로그인I sensed Arthur turn toward me and felt nothing.Moved?Love that arrives after the damage is done is worthless.I had no intention of saving him. Instead, I unleashed the most violent shadow power inside me.Crack!The anti-magic cuffs shattered.I never hesitated.My body split into a swarm of black tundra bats. We shattered the vast stained-glass window and swept into the night.I had barely cleared thirty feet when the castle exploded behind me.Dozens of tubes of concentrated Liquid Sunlight detonated inside the sealed hall.A miniature sun bloomed in the darkness.The ultraviolet inferno swallowed the abandoned castle in an instant.I wheeled in the air and faced the blaze, unmoved.Arthur and Ella's screams lasted less than a second.Still locked together, they vanished in the searing light.They collapsed into a single wisp of ash.The wind scattered it until nothing remained.Far to the south, Victor Blackwood, still bedridden, felt the moment Arthur's bloodline vanished.His
Rune-inscribed iron cuffs pinned my wrists and ankles to a chair, sealing my magic.Arthur sat across from me, cradling an oil portrait of Noah painted while he was still alive.His eyes glittered with manic obsession."Serena, look. This is our child.""If we start over, I swear I'll only ever love you.""Everyone who ever hurt you, I've taken care of them all."A humorless laugh escaped me."Taken care of? The real murderer is sitting right in front of me."Just then, a telepathic message from the northern intelligence officer echoed in my mind."Your Majesty, we've locked onto your location. King Lucas will be there within three minutes."Knowing rescue was close, I met Arthur's madness with open contempt.I never got the chance to answer.Bang!The massive doors burst inward, a body hurtling through them.Ella stumbled into the hall in a tattered cloak, her right eye a black, hollow pit.Dozens of glass vials strapped to her body blazed with golden light."Look at this. Both of you
Two weeks later, the North held a grand feast.At the height of the celebration, the sounds of a violent scuffle erupted outside the great hall."Get out of my way! I am Prince Arthur Blackwood of the South! Serena is my wife!"Arthur forced his way through the doors, snow crusting his filthy hair and clothes.He barely made it two steps before two northern guards struck him down.He hit the marble hard.Arthur landed on his knees, bloodied and humiliated.Across the crowded hall, he looked up and found me on the dais in a gold-trimmed black gown. I felt his stare lock onto me.Lucas's arm rested casually around my waist.Arthur's ragged breath caught. Then he thrashed against the guards and roared."Serena! Come back with me! This isn't over between us!"I did not even turn my head. I waved the guards forward."Throw this stray dog out."Late that night, I had just entered my chambers.Frost burst from the window. Battered and bleeding, Arthur forced his way into my rooms with a forbi
In the bitter blizzards of the North, the southern court's corruption could no longer reach me.I stood at the innermost altar of the frozen citadel.My eyes remained a sightless white, but my sharpened senses caught every whisper of wind."Rise!"I thrust both hands upward.The Shadow Barrier I had reclaimed from Arthur's territory fused with the First King's ancient wards.A vast dome of shadow blotted out the sky and sealed the frozen tundra behind an impenetrable wall.Lucas Kane stepped forward to face hundreds of kneeling northern lords, his voice carrying through the blizzard."You have witnessed her power. Though she cannot see the runes, she fused two barriers into an unbreakable shield.""She remains the most powerful Shadow Wielder on this continent!""From this day forward, this barrier is the foundation of Queen Serena Warren's sovereign power. While she stands, it stands. As she grows stronger, so does the North."He turned and offered me his hand, guiding me to his side,
The flooded dungeon reeked of rotting flesh and mildew.Arthur used the last vestige of his private authority to remove Ella from the High Council's holding cell.He chained Ella to the same silver-spiked rack where I had once been bound."Tell me! Why did you murder Noah? Why did you torture Serena?"Ella's face was streaked with tears as she shook her head frantically."Your Highness, I was framed! Malcolm and the others conspired against me!"Arthur had no patience for denials.He dragged over a hunter-grade ultraviolet spotlight and aimed it at Ella's face."For every pain Serena endured, I'll make you suffer a hundredfold!"Arthur flipped the switch. Ultraviolet light blasted Ella's face."My eyes!"Ella's right eyeball charred black and burst, yellowish pus streaming down her cheek.Arthur watched for a moment, then turned away without expression and strode out of the dungeon.After hours of torture, Ella found the strength to snap the silver chains, smash through a wooden window
The day after the Council stripped him of authority, Arthur was confined to the castle's main hall like a prisoner.Disaster after disaster crashed down on him.The dungeon interrogations had produced results.The captured hunters confessed everything before the torture instruments were even brought out."Ella paid me two thousand gold coins to do it!"Before Arthur could catch his breath, Malcolm Reed, the old castle steward, fell to his knees and confessed."Your Highness... feeding Helen Warren's ashes to the ghouls, spreading those memory crystals...""Ella Hart paid me in gold to do all of it!""And... she poured three vials of high-grade holy water into the Sacred Flame Array before Serena used it.""She wanted to cripple Serena for good!"One crime after another.All of it, irrefutable and damning.Arthur's eyes burned red. He clutched his hair, ragged breaths tearing from his throat like a wounded animal.Every lash I had endured, the sight I had lost, every drop of blood I had







