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Chapter 33

Author: Kali Rae
last update publish date: 2026-04-08 19:06:24

The sword that felt feather-light moments before, now hung like a leaden weight in my hand. We stood in the heart of the circular training ground, the churned dust settling around our boots like a fine brown mist.

"Show me," Cassius instructed, his voice a calm anchor in the stillness.

I gripped the hilt, my right hand choking it, my left clamped awkwardly below it. The stance felt wrong, a contortion of bone and muscle. Cassius circled behind me, a predator's grace in his silence. When he spok
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  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 99

    Six Months Later… The morning sun spilled through the arched window, liquid gold pooling on the marble floor. It caught in the dust motes dancing in the air, turning them into a thousand tiny stars. In the mirror’s reflection, Amelia’s hands moved with a familiar, soothing rhythm, weaving strands of my hair into an intricate coronation braid. I watched the focused calm on her face, a placid island in the sea of my own fluttering nerves, and a smile bloomed on my lips, genuine and unbidden. Her eyes, the color of emeralds, met mine in the glass. "What has you smiling like that?" she asked, her voice a soft melody. "Just…this," I breathed, gesturing vaguely at the room, at her, at the dawn of this impossible day. "I remember a time when I thought I’d never feel the sun on my face again. And here you are, by my side, just as you always were." A knowing warmth filled her expression. "There was never a future I imagined that didn't have you in it, Thalia. Though," she added, her fingers

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 98

    The world ended in the space between one breath and the next. The sky did not fall; it was devoured, swallowed by a creeping darkness that snuffed out the sun. My eyes shot to Cassius, his face a chiseled mask of grim understanding against the unnatural twilight.He moved toward me, his usual grace replaced by a taut urgency. "They've begun," he said, his voice a low tremor that betrayed his attempt at calm.Panic, cold and sharp, tried to rise in my throat. I crushed it down. My own voice emerged, hard as whetstone. "Our next move?" I pivoted to face the others, letting them see the iron in my gaze. "There is no time to falter. Listen to me!"My hand swept over a third of our force. "You—evacuate Tirilla. Get the citizens to the eastern gate. Keep them safe, or die trying." They snapped a salute, a single, sharp sound, and broke into a run as Cassius tore a shimmering, violent rift in the very air beside them—a portal of swirling white and gold.My gaze fell on the next group. "You a

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 97

    The world snapped back into focus with a nauseating lurch. The portal’s ozone tang faded, replaced by the scent of damp earth and pine. Before I could even catch my breath, arms coiled around me, pulling me into an embrace so tight it stole the air from my lungs. I didn’t need to see him. I knew the strength, the scent, the desperate hope in that hold. Cassius."Thalia," he breathed, his voice a raw whisper against my hair. "You're back."He pulled away abruptly, his hands gripping my shoulders as if to anchor me to this reality. His brow clenched, and the relief in his eyes was instantly eclipsed by a storm of concern. "What is this?" he murmured, his gaze sweeping over me. "It's all over you… a stain on your spirit. Thalia, what happened?""I'm okay," I said, the words feeling thin and hollow. "Just… shaken. I ran into Blair.""Blair?" The name was a shard of ice in the quiet glade. "In the Dungeon?"I couldn't meet his eyes. My gaze fell to the muddy hem of my shirt, shame coiling

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 96

    The portal snapped shut behind me with the sound of cracking bone. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drum I couldn't silence. I tried to drag in a steadying breath, but Lyra was already there, her expression grim."Forgive the intrusion," I choked out. "Gather everyone. Now."Without a word, she turned and led the way. I followed her down the hall, the frantic rhythm in my chest slowly beginning to ease. Still, the ghost of Blair's mana clung to my skin—a phantom chill and the faint, cloying smell of deep rot.Lyra stopped at the door to the sitting room. "I'll get them," she murmured. I saw her hand tremble as she reached for the handle. I gave her a curt nod, and she disappeared down the corridor as I stepped inside.The room felt vast. I sank on the chair, my gaze fixing on an intricate knot in the woodgrain—anything to anchor my racing mind. Would they be ready by nightfall? Blair knows I'm working against her now; there's no telling what she'll do. A tremor ran through

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 95

    The world collapsed into a single, crushing point: the air being squeezed from my lungs. I fought to turn my head, a desperate bid for a single breath, but every synapse screamed in protest. An obscene weight pressed down on me—not just physical, but psychic. It was a cold, slick presence that reeked of grave dirt and rot.Blair’s mana. How did she find me?Panic clawed up my throat. Get free. Now. I scrabbled for my own mana, a frantic internal lunge to push back, but met only emptiness. My power, my very essence, was gone. What’s happening? Why isn’t it working?A voice slithered through the darkness, dripping with contemptuous amusement. "Silly little rat. Did you think you could hide from me in my own domain? Your magic is a candle in my hurricane. It's snuffed out. I look forward to seeing the face of the coward who tried to hurt my babies."I strained against the suffocating pressure again, a useless flex against an unmovable wall."Stop fighting," she hissed, the sound seeming

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 94

    The slap of running feet against stone shattered the quiet. Amelia was on her feet in an instant, her body a live wire of tension. "I have to go," she clipped out, her gaze darting toward the hallway. She spun to face me, and the grim set of her jaw sent a fresh wave of ice through my veins. "Thalia." Her eyes, chips of hard, serious obsidian, locked onto mine. "The dungeons… and everything after. Be safe."Her words were a death sentence for my meticulously crafted plan. It didn't matter. The thought was a shield I raised against the rising panic. Let the pieces fall where they may. I will see this through.A shadow of a smile, fleeting and full of sorrow, touched Amelia’s lips. "Until next time." Then she was gone, a blur of motion swallowed by the doorway.In the ringing silence, her footsteps faded, leaving me alone with the shimmering ghost of the man I loved."Well," I whispered, the word trembling on my lips. "I suppose it's time."The translucent image of Cassius flickered, h

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 87

    The lamplight carved shadows into the hollows of Amelia’s face, turning the familiar planes of her cheekbones into stark geography of exhaustion. The usual fire in her emerald eyes had been banked to a glimmering coal, and she moved in her chair with the careful, deliberate motions of someone carry

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 85

    The ghost of ozone, sharp and sterile, clung to me like a shroud."Right on time," Amelia said. The words were right, but her smile was a brittle thing, threatening to shatter.I had made a point to be seen, to drift past chattering maids and a stern-faced butler on my way to the library. "Are you

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 84

    The pressure in my chest had been a constant companion since Cassius left. Two days. Only two days, and the world was already unraveling faster than I could stitch it back together. I balled my hands into fists on the tabletop, the strain turning my knuckles a bloodless white. I had nothing. No lea

  • Thalia's Ashen Fate   Chapter 81

    A flash of lightning scoured the room bone-white, and thunder cracked so hard the very walls seemed to groan in protest. My gaze drifted to the window, where the sky wept in sheets of gray, hammering against the glass."I have to go," Amelia said. Her voice, sharp with urgency, sliced through the s

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