Semua Bab THE HEIR AND THE HOLLOW VOW: Bab 41 - Bab 50

Chapter 41**The ground trembled beneath Seraphine’s boots. The Tribunal’s creature towered before them—an amalgamation of shadow and bone, its elongated limbs bending at wrong angles, its head tipped in a soundless snarl. The air rippled around it, thick with the weight of Tribunal magic, and every instinct in her screamed to run.Riven didn’t move. His sword was already drawn, its blacksteel edge catching the dim light, his stance squared and unyielding. “Stay behind me,” he said without looking at her. But she could feel the truth in his voice—he didn’t believe either of them could truly stand behind anything in this moment.The creature lunged first.Its movement was a blur—one second crouched low, the next hurtling forward with a speed that defied its bulk. Riven met the charge with a side-step and a slash, the blade biting into its arm. The strike landed deep, but instead of blood, a hiss of pale smoke burst from the wound. The creature recoiled, twisting with an unnatural bend

Chapter 43 – Ash Between the Stones The cold stones under Seraphine’s boots seemed to hum with the remnants of violence. Her fingers were still curled in Riven’s, the calloused heat of his grip grounding her in a world that felt as if it were dissolving at the edges. “The Tribunal is relentless,” he’d said—and now, the words clung to her like frost. She could feel them in the still air between the broken walls, in the faint tremor of the earth beneath their feet. Somewhere, far off, something was moving. She let out a slow breath, steadying herself, but didn’t let go of him. “Then we have to move,” she murmured. He gave a small nod, eyes scanning the jagged skyline of the ruins. The wind that wove through the crumbling archways carried the scent of damp ash and something metallic, sharp enough to sting her nose. They moved as one, careful but quick, their footfalls muffled by centuries of dust and debris. The ruins were a maze—columns snapped in half, doorways leading to collaps

Chapter 45 – The Second GateThe current seized her, dragging her away from the fading shimmer of the first gate. It was not violent, not a storm-tide that battered her against stone or reef, but relentless—like a hand at her back urging her forward whether she wished it or not.The water grew warmer still, infused with faint golden streams that bent and curled as if alive. Seraphine’s chest ached with every breath, not from lack of air—she could breathe here—but from the weight pressing deeper inside her. The vision of the flames clung to her, raw and jagged: her mother’s face, Riven’s gaze, blood on her own hands. They followed like shadows stitched to her skin.The figure glided ahead, its outline shifting in the dim light. Sometimes it seemed a man with long, flowing hair, sometimes a woman cloaked in water, sometimes nothing more than a ripple. Its voice filled her again, softer this time, a ripple through the marrow of her bones."Few pass the second gate. Not because it demands

Chapter 47 – The Third GateThe current dragged her deeper.Seraphine felt the weight of the water in every breath, though she no longer drowned—each inhalation filled her lungs as if the ocean itself allowed her life. Still, the pressure was unbearable, a constant reminder that she was not meant to survive here. The figure—shifting, flickering like a shadow wearing the outline of a guide—slid ahead of her, its translucent form glowing faintly in the gloom.“This is the Third Gate,” the voice whispered, threading into her mind the way the currents threaded into her skin. “The hardest. Few have passed. None without cost.”The water trembled around her as though the sea itself braced for what was to come. Ahead, carved into the ocean floor, rose another massive arch. But unlike the first two, this one was broken, jagged edges spiraling upward like the ribs of a beast. The veil within it was not golden light or fire but shifting black—like a storm of shadows trapped between two teeth of

Chapter 49 – The Third GateThe current grew violent as though the water itself sought to tear them apart. Seraphine clung to Riven’s hand, her nails digging into his skin, terrified that if she let go—even for a breath—he would be swallowed by the churning dark.Light slanted in strange ways through the water, breaking into shards that flickered across his face. His jaw was tight, his eyes unyielding, but there was something raw beneath the sharpness. His grip on her wasn’t just protective—it was desperate.They had passed through two gates already, and each had left scars—on their hearts, on their trust, on their sense of who they were. But this third one… it pulsed in the distance like a wound in the world, drawing them forward. The water thickened as they neared, heavy as blood.“Seraphine.” His voice carried through the strange current between them, low and steady, though his chest rose with the strain of holding himself together. “Whatever happens here, don’t let go of me. Even