All Chapters of THE HEIR AND THE HOLLOW VOW: Chapter 51 - Chapter 56

Chapter 52 – Shadows of the Third GateThe laughter faded into a hum that shivered through the current, pressing against Seraphine’s skin like the touch of invisible hands. The third gate dissolved behind them, leaving the water darker than before, as though each trial consumed what little light remained.Riven’s hand never left hers. He swam with calm, deliberate strokes, but she could feel the steel in his body, every muscle coiled for the storm he knew was coming.Ahead, the abyss no longer glowed. Instead, it stretched vast and empty, a gulf of stillness that unsettled her more than the whispers. The silence was deceptive, fragile—like glass that would shatter under the lightest touch.And the voices were patient now.One gate remains before the threshold, they murmured, as though savoring the words. One step before your chains are revealed. Do you hunger for it, child of ruin? Or do you fear the truth your flame will bring?Seraphine clenched her teeth, pressing the heel of her h

Chapter 54 – The Tribunal StirsThe water pulsed around them, no longer the steady current that had carried them from one trial to the next but a restless, shifting tide, as though the abyss itself could no longer remain still. Riven’s hand was locked around Seraphine’s, firm enough to bruise, and yet she clung back with equal force, neither of them willing to loosen even a fraction.The glow ahead sharpened, no longer faint or distant—it pulsed like a wound in the sea, an opening not carved by mortal hands but born from something older, deeper. The light was not light at all but a shifting radiance, too alive, too knowing.Seraphine’s chest tightened. This was not another gate.This was something watching.She turned to Riven. The silver sheen in his eyes was stark now, sharper than steel, but his jaw was set with that same unbending resolve that had steadied her through every trial. “It’s them,” she whispered, though the water carried her words strangely, as if they bled out in all

Chapter 56 – The Gate of AshesThe world split open in fire.Seraphine stumbled forward as the current of the last gate spat them out into a realm of blistering heat and searing light. Her lungs heaved, each breath dragging smoke instead of water. The air itself seemed alive, trembling with flame. Above, the sky was no sky at all but a dome of roiling ash, streaked through with rivers of fire that cascaded like molten veins.The Gate of Ashes.It was alive in its hunger—its walls breathing fire, its floor blackened stone that cracked with every step as though it remembered countless feet burning upon it. Her boots scorched immediately, the soles hissing. Pain shot up her legs before she forced herself to steady, clinging to Riven’s hand as if letting go would mean falling into the inferno itself.He stood beside her, shoulders heaving, his clothes already singed, hair whipped by a wind of sparks. His eyes narrowed against the blaze, silver and sharp even in this realm of red.“Stay cl