All Chapters of The Fierce Little Thing And Her Five Mates: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

The heavy doors burst open with a crash that echoed through the chamber like a thunderclap. Water rippled around me in waves, the sound of armored feet thudding against wet stone as a dozen guards swarmed in. At their center, cloaked in flowing sapphire silks and strands of pearls woven into her long silver hair, was a woman who needed no introduction. Claudia Voudaur. I didn’t breathe. Her eyes widened when she saw me, no, not me. My tail. The vibrant explosion of colors that shimmered in the water like stained glass brought to life. Her lips parted in something between awe and disbelief. I felt the power crawl up my spine before I even moved. My legs shifted, bones cracking, skin reshaping, magic bending to my will and with a gasp, I stood on two feet again. Jeramiah’s cloak was nearby, and I wrapped it around myself, stepping onto the edge of the stone platform. My toes barely touched down before I snapped into a fighting stance, instinctive and lethal, fingers curled like claws, s

The chamber fell still. Claudia reached into the shell once more, her fingers careful, reverent, as she pulled free a delicate strip of sea-silk. It shimmered like moonlight on water, the ink embedded in its weave dark and swirling, alive with magic, somehow untouched by time. She didn’t speak as she handed it to me. She didn’t need to. The air in the chamber shifted. Tightened. Like even the sea was holding its breath. I stared down at the writing, curves and coils, flowing in a pattern that made my head spin. I couldn’t read it. Not with my eyes. Not yet.“It’s Old Sirenic,” Claudia said softly. “Older than the council. Older than any kingdom. Only a trueblood can speak it the way it was written.”She turned toward Jeramiah. He hesitated. Then stepped forward, brushing his fingers gently along the edge of the sea-silk, before he began to sing. The melody was haunting, low and lilting, like sorrow wrapped in the tide. His voice filled the space, weaving through the glowing coral and

LayahThe silence was deafening. They stood in a loose circle now, Dylan, Elijah, Henry, Jordan, my resistance, rubbing sleep from their eyes, all wearing the same expression: dazed confusion giving way to wary disbelief. Jeramiah stood beside me, his fingers laced through mine, quiet but unmoving. Unapologetic. I felt their eyes on our hands. On him. On the mark that now lived on his skin. No one spoke. Until Elijah did.His voice cut through the tension like a blade. “What the hell happened while we were sleeping?”I flinched. It wasn’t just anger in his tone, it was betrayal, hurt, something deeper. I knew that voice. I’d heard it in myself too many times.“Elijah…” I started softly, but Dylan stepped forward.“You disappeared. With a siren prince, who, let’s be honest, none of us trust yet and then we wake up to find you soul-bound to him?”“It wasn’t planned,” I said quickly. “It wasn’t like with you or Kai. I didn’t even know—”“But it happened.” Dylan’s jaw was tight. “You mark

We stood there with the sea breathing in and out below the cliff, the wind tugging at my hair, the weight of everything pressing behind my eyes. Elijah didn’t speak at first. He just matched my breaths until mine stopped stuttering.“I owe you an apology,” he said finally, voice low. “A real one. Not the half-hearted kind people give when they want to move on.”I glanced up. His gaze didn’t flinch.“I was raised to see magic wielders as a problem to be solved,” he went on. “A rot you cut out before it spreads. It wasn’t just rules. It was… baked into bone. And when the bond snapped into place with you, it ripped all that open. I panicked. I said things to make the old world true again so I wouldn’t have to admit it was already gone.”He huffed a humorless breath. “It was cowardice. I’m sorry.”The words landed like warm stones in cold water, heavy, real, settling where anger had been floating. I didn’t forgive him. Not like that. But I heard him. He looked past me at the surf, softer

The silk in my hands thrummed like a living thing. As I unrolled more of it, the letters slid, blinked, then settled into meaning only I could see. My mouth moved before I could second-guess it. I read.“When flame meets tide and night meets dawn,Let five be bound and breathe as one.To bear the weight and keep from harm,The heart must split to grow an arm.Where kingdoms rot and rings lie torn,A many-blood shall be reborn;Not of one braid but threads of five,To stitch the world back into life.One crowned by storm on sky and stone,One forged in fire, scaled and bone;One born of depths whose songs unchain,One hell-bound heart who guards the flame;One night-kissed soul, from first blood swornTogether, mercy remakes morn.Yet mark this law the gods have setComplete the ring or drown in debt.If one should falter, one should fall,The Soulclaw shatters, burns them all.Three trials test the woven thread:Of Depth, of Silence, and of Red.Pass Depth with trust, let breath be sh