Chapter 26: The Daughter Who Never Died

The Moon Crown was bleeding.

Kael felt it before he understood what he was seeing.

Far beyond the Crimson fortress, beneath the ruins of his ancestral kingdom, silver blood spilled from the crown's ancient gemstones. Each drop struck the stone beneath it and transformed into black smoke.

The second heartbeat returned.

Harder this time.

Kael staggered, catching himself against the wall.

Azrael watched him.

“Now you understand why I need you.”

“No,” Kael said through clenched teeth. “I understand that everyone in my family has a talent for hiding the truth.”

His gaze shifted to Seraphine.

“Did you kill his mate?”

His grandmother's lips trembled.

“I did what I had to do.”

Azrael laughed bitterly.

“That's what she always says.”

“Azrael,” Seraphine whispered. “You cannot bring her back.”

“Neither could you.”

The chamber grew colder.

Kael stepped between them.

“Enough. I want the truth from both of you.”

Seraphine looked at Azrael.

Then, slowly, she began to speak.

“His mate was named Elaris. She belonged to the fourth bloodline, like us. When the three kingdoms discovered that Azrael could control the boundary between life and death, they demanded that I surrender him.”

“And you refused,” Kael said.

“At first.”

Azrael's expression darkened.

Seraphine continued.

“The rulers threatened to destroy our entire bloodline. They believed Azrael would eventually become powerful enough to conquer them. I tried to negotiate peace, but the other kingdoms had already decided what he was.”

“So you chose their side,” Azrael said.

“I chose to save as many people as I could.”

“You chose everyone except me.”

Seraphine flinched.

Kael looked at Azrael.

“And Elaris?”

Seraphine's eyes filled with tears.

“She discovered that the rulers intended to use her to control Azrael. She tried to escape with their daughter.”

Azrael's voice dropped.

“They never reached the border.”

Silence settled over the chamber.

Kael felt anger rising inside him, but he forced himself to ask the next question.

“What happened to their daughter?”

Seraphine looked away.

Azrael stepped closer.

“Ask your grandmother.”

Kael turned toward her.

“Where is she?”

Seraphine's silence lasted too long.

Then she whispered, “I sent her away.”

“Where?”

“I don't know.”

Azrael's face twisted with grief.

“You took my mate from me. Then you took my child.”

“I saved her life!”

“You stole twenty years from me!”

His voice shook the chamber.

Black shadows burst from the walls. The silver flames went out, and cracks spread across the floor beneath his feet.

Kael raised his hand.

“Stop!”

The shadows froze.

Everyone turned toward him.

Even Azrael.

For one brief moment, Kael felt the power of the Moon Crown respond to his command.

He lowered his hand slowly.

“I will not let you destroy this place because you're angry.”

Azrael stared at him.

“You sound like your father.”

“Then perhaps you should have listened to him.”

A flash of fury crossed Azrael's face.

The second heartbeat slammed against Kael's chest.

He doubled over.

Seraphine caught him before he fell.

“Kael!”

Black veins appeared beneath his collar.

Azrael immediately stepped back.

His anger vanished, replaced by something resembling alarm.

“No.”

Kael struggled to breathe.

“What is happening?”

Seraphine pressed her palm against his chest.

“The pact is reacting to his power. If Azrael remains here, the two forces will destroy each other inside you.”

“Then tell him to leave.”

“I cannot.”

Kael looked at Azrael.

“Why not?”

The ancient being slowly opened his hand.

A small silver object rested in his palm.

A pendant.

It bore the same symbol Kael had seen on the fourth door: a hand inside a crescent moon.

“The pact bound me to your bloodline,” Azrael said. “But it did not bind me to you alone.”

Kael stared at the pendant.

“What does that mean?”

“It means my daughter is still alive.”

Seraphine's face went white.

Azrael turned toward her.

“And if she is alive, the pact can be broken.”

Kael's breathing steadied slightly.

“Where is she?”

“I don't know,” Azrael repeated. “But the pendant can find her.”

He held it out.

Kael reached for it.

The moment his fingers touched the silver, the chamber disappeared.

He stood in a room filled with white flowers.

Sunlight poured through tall windows, illuminating a small wooden bed. A little girl sat on the floor, arranging silver stones into the shape of a crown.

She had pale hair and dark eyes.

On her wrist was a crescent-shaped birthmark.

Kael knelt beside her.

“Who are you?”

The girl looked up.

For a moment, she seemed unable to see him.

Then her eyes widened.

“Are you the Moon King?”

Kael nodded cautiously.

She smiled.

“My mother told me you would come.”

Kael's heart raced.

“Where is your mother?”

The girl pointed toward a doorway.

A woman stood there, wearing a simple white dress. Her face was pale, and a scar crossed her cheek.

But her eyes—

Kael recognized them.

He had seen them in the ancient visions.

Elaris.

Azrael's mate.

The woman looked directly at him.

“Kael Ashwyn,” she whispered.

He rose slowly.

“You're alive.”

She nodded, tears gathering in her eyes.

“But you must leave before he finds you.”

“Who?”

Her expression changed.

Behind her, the little girl stood up.

The room darkened.

The silver stones on the floor began to move, forming the shape of a crown.

Elaris grabbed Kael's arm.

“Listen carefully. Azrael believes his daughter is the key to breaking the pact.”

“Isn't she?”

“No.”

A cold voice answered from behind them.

“She's the key to something much worse.”

Kael turned.

Lucien stood in the doorway.

His eyes were black.

And in his hand was a blade dripping with silver blood.

Elaris screamed.

The vision shattered.

Kael awoke on the chamber floor, gasping.

Seraphine knelt beside him.

Azrael stood several feet away, staring at the pendant in Kael's hand.

“What did you see?” he demanded.

Kael struggled to sit up.

“Your daughter.”

Azrael went completely still.

“Where?”

“I saw her. She's alive.”

For the first time, hope crossed Azrael's face.

Then Kael remembered the final image.

Lucien.

The black eyes.

The blade.

He closed his fingers around the pendant.

“But there's something else you need to know.”

Azrael stepped closer.

“What?”

Kael met his gaze.

“Your daughter isn't the only person who survived the first pact.”

The pendant suddenly cracked.

A voice whispered from within it.

Not Elaris's.

Not Azrael's.

A voice Kael knew better than any other.

His mother's.

Kael, if you're hearing this, do not trust the girl.

The pendant broke apart.

And from somewhere beneath the fortress, a child began to cry.