Chapter 136: Blood Betrays Blood

The Scrollkeeper’s eyes narrowed as the torches along the archive walls flickered.

“She’s coming,” she said quietly. “And not alone.”

Selene turned to Elias. “You knew she didn’t trust me. But this—this is treason.”

Elias’s face was unreadable. “She raised me after my parents died. I knew she had secrets… I just didn’t think they reached this deep.”

Heavy footsteps thundered above. Dust trickled from the ceiling. Lyra was already moving toward the stairs, blade drawn, eyes blazing.

“We need to leave. Now.”

But before they could move, the stone doors at the top of the staircase groaned open.

“Too late,” the Scrollkeeper whispered.

Lady Ilyana stepped through the shadows flanked by two palace guards, her gown black as night, her silver circlet glinting beneath the torchlight.

“Selene,” she greeted, her voice deceptively calm. “I had hoped we would speak under more… civil terms.”

Selene stepped forward, heart hammering. “You betrayed your own bloodline. You killed Naelira.”

Ilyana didn’t flinch. “Naelira threatened everything the crown was built on. Just like you do now.”

“I carry the child who can seal the gate. The same child your ancestors tried to kill,” Selene said. “And you want to do it again.”

“I want balance,” Ilyana replied coldly. “You and your child are chaos incarnate. You think love will save you? It didn’t save Naelira. It won’t save you either.”

Elias stepped in front of Selene, his voice sharp. “Is this who you really are? You stood by my side all these years. And all along, you were the shadow behind the council’s lies?”

Ilyana’s expression cracked—just for a moment. “You were never meant to love her. You were meant to rule. Love weakens kings.”

“No,” Elias growled. “Fear weakens them. And that’s all you’ve ever ruled with.”

He shifted—just slightly—his claws half-formed, his eyes glowing gold. The guards stepped forward, but Ilyana raised a hand to stop them.

“You won’t kill me,” she said to him. “You’re too noble.”

But then she turned to Selene. “She will.”

Selene’s magic surged through her, her mark blazing against her skin. “If you touch my mate or my child, I will end you.”

Ilyana stepped down one stone stair, her chin lifted. “Then do it. Show me you’re nothing more than the weapon they say you are.”

But Lyra moved first.

She hurled a throwing knife—fast, clean, aimed at Ilyana’s throat.

The guard beside her blocked it with his gauntlet.

And chaos erupted.

Elias lunged at one guard while Selene unleashed a wave of moonlight that sent the other crashing into a pillar. The Scrollkeeper chanted in a low voice, reinforcing the protective runes as the chamber trembled.

Ilyana raised both hands, summoning a dark, crackling mist—a spell only taught to royal blood. She hurled it at Selene, but Selene caught it with her bare hands, absorbing it.

“No more lies,” Selene hissed, her voice layered with something older than her own magic. “No more fear.”

She blasted Ilyana backward with a pulse of raw light.

The older woman slammed into the stairwell wall, her breath knocked out. She stared at Selene, wide-eyed.

“What are you?” Ilyana choked.

“I’m what your bloodline tried to erase,” Selene said, stepping forward, power radiating off her skin. “But I survived. And I’m not alone anymore.”

Elias came to her side, breathing hard, bruised but alive. Lyra retrieved her blade from the floor.

Ilyana was broken—but not dead.

“She’ll call more guards,” Lyra warned.

“No,” the Scrollkeeper said from behind them. “She’ll flee. That’s what snakes do when fire reaches the nest.”

And sure enough, Ilyana disappeared in a blink—vanishing into shadow through a hidden corridor in the wall.

“She won’t stop,” Selene murmured. “She’ll come again. With more than words next time.”

Elias wrapped his arm around her. “Then we’ll be ready.”

The Scrollkeeper nodded once. “You’ve chosen your path. Now walk it. Because from here, there’s no turning back.”

Meanwhile... Deep within the Outlands

Kael crouched low behind a shattered obsidian wall, listening.

He had followed the trail from the western ridge—bloodless corpses, shattered glyphs, torn branches. The signs were clear: shadowborn had passed this way. But it wasn’t just them.

He picked up a piece of cloth caught on a jagged root. Black silk. Regal embroidery.

Lilith was here.

A howl in the distance made him still. He’d worked alone for days—spying, gathering what Elias had ordered him to find. And what he found chilled him.

The shadowborn weren’t just moving.

They were multiplying.

A ritual was underway near the Gate of Bone—and Kael had seen enough symbols to know it wasn’t meant to open it.

It was meant to feed it.

He gritted his teeth, fingers tightening on the hilt of his blade. “I need to get back to Selene.”

But before he could shift, a gust of icy wind slammed into him.

He turned—and Theron stood there.

“Going somewhere, Kael?”

Kael’s body tensed. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be,” Theron said simply. “Because by the time you return to her… she’ll no longer be carrying a child.”

Kael lunged—but Theron vanished into mist.

And Kael knew one thing for certain: Selene was already in danger.