LOGINANYA'S POVThe roar of that ancient beast struck the ship like an earthquake. Waves of turquoise green and furious foam buffeted all twelve vessels of our fleet, and the smaller craft looked ready to be smashed against the channel rocks."Hold fast to the port side!" Marco shouted from the helm, heaving the wheel with every muscle straining. "If the passage closes, it will crush us against the cliffs!"Azkarion held me steady with one arm locked around my waist, firm as a pillar while everything pitched violently around us. In his other hand he gripped his dark steel blade, his eyes now blazing bright gold, no trace of grey remaining."Anya, get below with the guard," he called out over the ro
ANYA'S POVThe strike of the blade burying itself in wood rang through the hall like an irreversible sentence. No one dared so much as breathe; Azkarion’s fury hung so thick it seemed ready to set the whole place ablaze in an instant.Vargas was backed against his chair, the steel brushing his throat, cold sweat pouring down him."It was an accident!" he stammered, throwing up trembling hands. "The wine must have turned in the cask!""You lie," Ethan said, his voice so cold it froze the air, stepping forward as his daggers glinted in the torchlight."Azkarion, wait," I said, resting my hand over his fist clamped around the hilt. I felt his whole body quiver with restraint, holding back a blow that would fall otherwise. "Sheathe your sword. A dead man will not get us across the Forgotten Ocean."He did not look away from the corsair’s terrified eyes — but after what felt like an eternity, he obeyed. He pulled the blade free in one sharp motion and drew me tight to his side, as if he me
ANYA'S POVThe sea crashed against the black stone cliffs with a force that rang deep in the bones. We had left the clean white snow of the fortress far behind, stepping into this damp, salt‑soaked realm of shadows: the Port of Shadows, where the laws that ruled the mountains counted for nothing.Our armoured sleigh moved slowly down narrow streets, between weathered timber houses and taverns lit by lanterns that flickered like watchful eyes."Do not stray a single step from me, Anya," Azkarion murmured, pulling my fur cloak tighter so the biting wind could not reach me. "I will not let anything touch you.""I am well, Azkarion," I answered with a soft smile. "The air is cold, but what the healer gave me has settled the sickness.""It is not the sickness I fear — it is the eyes that watch every turn," he replied, his large hand pressing gently to my waist, that familiar weight that always made me feel both guarded and cherished. "Too many are fixed on you. And you carry something infi
ANYA'S POVThe silence in the room grew so heavy it was hard to draw breath. That blue mist crept slowly through the doorway, like thick, watery tendrils moving without a sound across the rugs.I stepped back and closed my hand around the hilt of my mother’s dagger, strapped to my thigh. The bond I shared with Azkarion remained severed, as if something had plunged me into total darkness — unable to feel him even for an instant.All at once, two tall, slender figures took shape within the haze. Their skin was pale, glinting faintly like scales in the last light of the candles. Their eyes held no colour: luminous pearls that fixed on me immediately. They wore light armour of sea‑silver that seemed to cling to their wet forms."The Ancestral line…" one whispered, its voice sounding as if it came from deep inside my head, rolling up from the ocean floor. "The King must know your blood is true before he claims what is owed."They did not wait to speak further. The first moved with inhuman
ANYA'S POVThe pre‑dawn wind seemed to hang still over the marble balcony rail. The falcon with feathers black as polished crystal perched there, watching us with eyes of unblinking silver — pupils gone, reflecting the sun like two sheets of frozen glass.Azkarion drew me close behind his shoulder, placing himself between the bird and me. Whatever presence radiated from this creature, born of the forbidden western seas, had set every instinct in him screaming alert.Slowly, carefully, he extended his gloved hand and took the stone cylinder the falcon gripped in its talons. The moment his fingers brushed it, a sharp scent rose: ancient salt, seaweed from the deepest trenches, and coral no living soul had seen in centuries — a smell that clashed sharply with the pine and snow of our mountains.The falcon spread wings almost transparent against the light, rose without a sound, and vanished into the clouds veiling the highest peaks."Let us go inside," Azkarion murmured, guiding me back a
ANYA'S POVThe silence that followed those words weighed on everyone like an avalanche. Guards tightened their grip on weapon hilts, and Ethan and Marco stepped forward, eyes blazing. This was no mere insult against my humanity: it was a direct challenge to everything we had built, hurled by the most powerful empires across all known lands.But Azkarion did not roar, nor did he leap straight into battle.Instead, he moved slowly to the edge of the stairs. His very presence — tall, clad in that dark armour — cast such immense pressure that the war‑beast accompanying the Lord of the Glaciers whimpered and backed three paces by instinct. His grey eyes, cold as the highest peaks, locked straight on Alpha Vorian."You choose your words poorly in my own home," he said, his deep voice seeming to make the very stone hum. "You stand on the ground where the High Court and its shadows fell. If you believe my wife’s blood is weak, take one more step toward us. Then you shall see whether your empi







