Drevon POVTwo nights before The capital lay in ruin, its once-proud structures reduced to smoldering wreckage beneath the weight of destruction. Ash drifted through the air like blackened snowflakes, settling over broken streets and shattered homes. The scent of death and burning wood clung to the night, thick and inescapable. Fires still flickered in the distance, their glow casting jagged shadows over the remnants of a fallen kingdom.Drevon and Aelindra moved like specters through the ruins, their steps silent, their presence a whisper against the devastation they had wrought. They were neither hurried nor concerned - no one dared to stand against them. The city had been conquered, its throne stripped of its king, its people left in mourning.And yet, beneath the ruin, something older pulsed. Something that had waited through the centuries for this very moment.Aelindra’s silver eyes gleamed as she ran her fingers along the cracked stone of a toppled pillar, dragging them slowly
Lyra's POV The first light of dawn broke over the ruined capital, painting the sky in streaks of gold and crimson. The morning air was thick with the remnants of smoke, mingling with the scent of damp earth and drying blood. The echoes of the previous night - the burning funeral pyres, the whispered prayers of the grieving, the solemn vows of loyalty - still clung to the city like a ghostly veil.But today, grief would have to make way for duty.The kingdom had no time to mourn.Lyra stood by the castle’s main balcony, overlooking the broken city below. Even in ruin, it still held its strength - their strength. The Lycans were survivors. And now, they would rebuild.She turned her head slightly, her gaze settling on the two warriors standing a short distance away. They had been shadowing her and Kane since the moment the sun rose. Always close, always watching. She could feel their presence like a heavy cloak draped over her shoulders.Guarding them? Or watching them?Lyra had expect
Kane POV Lyra’s absence left a hollow space beside him, but Kane didn’t have the luxury to dwell on it. Not now.The moment she turned away to gather the witches, the weight of responsibility settled fully on his shoulders. He clenched his jaw, his golden eyes scanning the war-torn capital as the first slivers of daylight touched the broken stone. The fires had long burned out, leaving behind blackened ruins and the stench of death, but the real work was only beginning.A king could not grieve. A king could not falter.Yet the ghost of his father’s presence still lingered in the air, his voice a whisper in the halls of the ruined castle. Would he be proud of the choices Kane was making? Or would he see only the cracks forming beneath the pressure?"You’re thinking too much." The low growl of his Lycan echoed in his mind.Kane exhaled sharply. I don’t have a choice."You do. But you’re too damn stubborn to admit it."The beast was restless, pacing beneath his skin, just as uneasy with
The weight of the journal sat heavy in Kane’s hands, the leather worn and cracked from years of use. His father’s handwriting was etched into the cover in deep, determined strokes."If I do not return, the answers lie within."His golden eyes traced the words, unease curling in his gut. His father had left him a kingdom in ruins, but also this - a collection of thoughts, warnings, and wisdom he had never shared in life."Why did he keep this from me?"Kane exhaled slowly, flipping the journal open.The first pages were filled with the sharp, disciplined script of a man who had ruled with strength and calculation. His father had never wasted words in life, and the same rang true here.One:"To lead is to bear the weight of all who follow. A crown is not given - it is taken, shaped in war and loss. If you are reading this, Kane, you have inherited more than my throne. You have inherited my burdens."Kane clenched his jaw. His burdens.His fingers tightened on the journal, but he forced
Lyra POVLyra forced herself to focus on Kane’s words, but her thoughts were already slipping away.That pull. That strange, familiar presence. It pressed against her senses like an unseen force, growing stronger with every breath.She had felt it before - the day she first set foot in this castle. But now, the sensation was sharper, more demanding. Like something was awake beneath the ruins.She turned toward the grand entrance, the sunlight stretching long shadows across the cracked stone."Why now?"Her fingers twitched at her sides, but before she could take a step, a deep voice pulled her back.“You’re not going alone.”Lyra turned to see her father watching her, arms crossed over his broad chest. His wolfish eyes, the same shade of gold as hers, flickered with quiet suspicion.“What?” she asked, though she already knew.Her father’s gaze was unwavering. “You’re going to the witches. I’m coming with you.”Lyra sighed. Of course, he wouldn’t let her go alone. Even after everything
Lyra’s POVThe castle loomed ahead, dark and imposing against the evening sky. The weight of what had just transpired with the witches still sat heavy in Lyra’s chest. Every step she took back toward the castle made her more aware of the pull beneath it, the power thrumming just below the surface, waiting.She wasn’t the only one who felt it.Her father walked beside her, his expression unreadable, but she could see the tension in his jaw, the way his shoulders stiffened. The warriors who had accompanied them - who had been possessed, controlled, tainted - walked behind, still shaken by what had happened to them.Lyra stopped at the entrance, inhaling deeply before turning toward them."Go," she ordered, her voice firm but calm. "Rest. Whatever was inside you… it’s gone now, but you should regain your strength."The warriors exchanged uneasy glances before nodding, murmuring their thanks as they moved away. Her father lingered, watching them disappear into the depths of the castle bef
