LOGINEmber Frost’s POV"When your souls merge with His divine power, you will never be separated from Him. His strength becomes your strength. His eternity becomes your eternity."Her eyes gleamed with fanatical devotion."You wished for eternal life, did you not?"An uncomfortable silence followed.No one agreed with her, but no one seemed brave enough to challenge her either.The smile on her face faded slightly."You wanted rewards without sacrifice," she said, her gaze sweeping across the crowd. "You wanted blessings without paying the price. How selfish."I almost laughed.The woman was preparing to feed them to a nightmare from another realm, and somehow they were the selfish ones.Then she raised a hand.At first, nothing happened. A few confused glances passed through the crowd before several fanatics suddenly stiffened. Their bodies began moving toward the High Priestess against their will, their expressions twisting with panic as they struggled to resist.A chill settled in my st
Ember Frost's POVI threw myself at the High Priestess, but I wasn't fast enough.She slipped away before I could reach her, moving with an ease that made my stomach drop. Her eyes flicked toward me for the briefest second, almost amused, and then she spoke the final words of the incantation.The world changed.A column of black energy shot into the sky.The force of it hit me like a physical blow. The stone beneath my feet trembled, my ears rang, and for a second I couldn't breathe.Then the entire altar fell still.The battle that had filled the chamber with noise and chaos vanished in an instant. Wolves stopped fighting. Fanatics stopped running. Even the injured struggling across the ground froze where they were.A cold shiver raced down my spine, and every muscle in my body locked up.Something had arrived.I didn't know what it was, but the dread that swept through me felt older than fear. I had faced rogues, monsters, and death before. This was different.My mind was still tryi
Ember Frost’s POVThe order was pointless. Most of them were already on their knees, heads lowered and backs bent, looking more like livestock waiting for slaughter than worshippers waiting for a blessing.Then the sky changed.The clouds slowly drifted apart, and moonlight spilled down onto the altar, turning the entire stone platform a pale silver. A murmur passed through the crowd, low and uncertain, but it didn’t last long.The High Priestess drew a knife without hesitation and sliced her palm. Blood dripped onto the stone as she began to chant, low and steady at first, then rising with each word.I didn’t understand any of it, but something about the sound made my skin crawl. It felt wrong in a way I couldn’t explain, like I wasn’t supposed to be hearing it at all.Then a scream cut through the night.The chanting stuttered for half a beat, and every head snapped toward the darkness.Something burst out from the edge of the forest.Wolves.The order was pointless. Most of them wer
Ember Frost's POV Something kept bothering me, but I couldn’t tell what it was.I kept glancing around, trying to catch whatever was wrong, but nothing looked out of place. Everything was exactly as it had been.Maybe I really was just imagining it.Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised.I was freezing, starving, injured, and trapped on an altar in the middle of nowhere. If my mind decided to give up before the rest of me, that would honestly make sense.Still, the feeling wouldn't go away.Neither did the pain.Everything hurt. The cuts across my skin burned, the bruises ached, and the wounds that were supposed to be healing felt like they'd stopped halfway through the job. Just standing there was exhausting.I was starving too. My stomach had been empty for so long that the hunger didn't even come in waves anymore. It was just there, gnawing at me constantly.Still… none of that was what bothered me most.Something felt wrong.I tried to brush it off as exhaustion, but the longe
Elder Harriet’s POVI wasn't concerned about the history, though.What bothered me was something else.The location.The old witch settlement wasn't anywhere near this place.That made no sense.When we'd searched the ruins, we'd found journals, magical tools, and sacred objects scattered everywhere. Many of them were valuable enough that no witch would willingly abandon them.Yet they had.Why?If they had enough time to travel all the way here, they should have had enough time to recover at least some of their belongings.Unless something stopped them.The thought lingered in the back of my mind.Before I could follow it any further, voices drifted through the tunnel.Everyone froze.Orion lifted a hand at once.The group stopped moving.We listened.The voices were close. Close enough that we could hear individual words.Slowly, we moved toward a bend in the passage and pressed ourselves against the wall.Voices drifted toward us from somewhere beyond the bend in the passage."How
Elder Harriet’s POVThe moment the Spirit Bird landed on my shoulder, I knew something had gone wrong.Its feathers were ruffled from hard flying, and the message it carried only confirmed my fears. Ember was alive, but barely. Her injuries were severe, and the soldier's condition was somehow even worse. Whatever they had encountered had changed them. They were no longer fully human or wolf, but something trapped in between.My gaze shifted to the enchanted strip attached beneath its wing.I untied the small piece of parchment and immediately froze.Dark red markings covered nearly half the surface.I had seen those stains before.Demonic corruption.I felt my stomach tighten.That amount of demonic influence wasn't normal.These people weren't simple believers following a strange faith. They had willingly devoted themselves to something dangerous.To avoid exposing our position, I couldn't send the Spirit Bird any closer. If someone sensed the magic connecting us, our advantage woul
Ember Frost’s POVMy patience was already hanging by a thread when an unwelcome voice interrupted.“Well, well. Our young lady looks exhausted,” the voice drawled. “Are this many people not enough to help you sleep peacefully? Or should we bring a few more and tuck you in properly?”I didn’t need t
Ember Frost’s POVThe feeling was wrong in a way I couldn’t explain.It wasn’t just that something was missing. It was that I knew it was missing, and yet every time I reached for it, my thoughts slipped right through empty space. The harder I tried to remember, the less certain I became. Even the
Ember Frost’s POVAfter a long moment, Eira let out a slow breath and straightened. “I’m really okay,” she said, steady but firm. “I know what my body can handle. The engraving is still strong. This is nothing more than a small prophecy; it won’t harm me.”As if to shut down any argument, she waved
Ember Frost’s POVThat was how we were supposed to reach them before it was too late.The mark we bear wasn’t just for tracking. It had a crude messaging feature too. If it came into contact with blood, it would light up, sending out a signal that anyone nearby could detect.At first, I thought the







