LOGINOnce, Seraphina Ardentia was the promised queen of the Valorian Kingdom, beloved fiancée to the crown prince and heir to a legacy of light. Then came betrayal. Her sister stole her crown. Her fiancé condemned her name. Her family left her to die when the monsters came. But the gods were watching. And one, the forgotten Goddess of Balance, offered her something far crueler than mercy: “Rise, child of ruin. Devour what wronged you.” Now reborn with silver hair and a mark that whispers of fate, Seraphina hides behind a false name and begins to rebuild her power, one lie, one thread, one death at a time.
View MoreWord of the frost spread faster than the wind.By the end of the week, the villagers whispered of it as a miracle. They said the fire had died because the mountains themselves had chosen to protect her. They said the Saint of the Mountains had spoken and the Light had fallen silent.Seraphina heard the whispers each time she walked through the courtyard, though no one dared say them aloud when she was near. She pretended not to notice. The snow had settled thick and bright across the valley, glimmering like glass beneath the pale sky. It was quiet now, too quiet, but for the first time in months, the quiet did not mean death.Lucien found her standing by the chapel well, her hand resting on the frozen rim. “The scouts brought back reports,” he said. “The fires are gone. The Church has pulled back for now.”Seraphina nodded. “Balance remembers mercy.”“They’re calling you something new.”“I don’t want to know.”Lucien stepped closer. “You should. The refugees who arrived this morning c
The news reached them with the dawn. The scouts stumbled through the monastery gates just as the first light touched the peaks. Their faces were streaked with soot and frost, their breath coming in ragged bursts. One collapsed immediately; the other fell to his knees, words tumbling out between gasps.“They’re burning the valleys. The Saint’s army… they’re calling it the March.”Lucien caught the man by the shoulders. “How far?”“Half a day south. Maybe less.” The scout swallowed hard. “They’re cleansing everything. Houses, crops, people who couldn’t run fast enough. They call it purification.”Seraphina appeared behind him, her cloak brushing against the snow. “Did you see who leads them?”“The priests,” the scout said. “And soldiers wearing white. They carry banners with her name.” His eyes lifted, wide and hollow. “They’re singing while it burns.”A heavy silence filled the courtyard. Even the wind seemed to hesitate. Seraphina’s gaze turned south, toward the faint haze of smoke ri
The days after the rescue passed in uneasy quiet.Snow continued to fall, though more gently now, soft flakes drifting through the cracks in the monastery roof. The fires burned longer, and for the first time since winter began, the scent of smoke no longer meant ruin. The villagers worked in silence, mending walls, patching cloaks, gathering wood from the forest edge. Every sound felt heavy but purposeful, like the slow heartbeat of something waking.Cale slept for two days straight. When he finally woke, the first thing he asked for was water, then light.Elias found him sitting near the chapel wall that afternoon, half-wrapped in blankets, staring at the frost lines that shimmered faintly along the floor. The brand on his wrist had faded to pale scar tissue, though the skin around it was still raw.“You were lucky,” Elias said, setting a bowl beside him. “The fever broke last night.”Cale’s voice was hoarse. “I don’t believe in luck.”“Then what kept you alive?”Cale looked up, eye
The storm had passed, but the cold remained.By morning, the sky was clear again, a dull blue stretching endlessly over the mountains. The snow in the courtyard glowed faintly beneath the light, untouched except for a single trail of footprints leading from the gate. Seraphina stood beside the chapel door, watching the horizon. The air smelled of smoke and iron.Lucien had not yet returned.He had left before dawn two days ago, taking three of the stronger villagers down the southern road to scout the nearest passes. The last message he sent, delivered by a raven that arrived at dusk, had been brief: Movement near the old border. Church banners sighted.Now the silence stretched too long.
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