로그인The floor didn't just break; it vanished.One second I was looking into Rowan’s terrified eyes through the gap in the metal shutter, and the next, I was falling. The wind screamed past my ears as the entire top floor of the Council Tower tilted into the sky. I pulled Leo tight against my chest, twisting my body so I would hit the debris first.I won't let him die. Not like this."Lyra!" My father’s voice was a jagged howl. He was sliding down the tilted floor toward the edge, his fingers clawing at the broken tiles. He didn't look at me. He was reaching for the glowing power core that had fallen near the ledge. Even as he faced death, he only wanted the power.I hit a piece of falling metal with a bone-crushing thud. The world turned into a blur of gray smoke
The explosion was a wall of orange heat that tossed our boat into the air like a toy. I didn't think; I just grabbed Leo and threw myself over the side into the freezing harbor. The water hit me like a slap, pulling me down into the dark. I kicked with everything I had, my lungs screaming, until I broke the surface.The boat was gone. Only burning pieces of wood floated where our friends had been."Rowan! "I screamed, the saltwater stinging my throat. "Isaac! Tessa!"No answer. Only the sound of the waves and the distant crackle of the fire. I swam toward a large piece of the hull, pulling Leo onto the floating wood. He was coughing, his small face pale, but he was alive. I clung to the edge, my legs numb from the cold, searching the dark water.A hand gripped the wood n
The explosion didn't sound like a bomb. It sounded like a scream made of glass.One second, I was holding the cables, my skin burning from the silver heat. Next, a wave of black and violet energy slammed into my chest, throwing me across the room. I hit the wall hard, the air leaving my lungs in a painful gasp."Leo!" I choked out, struggling to sit up.The glass sphere was gone. In its place, a cloud of dark, swirling mist hovered in the center of the room. It wasn't the beautiful moonlight of the Silver Line. This was something different. It was cold. It was heavy. It felt like every nightmare I had ever had turned into a physical force."My machine!" my father shrieked. He was crawling toward the center of the room, his eyes wide with greed and terror. "The power... i
The sight of the clones made my stomach turn. Ten women stood in a perfect line, all wearing my face. They had my eyes, my hair, and my height. But their expressions were empty. They were dolls made of meat and violet magic."Do they have souls, Seraphina?" I asked, my voice trembling with rage. "Or are they just more batteries for your father?"Seraphina stepped through the line of my doubles, her boots clicking on the marble floor. "They are better than you, Lyra. They don't cry. They don't love. They only obey."Rowan growled, his fur bristling. "They’re freaks. And they’re in our way.""Kill them," Seraphina commanded.The Clones moved at once. They didn't run like people; they blurred like shadows. One lunged
"Father?" The word felt like a piece of glass in my throat.The hologram of my father, Silas Vale, sat comfortably in Julian’s leather chair. He looked older, his face lined with sharp, cruel angles, but those cold eyes were unmistakable. He was the man who had sold me into a cage for gambling debts or so I thought."You look surprised, Lyra," he said, his voice smooth and empty. "Did you really think a man with my connections would just die in a gutter? I was the one who built the Council’s foundations. Julian was just a noisy distraction I used to keep you busy."I stepped toward the drone, my sword trembling in my hand. "You sent her. You sent Seraphina to burn my home and steal my son!""I created her," he corrected, leaning forward. "Seraphina is what ha
"Don't do it, Lyra!" Rowan’s voice was a ragged scream. One of the mechanical wolves pressed a metal claw deeper into his shoulder, and he groaned, his head hitting the crimson-stained snow.Seraphina didn't look at him. Her violet eyes stayed locked on me. She tilted her head, the purple dagger dancing near Rowan’s throat. "Tick-tock, Lyra. Every second you hesitate, your mate loses another drop of blood. Is your pride worth his life?"My heart was a trapped bird, battering against my ribs. I looked down at Leo. He had woken up, his silver eyes wide and curious, unaware that a monster wanted to turn his life into a battery. If I gave him up, the world would fall into darkness. If I didn't, the man who had died a thousand times to save me would finally stay dead.I can’t lose him. Not again.
"Leo, stop! If you do this, you aren't a masterpiece, you're just a battery in a different cage!" I choked out, clawing at the hand he had pressed against my throat. We were hurtling through the stratosphere on the back of the Living Citadel, the air freezing and t
"Mother? No she died in the Pit. Julian, what have you done to her?" I choked out, the words feeling like shards of glass in my throat.The woman didn't answer with words. She lunged, her movements a blur of terrifying,
"Put him down, Julian! If you merge with that thing, there won't be enough of your soul left to even rot in hell!" I screamed, my voice barely audible over the groaning of the tectonic plates.The entity the monstrous f
"Get back, Lyra! That thing isn't your mother anymore!" Rowan’s voice cracked with a desperation I hadn't heard even when he was falling into the abyss. He threw himself in front of me, his body still steaming from the Legion’s exit, but his stance was







