All Chapters of THE SILVER LINING: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

The air within the Citadel's healing sanctum glowed dimly, weighed down with the remnant of old magic. Light seeped through curtains of opalescent wards, illuminating the walls with gentle waves of gold and violet. In the center of the huge chamber, under the ornate sigil of the moon, Miyal recumbent on the marble dais.Krishna shifted on her seat next to him, her eyes burning as though she had not opened them in hours or maybe days. Her hands lay still on top of his, fingers entwined in his callused ones, palms raw from the power she had expended attempting to keep him anchored in this world.He was living. Sort of. His chest went up and down in deep, shallow breaths, each one shuddering through the empty quiet. But it was different now. Each exhale seemed to glimmer in the air, like the storm itself still drew breath with him.The chain’s scar, burned across his chest, pulsed softly slow, luminous, and eerily rhythmic. Sometimes it flickered like a heartbeat; other times, it stilled

The bells of the uppermost sanctum tolled before sunrise.Krishna had not slept. She had spent the night sitting beside Miyal, hearing the soft cadence of his breathing. His healing was plodding, unsteady but unambiguous. The stormlight in his flesh had dulled to a pulse instead of a blaze, and the fever had broken at some point after midnight. Yet the air surrounding him still shimmered with a faint radiance, curving like heat off stone.The Citadel vibrated with it. All the runes in the walls warbled a half-note off-key, like a second heartbeat had become part of its cadence.When the call came, she understood what it was."Leave," Miyal whispered not opening his eyes. His voice was not strong, but it contained that other gravity an undertone that sounded as if it could draw the air into it."I won't leave you."“You must.” His lips curved faintly, a weary echo of humor. “You’ve already angered them enough for one lifetime.”Krishna reached for his hand, fingers brushing over the pa

The night never really ended in the Citadel. It merely faded a silver half-light that leaked through the cracks of the high domes and bathed the world in shifting shadow.Sira remained at the periphery of the Council chamber well after the others had departed. The sigils continued to softly glow, whispering against the ground in a tongue that she was unable to understand. Each beat was gentle, measured… almost like a pulse.She had instructed the guards to depart. Even they had lingered in uncertainty before complying. The air held an odd vibration not of wind or engine, but of consciousness. The Citadel observed.Her image trembled on the black marble, ghostly, warped by the shuddering of the runes beneath her feet. She laid her hand on one of the glyphs, and felt heat.It pulsed, once.She withdrew her hand abruptly.“Not possible,” she whispered. “You’re a fortress, not a living thing.”But the warmth lingered.Sira turned away, sweeping her cloak around her shoulders, and started

Miyal's breath was little more than a whisper against silence. "Krishna… would you pardon me for something else I've done?"She was caught mid-sentence her hands suspended above the bandages at his chest, the soft glimmer of light that beat there beneath them. She remained motionless, eyes darting to his face.He appeared different in half-light younger in some way, although his skin still retained the pale metallic sheen of the Citadel's energy. Scars from the storm had paled to silver wires along collarbone and throat, throbbed faintly with every beat of his heart."What are you saying?" she breathed.He shifted his head a little, eyes following the thin veins of light along the ceiling. "Everything," he said quietly. "The blood. The chains.". The war. I tried to hold on myself, but it seared its way through. And now this" He took a shallow breath, his hand shaking as he sought to touch hers. "This thing growing inside me… I can feel it trying to reach for something outside of us. I

By the time shaking ceased, the world remained ominously silent. The radiance which had devoured the Citadel was a mere glimmer of dawn at its edge, vanishing into misty morning. The ruins which had filled the horizon were erased nothing left but a patch of stone and ash where it had stretched towards the skies.The quiet that came wasn't the oppressive quiet of death or terror. It was something softer like the first gasp after waking from a terrible dream.Krishna gazed out at the horizon till her eyes scorched, expecting another earthquake, another tempest, another whisper of the old gods who had tormented this country. But there was only the breeze. Only light.Kaed sat on the floor, shivering, his sword clattering on the floor beside him. "It's… it's really over," he whispered once more, as though he needed to try out the words before he could believe them. "The Citadel's gone."Ignatius stood close by, his huge shape outlined in the light of dawn. He didn't reply immediately. His