Lyra’s POVThe weight of their conversation lingered long after they left the war room.Lyra’s mind raced as she walked through the dim corridors of the castle, her boots echoing against the stone. The Grand Stone. The prophecy. Her mother’s warning. It was all connected. And yet, the more they uncovered, the more questions remained.She exhaled sharply, forcing herself to focus. There had to be more.The castle was old - older than the kingdom itself. If the Grand Stone had been here for centuries, then there had to be records. Something hidden away.Lyra turned a corner, nearly colliding with Kane.He caught her arm instinctively, eyes flickering with something unreadable before he let go."You’re thinking too hard again," he muttered.Lyra crossed her arms. "We don’t have time to stop thinking."Kane sighed. "Agreed. Which is why I have a plan."She raised a brow. "And that is?"Kane hesitated, glancing down the hall before speaking. "We need to search the lower levels of the castl
The weight of the vision clung to Lyra like a second skin - suffocating, inescapable.She barely remembered how she and Kane made it out of the ruins beneath the castle. Her pulse still pounded from what she had seen - what she had felt.The Grand Stone wasn’t just a relic. It was a prison.And worse - it had cracked.Two fragments had broken from it during the battle - one must have ended up in her bloodline. The other… Drevon’s.But Drevon’s piece of the Stone was gone.She had destroyed it.The memory was still a haze, buried beneath the rush of battle, but the truth was undeniable. She had shattered his fragment - and absorbed its power.Even now, something inside her felt different. Stronger.More than that, though - Drevon had still fought, still wielded his magic. As if the Stone had never been the true source of his power at all.That was the part that disturbed her the most.If his magic didn’t come from the Grand Stone… then where did it come from?Neither she nor Kane spoke
Lyra didn’t speak.She stepped quietly to the side and settled onto a patch of moss, legs folded beneath her, spine straight as a sentinel. The moonlight slid in through the broken rafters above, painting her hair in silver. Her presence was steady - not pressing, not retreating. Just there. She could Nyxar stayed kneeling, fingers grazing the fractured stone where once an altar had stood tall and gleaming with divine light. His hand traced the worn runes, fingers slipping over grooves long eroded by wind and time.“This is where I fell,” he said after a while, voice low. “Not in battle. Not before a blade. Here. In the temple.”Lyra looked toward him, but said nothing. She didn’t need to.“I was given a choice.” His gaze fixed on the stones. “To let them die… or to fall. Become immortal. To give up the throne. My power. My life. My mortality. Everything.”His jaw tightened. “I didn’t hesitate. Not for one breath. I gave it all for them. For the ones who cried out in my name.”“And
Nyxar POV The corridor felt quieter than it had ever been. As if the walls themselves held their breath, watching the once-immortal god relearn the rhythm of mortality. Nyxar leaned slightly against Lyra as they moved - her arm steady beneath his, her touch warm and sure.He paused beside one of the archways, exhaling slow. The torchlight flickered over his face, casting golden highlights into the dark growth of stubble along his jaw.“I need to see it,” he murmured. “The old sanctuary. The ruins.”Lyra turned her face toward him, brows lifting. “Now?”Nyxar’s gaze was distant, tethered to memory and something deeper - pulling at him like the moon pulled at tides. But then hiis stomach growled. Loud and unmistakable.He blinked. She blinked. And then she laughed.Not the soft, guarded sound he’d grown used to, but a real laugh - light and almost surprised, like she hadn't expected it from herself.He glanced down at his own stomach and muttered, “Apparently, being mortal comes with i
Nyxar’s POVThere was no pain at first.No sound. No color. Only the hollow thrum of memory drifting through a void where even time dared not exist. Here, in this formless silence, everything Nyxar had been - god, warrior, monster - unraveled.His name echoed once, a ghost of thunder across a dark sea. Then it dissolved. Nyxar. Once a name that cracked mountains and bled stars. Now, meaningless.The world beyond had vanished. Only the impression of a face lingered, etched into the dying light of his thoughts. Lyra. Her warmth, her tears, the feel of her hand in his - real in a way nothing else had been in centuries. He’d given everything to protect her. To save her.He thought it had been the end. But something remained. A flicker. An ember buried beneath the ash.He reached for it - not with hands, but with the fragile echo of thought. There was no body here. No form. Just awareness stretched thin like dying flame. The divine part of him - once radiant and vengeful - was crumbling.
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 Kane… 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 couldn’t. 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 Nyxar’s, reluctant to let go. She didn’t want to move. Didn’t want to face whatever waited beyond this quiet, broken moment.Th
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 Nyxar’s 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 POV The silence that followed didn’t 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 Nyxar’s 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 face…His 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.Just… peace
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 long… 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 didn’t belong to the world above.Nyxar didn’t flinch.And before them in one moment the gate was gone. No fire. No rupture. No tearing in the fabric of the world. Just… closed. Like it had never been there at all.Nyxar’s chest was a war dru
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 she’d held all night was gone. Folded. Left behind. Like a prayer she couldn’t take with her.She wasn’t 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 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 didn’t want to be recognized.Tonight, she wasn’t 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