ログインValerieThe pain had settled into something strange, distant from me now, as though it belonged to someone else's body instead of my own.I understood, somewhere in the fading clarity of my own thoughts, exactly what was happening. And exactly what was not happening.This was not the ritual Rogers had planned. There was no altar beneath me. No circle of elders chanting ancient words. No ceremonial blade wielded with careful, practiced precision according to some prophecy written a thousand years before my birth.There was only a cold stone beneath my back. Rain mixing with blood. And a dagger that had never been meant for me at all, buried deep in my side by a woman who had aimed for someone else entirely.No heart-blood ceremony. No willing sacrifice offered with raised hands and solemn words.Just my body, moving faster than thought, placing itself exactly where it needed to be."Valerie." Dimitri's voice reached me from somewhere close. It sounded strange now, muffled, as though I
Valerie I saw the shape falling before I understood what it was. A dark shadow dropping fast through the eclipsed light, aimed directly at Dimitri's back.There was no time to shout a warning. No time to think through what I was about to do. No careful calculation. No deliberate sacrifice offered with raised hands and practiced words the way I had offered myself for Maya months before.My body simply moved.Something deep inside me, some current I did not control, some pull that felt older than thought itself, dragged me forward across the broken rock. It closed the distance between where I stood and where Dimitri fought, faster than I believed myself capable of moving.I did not think about what would happen. I did not weigh the cost. I simply threw myself into the space between the falling blade and the man I could not lose.The dagger meant for Dimitri's back found me instead.The impact drove the breath from my lungs entirely. A sharp, consuming pain tore through my side as the b
Elara The child had never mattered.I understood that fully now, in the space of a single breath, airborne above the shelf of rock with the dagger gripped tight in my hand. The ritual, the blood, the heart cut from the Sun-Luna's chest, all of it had been Rogers's obsession. A careful plan built on prophecy and politics and the slow accumulation of power.I had never needed any of that.I only needed Dimitri dead.If the King died by the soul-dagger, the bloodline that mattered would die with him. Not through some elaborate ritual requiring years of preparation, but through a single blade forged specifically to end exactly what he was.The curse would not matter anymore. The prophecy would not matter. Nadia's scrolls, the council's debates, Valerie's bloodline and her three precious heirs, none of it would matter once Dimitri was gone. Once the throne sat empty and ready for whoever moved quickly enough to claim it.I had moved quickly enough.Below me, his back was fully exposed. Bl
DimitriEvery wound felt worse than it should have.I had torn through three rogues already. Each strike against me, every graze of silver, burned deeper and lasted longer than any injury had in years. My blood felt thick and slow in my veins. My strength faded faster than the fight demanded.The weakened serum, I thought distantly. Rogers had seen to that much at least.I spotted him near the cliff's edge, directing the fight with his staff raised high. He shouted orders over the gunfire. Something in me, some last clear thread of purpose beneath the pain, fixed on him entirely.I crossed the distance in a few powerful strides. I ignored the rounds that tore into my side. I ignored the growing numbness spreading through my limbs, until I reached him.Rogers's eyes widened as I closed the final gap."Your Majesty," he started, raising the staff as though it might shield him.I tore it from his grip and threw it aside."You poisoned me," I said. My voice was barely recognizable even to
NathanI had followed the royal transport from the city, keeping a careful distance, not entirely certain why I bothered until the convoy turned off the main road and began climbing into the mountains.By the time I reached the base of Obsidian Peak, the road was already blocked by fallen rock, exactly as the attendant at the gas station had warned the others. I abandoned my car and climbed the opposite face instead. It was a longer route, but a clearer one, guided mostly by the sound of gunfire once I drew close enough to hear it.I crested the ridge on the east side just as the fighting below reached its worst point."That is considerably more rogues than anyone mentioned," I said to no one in particular.I made my way down toward the fight, keeping low. I found Dante pinned behind a cluster of rocks, blood soaking through his fur, a boy crouched directly behind him."Nathan?" Dante managed, startled. He turned his head slightly, wincing as the movement pulled at whatever wound was
Valerie"Jax, stay down!" I shouted again. My eyes were fixed on Elara now, on the blade in her hand.Dante's roar cut across the shelf from the left. I turned in time to see him drop to one knee, a round having caught him high in the shoulder. Dark blood spread fast through his fur."Dante!" I started toward him instinctively.Two more rogues closed in on his position. I saw, with a jolt of fresh terror, a second small shape huddled behind the same rocks Dante had been using for cover.Leo.I did not understand how he had gotten there. I had no time to understand it. I only registered the fact of him. Small and pale, pressed flat against the stone.Dante threw himself between Leo and the advancing rogues, taking the brunt of their attack directly into his already wounded side."Leo!" I screamed.He looked up, found my eyes across the chaos, and did not move from where Dante had positioned him. He was trusting the shield Dante's body provided even as Dante staggered under the force of







