apart, when the world had turned inside out - she had moved without hesitation. Without calculation. As if something inside her had already decided long before she knew it herself.But that didn't mean she understood it. Or that she wanted to.A heavy silence filled her mind."He matters to you", Thalia said softly, without accusation.
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 114 : Dust and Gold
Lyra POV The silence that followed didnโt feel like peace. It felt like the world had forgotten how to breathe.Stone dust hung in the air like smoke, fine and pale, drifting slowly down in spirals from the vaulted ceiling above. Runes that had once blazed with ancient light were now dark and broken, their power spent. Cracks split the floor like veins across a dead heart.And at the center of it all, Lyra sat on her knees in the ruins of the seal - her hands tangled in Nyxarโs coat, her breath coming in ragged, uneven pulls.He was warm. That was the only thing she could hold onto.He was warm.His chest rose and fell beneath her fingers, slow but steady. His body, usually tense with power, now felt strangely soft in her arms - boneless, weighty. And his faceโฆHis face looked peaceful.Not serene. Not untouched. There were shadows under his eyes, ash on his skin, and gold still faintly glowing at the corners of his mouth. But there was no pain now. No fight left in him.Justโฆ peace
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 113 : Ashes of a God
Nyxar POVThe earth still quaked when the light began to fade. Not with the blinding fury of battle, nor with the blood-red chaos of war - but with something quieter. Heavier. Like the echo of a heartbeat after it stops.A sacred breath held too longโฆ finally exhaled.Nyxar stood at the heart of the chamber beneath the castle - boots braced against fractured stone, the runes beneath his feet flickering like dying stars. The seal pulsed in front of him, threads of gold and shadow unraveling into the dark like veins torn open.Ekreth stood beside him, tall and monstrous in his truest form - wrought of shadow and old bone, his wings hunched tight against the low ceiling, scraping stone as they twitched.The air thrummed with old power. The kind that didnโt belong to the world above.Nyxar didnโt flinch.And before them in one moment the gate was gone. No fire. No rupture. No tearing in the fabric of the world. Justโฆ closed. Like it had never been there at all.Nyxarโs chest was a war dru
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 112 : The Gate
Lyra POV - Dawn The sky held no warmth when morning came.It broke over the horizon like a blade - pale and cold, slicing through the hush that had settled over the city. No birds sang. No bells rang. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.Lyra stood alone in the highest tower, watching the first light seep into the edges of the world. The city still slept below, curled into itself like a creature trying to heal. She could see the rooftops where ivy climbed, the market square where sweetbread had been shared, the fountains where pups had splashed. All the places that had made her heart ache the night before.Her eyes were dry now. Her chest hollowed and quiet, the way it always felt after grief had burned itself down to embers.The shirt sheโd held all night was gone. Folded. Left behind. Like a prayer she couldnโt take with her.She wasnโt bringing Kane into this. This was hers to carry. This was her moment to end what First Queen couldn't. Gave up what gods turn her into.The rit
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 111 : Before the Ash Settles
Lyra POVThe city pulsed like a living thing.Not with war drums or warning horns, not with screams or smoke. But with something gentler. Steadier. Like a heartbeat finding its rhythm again after the chaos had passed.She walked its cobbled streets alone, the sky soft and bruised with dusk, her cloak drawn close against the cool wind.She didnโt want to be recognized.Tonight, she wasnโt the Queen. Not the warrior. Not the widow.She was just a woman - a ghost, maybe - drifting through the bones of a city that had outlived too much death.The streets were cracked and uneven where the stone had split from the last quake. Ivy had begun to creep over the ruins. Not the kind born of darkness and shadow like before - but living ivy. Green. Hopeful. Unafraid.It clung to burned-out walls, softening them. Claiming them.And everywhere she looked, life had begun again.A child ran past her, barefoot and shrieking with laughter, trailing a cloth banner behind her like it was a cape. Another pu
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 110 : The Ones Who Remain
Lyra POVThe embers still glowed behind her.Lyra didnโt look back.The scent of ash clung to her skin, tangled in her hair, curled in the back of her throat. Kaneโs name lingered there, unspoken. His memory pulsed with every breath.But she did not allow it to take her. Not yet.Later, she told herself, jaw locked so tight it ached. I will mourn him later. When the war is done. When I am alone. When I am allowed to shatter.But not now.Now, there were still choices to be made. Kingdom to hold together. Monsters to face.And one of them waited for her in human form - standing beside another creature just as ancient, just as terrifying.She found them where the Hollow Grounds bled into the broken remnants of the forest - where the warded stones gave way to open earth and the burnt sky cracked with thin threads of gold.Ekreth stood with arms crossed, tall and impossibly still. The last rays of dusk caught the edges of him, casting long, sharp shadows at his feet.He had taken a human
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 109 : Kaneโs Pyre
Lyra POV The pyre stood at the edge of the Hollow Grounds, where even shadows seemed afraid to linger.Smoke curled upward in slow, lazy spirals, black against a bruised sky. The earth beneath Lyraโs boots felt scorched, barren - like it remembered too. The scent of charred wood, old blood, and unspoken goodbyes clung to the air, suffocating.She stood alone.The others waited behind the circle of warded stones, where the barrier shimmered like a ghost in the dying light. Not one of them crossed it. Not Nyxar, not Elara, not the witches who still whispered her name like a half-broken prayer. They knew this was not a moment meant to be witnessed.Grief, Lyra had learned, wasnโt something that could be comforted. It wasnโt something you wrapped in soft words or shared through tears. It was a blade, and she had been holding it for days - bleeding quietly from the inside.Now it was buried in her chest, where no one could see it but her.Kaneโs body lay wrapped in his old wolfhide cloak
Lyra, His Second Chance Mateย ย ย Chapter 108 : The Last Thread
Lyra POV The battlefield had gone silent. Smoke drifted in slow spirals, carrying the scent of charred magic and iron. The fires were still burning, but no one moved to put them out. The witches stood frozen in their circles, eyes wide. Warriors clutched weapons they would never raise. Because all eyes were on her and on him. Kane knelt at the heart of the broken ring, cracked stone glowing with sigils that no longer pulsed. His hands dug into the earth, breath coming in ragged gasps, and his back arched in pain as the Harbingerโs presence writhed inside him - like a second heartbeat made of shadows and fire. But it was still Kaneโs face. Still his eyes. Lyra stepped forward slowly. She couldnโt feel her feet. Couldnโt feel her hands. Only the pulsing ache in her chest - the last thread of their bond, frayed and bleeding. Ekreth stood to her right, arms folded, waiting like a vulture made of smoke and starlight. His wings curled inward as if to shield her from what came
