Semua Bab Incubus Reborn: Sleepless promise: Bab 61 - Bab 70

The wind outside howled through the cracked window, tugging at the curtains. Astra didn’t move from her place by the glass. Her eyes stayed fixed on the forest, as if Mara might step out from the shadows at any second.“You’re thinking too loudly,” Cael said from the corner, his tone somewhere between annoyance and concern.“I’m thinking about how she got in here,” Astra replied, her voice flat. “And why we didn’t see her coming.”“Because she’s Mara,” Lucian said. He was pacing now, the sound of his boots against the wood sharp in the silence. “She knows every backdoor, every weak spot. I taught her half of them.”Astra turned her head sharply. “You taught her?”Lucian stopped, meeting her gaze without flinching. “We worked together once. Before everything changed.”Cael snorted. “Worked together? That’s a cute way of putting it.”“Care to translate?” Astra asked, crossing her arms.Lucian’s jaw worked for a second. “We hunted the same kind of prey. But Mara… she enjoyed the killing

The air ahead felt heavier, the smoke thinning but leaving behind a bitter taste on their tongues. Cael didn’t slow his stride, his boots crushing brittle leaves as if each step were a promise he couldn’t take back.Astra moved up beside him, dagger still in her hand. “You think she knows we killed it?”Cael’s eyes didn’t shift from the path. “If she doesn’t, she will. Mara’s never been the type to leave a mess without checking the damage.”Lucian smirked faintly from behind them. “You make it sound like she’s an artist and the sentinel was her unfinished painting.”Riven, walking at the rear with Seris, spoke for the first time in several minutes. “She didn’t wake it for show. That thing was a distraction.”“Obviously,” Astra said. “But a distraction from what?”Riven’s gaze flicked toward Seris, but she kept her face forward. “From the real road,” he said finally.Lucian gave a humorless laugh. “You mean there’s an invisible one I’ve been missing?”“There’s a path,” Seris said, “tha

The impact rattled Cael’s arm to the shoulder. Steel met something that felt like stone wrapped in sinew, the clang swallowed almost instantly by the roar the creature loosed into the chamber. The sound was wrong,too deep, layered, like several voices screaming at once.Lucian darted past him, slashing low toward the thing’s legs, but his blade barely carved a shallow line in its shadow-like hide before the wound sealed over with a pulse of molten light.Astra was already moving, rolling under its swing to come up near its flank. She drove her dagger for what she hoped was a weak point beneath its ribs if it even had ribs, but the moment steel touched, a shock jolted up her arm and she had to wrench the blade free before her fingers went numb.The creature slammed one clawed limb against the invisible wall of the circle. Sparks flew, crimson arcs racing along the boundary. The air smelled of burning stone.“Seris!” Cael barked. “How long can this hold?”Seris’ voice came sharp from wh

The gate didn’t fade this time.It stayed lit, its molten edges pulsing in a slow, heartbeat rhythm.Cael wiped the dark resin from his sword with the edge of his sleeve. “It’s still open.”“That’s not ‘still open.’” Mara’s eyes didn’t leave the frame. “That’s waiting.”Riven flexed his hands on the hafts of his axes. “Waiting for what?”Nobody answered.The molten light in the frame shifted,not the sharp flare of something pushing through, but a steady swell. The air thickened, pressing on their lungs. Lucian’s grip tightened on his sword.Seris staggered, clutching her head. “The presence,it’s… different. Heavier. There’s intent in it.”“Intent to what?” Astra asked, her voice low.“To finish what the others started,” Seris whispered.A sound rumbled out of the gate, low enough they felt it in their ribs before they heard it in their ears. Not a roar, not even a growl,more like stone being pulled apart by something that enjoyed the effort.The molten light condensed, shrinking inwar

The scorch mark on the floor was still warm. Lucian crouched beside it, running his fingers over the blackened stone.“That was too close,” he said quietly.“Too close is putting it politely,” Riven replied. “We were a hair away from being dinner.”Mara sat cross-legged against the wall, head lowered. Sweat dripped from her hairline, and her breathing was shallow.Cael knelt in front of her. “Talk to me. How bad?”“I burned through everything I had,” she said without lifting her head. “And some I didn’t. My hands feel like they’re made of ash.”Astra leaned against the doorway, scanning the room. “We can’t stay here. That thing might have backed off, but if it can reach through once, it can try again.”Seris spoke up. “It will try again. And it will be angrier.”Riven muttered, “Great. I love repeat customers.”Lucian straightened, brushing soot from his hands. “She’s right. We need to move.”Mara finally lifted her gaze, eyes bloodshot. “Move where? Every path out of here runs past a