SeleneThere’s a weird shift that happens after someone walks in and kicks your entire warrior lineup to the floor in under five minutes.People get quiet. They start whispering more. Watching more. You can feel the group instinct flicker — half admiration, half paranoia.That’s what the compound felt like for the rest of the day. Tense. Charged. Like someone had stirred the air with a dagger and left it hanging mid-swing.I spent the afternoon half-listening to progress reports while my brain kept cycling back to Ryn. Her sharp movements. Her deadpan voice. The way she didn’t explain anything unless you forced her to.She wasn’t just good. She was terrifyingly precise. Like she’d been trained to survive something worse than anything we’d seen yet.I wasn’t sure if that made me feel safer or more exposed.When dusk settled, I found myself pacing the hallway outside the south wing. A mug of lukewarm tea in one hand, documents in the other, pretending I wasn’t looking for excuses to che
SeleneDawn came like a slap.I barely slept. Half my mind was turning over Council strategy and half was imagining what kind of “rogue” shows up in response to a single message — fast, no questions, no hesitation. Either she was a complete lunatic… or exactly what we needed.I wasn’t sure which scared me more.The compound was still quiet when I stepped out. No voices, no footsteps, just the distant rustle of wind through brittle trees and the ache of dew-soaked earth under my boots. Killian was already at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed, staring down the path like it owed him something.“She’s late,” I muttered, stepping up beside him.He gave me a look. “It’s been three minutes.”“Three and a half.”He didn’t respond, but I saw his jaw flex — probably biting back some sarcastic comment about my inability to wait for anything like a normal person.And then we heard it — footsteps.Not fast. Not heavy. Just… deliberate.When she stepped into view, I knew instantly it was her.
SeleneThe moon was unusually low tonight, like it was hiding from the chaos brewing in our world. I stood by the training grounds, arms crossed, watching my warriors move in silent formation across the field. The dirt beneath their boots stirred like restless spirits, but I stayed still, steady. I had to be.Killian’s presence at my side was grounding. I could feel his gaze on me every few seconds, like he was checking to make sure I hadn’t shattered again. I hadn’t. Not yet.“Your stance is off,” I called out, sharp but not cruel. Milo flinched slightly, adjusted his form, and nodded without looking up. They were getting better—stronger. But still not strong enough.Not for what was coming.We’d just barely started rebuilding when the Council’s shadow fell over us again. They hadn’t attacked since the ambush that almost took my mother’s life, but their silence was louder than war drums. It was the kind of quiet that warned of something worse.“I had a scout return from Ironclaw terr
SeleneYou’d think saving the world—or at least trying to—would come with some dramatic music or maybe a thunderclap in the sky. But instead, it came with paperwork.Literal paperwork.The morning after Briarhollow, I found myself hunched over a desk that still smelled like old wax and damp wood, going through ancient alliance scrolls while my tea went cold.“You’d think being chosen by prophecy came with better perks,” I muttered.Killian glanced up from across the room, where he was oiling his sword like it had personally offended him. “What, you thought saving the world would be glamorous?”“I thought maybe it wouldn’t include so many legal clauses,” I said, waving a dusty scroll.He snorted. “You sound like Cassian.”“Please, if I sounded like Cassian, I’d be complaining with my whole chest and quoting a dramatic poem about death.”As if summoned, Cassian popped his head into the room.“I heard that,” he said. “And I do not appreciate the slander. I quote only the best dramatic po
Selene There are moments that feel like lightning in your blood. When everything slows down just long enough for your instincts to scream. That’s what it felt like, stepping into the center of Briarhollow and watching flame erupt from a robed hand like a promise. I didn’t hesitate. The Moonfire blade was already in my hand by the time the flame fully formed. I stepped into the strike, the blade slicing through the heat like it was smoke. The air cracked with the sound of magic hitting magic, and the Obsidian Eye acolyte staggered back, clearly not expecting resistance that felt... ancient. The others moved fast. Killian was beside me in seconds, blade raised. Elara barked out a warding spell that rang through the air like a bell. Tess vanished from my peripheral vision, only to reappear behind one of the attackers, her knife buried deep in the gap beneath their ribs. Cassian, ever dramatic, let out a battle cry that probably woke the gods and charged straight into the fray. The
Selene I didn’t sleep that night. Not because I couldn’t—I was bone-tired, head aching and shoulder still raw from the fight in the crypt. But because the moment my head touched the pillow, everything started replaying in my mind like some badly edited horror film. The blade humming in my hand. My father’s betrayal. The ancient whisper of something buried too deep. Also, my mum wouldn’t stop rearranging the jars in the infirmary. “That’s the feverfew,” I said for the fourth time, leaning against the doorway as she moved the same jar of herbs from one shelf to another like it had offended her personally. She didn’t even look at me. “It was in the wrong place.” “It was alphabetised.” “It was incorrectly alphabetised.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Mum.” She turned, finally. There was something in her eyes I hadn’t seen in years. Not just exhaustion. Not even guilt. Something quieter, sadder. Like she was trying to hold everything together because if she stopped movi