Selene’s gaze drifted over the horizon, where the first light of dawn was filtering through the trees, casting long shadows across the Grove. The air felt different now. It was heavier, tinged with the remnants of battles fought, spirits freed, and blood spilled. Yet it was a kind of weight she hadn't expected—the kind that meant there was something more still to come. The battle had ended, but the war inside her, the struggle for peace and survival, had only just begun.
She stood at the edge of the Grove, her feet planted firmly on the earth. The moon had long since set, but its light lingered in the air, as though the world itself was waiting for her to speak, to do something. She felt Rowan's presence behind her before she heard his footsteps. He was always there, always watching, always waiting for her to choose.
The first star fell at dawn.It wasn’t a meteor. It wasn't a fire.It was a crack in the sky, a seam splitting open as if the heavens themselves had grown too tired to stay stitched together. Light poured through it—not warm, not golden. Cold. Silver. Piercing.Selene stood beneath it, silent.Agnes joined her on the ridge, staff braced in the dirt. “It’s starting.”“I know,” Selene said. Her voice was calm, but the ache ben
The blade sank into Selene’s palm with the weight of choice.It wasn’t pain that stunned her—it was memory. The instant her blood touched the seal, the stone pulsed violently, and the world around her fractured.Not into darkness.Into moments.She stood in a dozen places at once. Her mother’s arms. The Ceremony night. Rowan’s first smile. Caden’s betrayal. The grove alight with spirit fire. Marina weeping behind her cruel smirk. The Faded One’s empty gaze.
The map burned softly in Selene’s hand.It wasn’t real fire. It wasn't consumed. But the scroll glowed with an internal heat, each line etched not in ink but in spirit-light. The paths were shifting beneath her gaze—not drawn to scale, but woven through layers of time.They weren’t following landmarks.They were following memories.She sat at the edge of the campsite with Rowan beside her, both of them crouched over the scroll. Around them, the forest was quiet, holding its breath.
The journey back from the binding chamber was wordless.Not out of avoidance—but out of reverence. The kind of quiet that follows revelation.Selene walked ahead, her shoulders tense, her heartbeat slow but heavy, as if her body understood something her mind hadn't fully caught up with yet. Rowan followed behind her, not close enough to pressure her, but not far enough to let her fall alone.When they reached the ridge overlooking the edge of camp, Selene stopped.She didn't speak. She didn’t even breathe deeply. She simply stared at the forest—
Selene moved through the forest like a shadow stitched into the seams of reality. The pendant Agnes had given her glowed faintly, reacting to the old paths beneath her feet—veins of long-forgotten spirit trails that pulsed with dim blue light.The silence was suffocating.Even the spirits didn’t speak here.The trees bent unnaturally, their limbs stretched toward one another as if trying to close the path she walked. Her breath fogged the air, though no wind blew. Her wolf stirred uneasily inside her, pacing, sensing what she couldn’t see yet.S
Selene didn’t move for a long time.The words hung in the air, thick and pulsing with consequence.The last of the old blood.She stared at the young man who had brought the warning. He lay curled in on himself now, exhausted, half-conscious. Rowan crouched beside him, inspecting the blood on his tunic.“Not his,” Rowan confirmed. “But someone fought hard to make sure he reached us.”Agnes stepped forward, voice sharp. “We need to