Chapter 91: A Heart Divided

The fire crackled low in the center of their small camp. The woods just outside the Obsidian Grove were quiet now, but that silence was uneasy—like the calm that came before a brutal storm. Serena sat between Elias and Theron, her back resting against a mossy boulder, her mind far from still.

She hadn’t meant to say it.

I think I’m falling in love with both of you.

But it had been clawing at her chest for weeks—an ache that had no clean name. And now that it was out, the weight of it was pressing down, hard and confusing and honest.

Theron leaned forward, elbows on his knees, gaze fixed on the fire.

Elias was on her other side, quiet as always when his mind was busy, his hand occasionally brushing against hers. A silent comfort. A wordless offering.

No one had said anything more about it.

Yet the tension wrapped around them like another layer of heat from the fire.

Serena cleared her throat. “We need to decide what to do next.”

Theron glanced at her. “We track down the hidden entrance to the mountain and find the throne Kael mentioned.”

Elias nodded. “But we’ll have to go through the old warlands. They’re crawling with Reapers, and the mountain itself is cursed.”

“Cursed?” Serena echoed.

“It was sealed after the First Rebellion,” Theron explained. “By your ancestors. The throne Kael spoke of... it was abandoned because the last queen went mad after sitting on it.”

Serena swallowed. “Why?”

Elias finally spoke. “They say the throne doesn’t just grant power. It tests it. Judges you. And if it finds you unworthy, it consumes you.”

A chill crept down her spine.

“And Kael thinks I’ll pass?” she whispered.

“Kael doesn’t care if you pass or not,” Theron said bitterly. “He just wants you on that throne. Because once you're seated, there’s no stepping back. No undoing what comes after.”

Serena rubbed at the base of her neck, where the magic had surged earlier. Her skin still hummed with it, as though her body hadn’t yet accepted what it now carried.

“What if I don’t want any of it?” she asked quietly.

“You don’t have to,” Elias said gently. “We’ll find another way.”

Theron shook his head. “There is no other way. You heard him—your bloodline is the key. We can’t keep running. Every second we hesitate, Kael’s forces gain ground.”

Serena looked between them—two opposite responses to the same truth.

And then she said the one thing she’d been afraid to admit out loud:

“I’m scared.”

The admission seemed to strip the air bare.

Theron turned toward her fully, his golden eyes softening. “Good. That means you’re not walking into this blind.”

Elias took her hand. “We’ll be scared together.”

A pause.

Then, softly, “Come with me. Just for a moment.”

Serena blinked at him, but nodded. She rose, letting Elias guide her into the trees, leaving Theron by the fire.

They didn’t go far—just enough that the flames were distant sparks behind them. Moonlight filtered through the canopy, casting silver lines across the forest floor.

Elias stopped, turning to face her.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “That this is too much. That loving two people is too messy. That choosing one will hurt the other.”

Serena opened her mouth, but he placed a finger on her lips.

“I don’t want you to choose. Not yet. Not because you feel like you have to. I just want you to know… I’m here. All in. No matter what comes.”

His thumb brushed her cheek.

And then, he kissed her.

Soft. Deep. A kiss that felt like dawn—warm, grounding, gentle.

She melted into it, heart racing. For that moment, everything else fell away.

When they finally pulled apart, she pressed her forehead to his.

“I needed that.”

“I know,” he whispered.

Then a rustle from behind.

Theron stood just beyond the clearing, arms crossed, a crooked grin on his face.

“If you two are done making out under the stars, we’ve got a cursed mountain to storm.”

Serena laughed—too loud, too sudden—and Elias groaned.

Theron stepped closer. “I meant it too, earlier. About helping you own your power.”

He brushed a strand of hair from her face, then leaned in slowly—watching her eyes, waiting for permission.

She gave it.

The kiss was different this time—urgent, magnetic, like lightning held in human skin. It left her breathless, dizzy in the best way.

When it ended, she looked between the two of them, heart pounding.

“How is this even fair?” she whispered.

Theron smirked. “It’s not.”

Elias just smiled. “But it’s real.”

The next morning, they left the grove behind.

By midday, the land changed. The trees thinned, replaced by jagged rocks and low mist. The warlands had been silent for decades, but the echoes of violence still lingered—burn marks on trees, old swords embedded in stone, skulls half-buried in the dirt.

They traveled in silence, senses sharp.

When night fell again, Serena was the first to hear it.

A whisper—too low to make out—curling through the mist like a serpent.

She froze.

“Do you hear that?”

Theron nodded slowly, eyes narrowing. “Magic. Old magic.”

Then—screams.

Dozens of them. Male and female. Loud and guttural. But when they turned, there was nothing behind them. Just empty fields and dark trees.

Serena’s breath caught.

“We’re in a memory loop,” Elias said. “The dead are reliving their last moments.”

Theron cursed. “That means we’re close. The throne is near.”

Suddenly, the earth trembled.

Then, ahead of them—a mountain rose from the fog, its face carved with massive statues of kings and queens long dead. A jagged path cut up the side, leading toward what looked like a gate of stone and bone.

Serena stared at it.

Her destiny.

Her curse.

Her beginning.

She stepped forward, jaw tight, fists clenched.

And with every step, the mark on her back burned brighter.