All Chapters of THE CAPTIVE'S LOVE: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

The room went silent.Eyes shifted to Emereah."Then what do we do?" a voice demanded.Emereah stood tall, hair hidden in firefight, cloak flowing behind her like smoke."We ready the sanctuary to burn," she answered.Gasps."You would burn it?" one of the councilors demanded."I would rather see these walls consumed by fire than see them fall into Morgane's hands.""And the girl?" another elder demanded, glancing at Lunareth, who lay sleeping in Vera's arms.Emereah stood among them, eyes slicing."She is not a weapon. She is not a prophecy.""She is my daughter."And she lowered her tone—a knife drawn between mercy and war:"But if Morgane comes for her, she'll come for me instead."Later That NightThe embers were dying in the hearth.Emereah stood at her chamber balcony, gazing out over the sanctuary. People moved like night—arming themselves, cooking meals, sharpening knives with blessings.Vladimir trailed after her."She's already combining them.""They need to have cause to be

"We were mistaken."Morgane approached.Kneeling before her, lifting her chin."You were weak. Not mistaken."She kissed Yaleth's brow once.Then let the flame consume her.Back in the real world, Morgane stood at the top of her marching army.The wind raged through her hair, fire wrapping around her limbs like serpents.She shut her eyes and breathed softly:"They asked me to forget.""But I recall.""And I shall remind them… what fire really is."The blaze at her back burst to life.And ahead of her—Emereah's haven stood in the distance.Awaits to be burned.The sun sat low on the horizon, painting the sanctuary in shades of gold and crimson. The stone walls, once a symbol of cohesion, now appeared like tombstones in wait of being kissed by fire. Morgane stood atop the ridge, her form outlined by the fading light, the winds wailing as if in expectation.Her eyes sparkled with a blackness darker than the night sky.It wasn't only the walls that would go up in flames. It was the very

Emereah nodded slowly, her gaze sweeping over the smoldering ruins of the battlefield. She was weary, but the battle wasn't over. Not yet."It's not over, Vladimir. This is only the beginning."Vladimir's grip on Emereah's shoulder tightened, his eyes on the horizon where the final spark of flame still persisted. His own breathing was harsh, smoke and the burden of their triumph, but Emereah's words sliced through him like a frigid blast of air.“Just the beginning?” He whispered, his voice hoarse, like the very air around them was burnt, scorched, and still echoing with the battle’s fury. “We’ve stopped Morgane, we’ve stopped her army—what more could be left?”Emereah spun away from the battlefield, her eyes as cold as the rock at their feet. The flames that had consumed the ground were burning low, but fiery coals in her own breast smoldered on, her furnace heart a hive of unworked grief, loss, and now something evil."Fate's flame she summoned—this is not done. More there is to com

And in that delicate space between twilight and night, where the sky oozed amber into darkness, Emereah drew breath. Really breathed. Not the sort of breath hammered out in combat, thick with fury and smoke, but one pulled softly—tentatively—through a body that had not known what peace could be. It was filled with ash, yes, but with something more there too. Hope. She did not take Vladimir's hand. Not yet. But she did not leave either. And he did not push. He stood beside her in silence, respectful, waiting—not for forgiveness, not for a judgment—but simply to be near. That was the difference now. He had learned to wait. For a woman like Emereah, who had scorched cities with her rage and cradled kingdoms in her belly, silence was more than sufficient. The moon was pale above them, casting silver over the devastated fields that lay beyond the walls of the sanctuary. There were still fires burning in the distance—pains of what they had endured, and threats of what was yet to befall them

The room was a quiet sanctuary, softly lit with the gentle movement of swaying candles. Shadows had a tendency to move if they kept their course along walls, hiding the edges of a room that had experienced so much sorrow and pain. But so it was not.Emereah crept into the room, her legs fighting. She never once looked away from Vladimir, whose position was rigid, as if he braced himself against something he could not quite identify. Their tension and unspoken words boiled with heat, and yet their weight increased only to the rhythm of their breathing.Vladimir at the window, candlelight on his face casting gentle shadows, darkness outside of it. His jaw clenched, his eyes black and unyielding. But something more, something within—a tug Emereah felt as a string tugging between them, beyond her control.He stood waiting for her to enter, his eyes immediately going to the baby in her arms. His face relaxed, and a warm smile that Emereah had not seen in years came over his face. "Lunareth