LOGINBut I could also hear.
“We are losing her!” Helena’s voice was ragged with desperation.
“Blood pressure dropping. Baby’s heart rate is declining. I cannot save them both!”“Then save Sophia.” Kael’s voice.
“Let me say goodbye to her while she is conscious. Just once. Please.”“Kael—”
“That is an order.” Al
“Until then, Cassius protects him,” I said. “Same as before.”Kael reached over and took my hand. He said nothing. He just held it.I let him.Martin lost his arm that night.Helena had known during the battle it was only a question of when. The damage ran too deep. By the time she reached him, there wasn’t enough left to save.She told him straight. Martin nodded once, the way a man does when he’s already done most of his grieving on the walk back.He asked me to be there.I stood at the edge of the healing station while Helena worked. Martin discussed small things—a cousin in the western territories, whether the eastern barley had been harvested before the evacuation. He never mentioned the arm. He never mentioned the pain.When Helena finished and the
The walk back to Black River took half the time it had taken to leave it.Funny how that worked. You run toward death with everything you have, bleeding and broken, and victory just drops you back at your gates with nothing left but the hollow feeling of still being alive when so many others weren’t.I counted faces as we moved.Martin limped along, left arm strapped to his chest with a torn cloak. Giga’s right eye was swollen nearly shut, dried blood crusting her cheek. Theron walked with the stiff care of cracked ribs.And the ones I didn’t count—the ones being carried.The gates opened before we reached them. Civilians poured forward, searching the returning faces. A woman pushed past me without a word and threw herself at a warrior two rows back. I stepped aside.Her husband had made it back.
I found Kael an hour later, standing in the ruins of the eastern wall.Fresh bandages wrapped his torso and arm, but like me, he couldn’t sit still while there was still work to do.“Last count?” I asked, stopping beside him.“One hundred and seven dead,” he breathed. “One hundred and fifty-three wounded. Helena thinks thirty more won’t make it. So probably one hundred and thirty-seven in total.”One hundred and thirty-seven dead.Out of four hundred and eighty-seven who had fought.“And the civilians?”“Forty-three dead. Sixty-two wounded.” Kael’s voice sounded empty. “Most died where the first wave broke through.”I did the math in my head.Close to one hundred and eighty dead if we c
“Sophia,” Kael’s hand rested on my shoulder. “We need to go. The wounded need attention. Black River needs us.”“Someone’s been using Alaric,” I said, my voice sounding distant even to my ears. “All this time we thought we were protecting him. But someone’s been turning him into… something.”“We’ll figure it out,” Kael said quietly. “But right now, our people need us.”He was right.I could fall apart later.Right now there were wounds to tend, dead to count, and a kingdom that still required holding together.I let him help me to my feet.I took one last look across the battlefield. At the bodies scattered over the blood-soaked ground. At Seraphine’s leaderless army, standing uncertain and lost.
The world exploded.Not with fire or force, but with something deeper. The crystal’s power collided with Seraphine’s Binding, and reality itself seemed to scream.Light and darkness fought where my hand pressed against her chest. Neither side wanted to yield.I felt Seraphine try to pull away. Her panic spiked the moment she realized what I had done.I didn’t let go.My fingers stayed locked around the crystal, pressing it harder against her.The magic tearing through both of us was unbearable, like being ripped apart and stitched back together wrong.“What have you done?” Seraphine shrieked.“Ending you!” I screamed back.The binding was unraveling. I could feel its threads snapping one by one.But the spell di
Our formation had collapsed into a desperate cluster.Fourteen wolves, surrounded by hundreds of enemies, were still trying to push forward by sheer force of will.It wasn’t enough.“Luna!” Martin’s warning came too late.Something massive slammed into me from behind. I went down hard, skidding across the blood-soaked ground. Before I could roll to my feet, an enemy was on me, teeth aiming straight for my throat.Then Kael was there. He tore the attacker off with savage fury.“Get up!” he snarled. “We move!”I scrambled upright. My left hind leg wouldn’t hold weight properly. Something torn. Maybe broken. It didn’t matter. I limped forward on three legs, driven by pure stubbornness.The crystal pressed hard against my chest, still tucked
"I taught her. As I have taught you. She was brilliant. Brave beyond measure. But terrified, always. The fear never left her."I sat down heavily on a supply crate. "Tell me about her. Please. I barely remember..."Thea's expression softened.She sat beside me."What happened to her?" I asked."She
"How do we lure it here?" an assistant asked."That thing isn't going to just walk into an obvious trap."I looked across the field toward the distant walls. Toward where the monster waited. "I'll lure it.""Sophia," Kael started, his ancient voice edged with barely controlled fear."It wants me. S
"I know you'll need every edge," Thea said, gripping my shoulders firmly. "These runes will block three, perhaps four direct strikes before they shatter. After that, you fight without them.""Three or four is more than I dared hope for.""Thank you, Thea.""Do not thank me yet. Thank me if we all li
I woke to Kael's hand on my shoulder.Gentle, but insistent.Through the window, early dawn light filtered in gray and cold, the kind that came before sunrise."It's time?""Nearly. You have an hour before they arrive.""Erica?""In the shelter with the other children. Helena guards them personally







