MasukGianna's lungs burned as she and Nolan sprinted across the settlement grounds, weaving between fleeing servants and wounded soldiers being carried toward safety, the palace looming ahead of them with its doors still heavily guarded, exactly as they'd left them. Behind them, the ground continued to groan and shudder, the towering darkness still slowly, methodically pulling itself free from the widening fissure, and Gianna didn't dare look back to see how much closer it had drawn."Faster," Nolan urged, though she was already running as hard as her exhausted body would allow, her chest heaving with effort and fear in equal measure.They burst through the palace's main doors to find Fenna's chosen healers still stationed exactly where they'd been left, forming a protective circle around the nursery, their faces pale with terror at the sounds of chaos still echoing from outside."Is she safe?" Gianna demanded, pushing past them toward Luna's crib."She's been sleeping through all of it,"
The tremor that shook the settlement dwarfed everything that had come before it. Soldiers lost their footing entirely, shadow creatures and defenders alike stumbling as the ground heaved beneath them. Gianna grabbed Nolan's arm to steady herself, watching in horror as the largest fissure, the one directly beneath where the healer knelt bleeding, split wide open with a groan like tearing stone."Get back!" Elmund shouted, dragging two soldiers away from the widening crack just as a wave of cold, suffocating air rolled up from the darkness below, extinguishing torches and dimming the already weak morning light.The healer laughed weakly, blood bubbling at her lips. "You cannot stop what's coming," she said, her voice growing fainter even as the layered, ancient resonance beneath it grew stronger, as though whatever controlled her was speaking directly now, no longer bothering to filter itself through her failing human vessel. "He has waited too long to be denied now.""Who?" Gianna dema
The battle raged on through the morning, the settlement grounds churned into mud and ash, bodies of fallen shadow creatures dissolving into wisps of dark smoke the moment they were struck down, only to be replaced moments later by fresh forms rising from the ever-widening cracks in the earth. Gianna's arms burned with exhaustion, golden light flickering weaker with each strike as her reserves of power began to wane under the relentless assault."We can't keep this pace forever," Elmund shouted, cutting down another shadow form before it could reach a cluster of retreating soldiers, his own breathing ragged with effort. "We need another approach!"Nolan fought beside him, his blade flashing with practiced precision, though even his considerable skill was beginning to show signs of strain. "Fenna!" he called out, his voice carrying over the chaos. "Is there anything, any weakness we can exploit?"Fenna, positioned near the palace steps with the remaining healers, had been weaving protec
Gianna gathered the settlement's elders within the hour, Sable among them, their weathered faces carrying a shared, grave fear that immediately confirmed the gravity of whatever had just announced itself through that terrible, ancient horn."Tell us everything," Gianna said, Luna held protectively against her chest as she stood before the small gathering within the palace's great hall, Nolan at her side, Corwin and Fenna nearby, every face turned toward Sable as she stepped forward to address the growing crowd."The Hollow Court," Sable began, her voice carrying the weight of stories passed down through countless generations, stories she had clearly never expected to speak aloud with such urgent, immediate relevance, "was banished from the living world centuries ago. A collection of corrupted spirits and fallen magic users who turned entirely toward darkness, seeking power through means so terrible that our ancestors joined together across every surviving fae community at the time to
The sudden darkness of the necklace left Gianna feeling hollow in a way that reminded her uncomfortably of the masking spell Fenna had cast weeks earlier, that same terrible sense of something vital having been severed entirely, leaving her more alone than she'd felt since this entire nightmare began."Wren?" she whispered one more time, clutching the dark pearls desperately against her palm, though no response came, no faint warmth, no flicker of connection answering her desperate call."She's gone," Gianna said finally, her voice breaking as she looked up at Nolan and Corwin, both watching her with matching expressions of concern. "I don't know if she's simply resting, as she said, or if something worse has happened to her entirely."Corwin's expression grew thoughtful, troubled, as he considered this development. "Spirits don't simply lose their strength this suddenly," he said slowly, "not from ordinary exertion alone. Wren has guided you through multiple crises already without th
"Who exactly are we facing?" Gianna asked, her voice carrying the exhausted edge of someone who had already absorbed more terrible revelations in a single day than most people encountered in a lifetime. "You said the healer serves something, someone, far more dangerous than the fallen king. Who, Corwin?"Corwin's expression grew even graver, his weathered hands folding carefully in his lap as he considered how best to explain something clearly weighted with considerable, ancient significance."There are entities," he began slowly, "that exist beyond the boundaries most living beings understand or ever encounter directly. Beings so old that their origins predate even the oldest Fae legends passed down through our people. This particular entity, if the old warnings my bloodline has carried for generations prove accurate, has waited centuries, perhaps longer, for exactly this moment. For a Dawnbringer to finally be born.""Why wait so long?" Nolan asked. "If this entity truly wants to co
Gianna turned around slowly.Nolan was still standing by the window, his expression unreadable in the firelight."You found him," she said."I did.""Who was it?""A council member named Broderick. He holds a seat in the lower chamber and oversees trade regulations for the outer markets."Gianna fr
Chapter FiveThe King didn't look at her again.He moved to the head of the table, sat, and the entire banquet resumed around him, everyone pretending the last five minutes had been completely normal.Gianna walked back to their seats with Cyrus's hand clamped around her elbow the entire way.He l
Chapter FourCyrus and Pietra said goodbye at the door for four full minutes.Gianna watched from inside the carriage through the small window, arms crossed, expression blank.Pietra had both of Cyrus's hands in hers. She was looking up at him saying something – Gianna couldn't hear it and honestl
Chapter ThreeGetting out of bed took longer than it should have.Evelyn hovered the entire time – hands half-raised, ready to catch her – while Gianna moved carefully, testing each step like she was walking on ice. The lump on her skull had softened slightly overnight but the unpleasant headache







