All Chapters of Bloodlines Of Fire And Fate: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Evelyn walked back to the village with bare feet and quiet thoughts, the basket hanging empty in her hand. She didn’t remember most of what was said. Not exactly. Just the sound of his voice in the stillness. The warmth of the air around them. The way Damon listened—not as though he was waiting to respond, but as if he’d been starving for the truth of her. It had been years since anyone looked at her like that. And it hurt. Not like Adrian had hurt her. Not like betrayal or death or bleeding out under a full moon. This was gentler. Slower. Like an ache she’d forgotten how to name. When she reached the bakery, the windows were dark. Tomas had closed up hours ago. A candle flickered in the back room, but she didn’t light another. Didn’t change. Didn’t even eat. She climbed the narrow steps to her small bed above the ovens, lay back against the pillow still dusted with flour, and stared at the ceiling until sleep came for her. It didn’t come gently. She dreamt of the clearing again.

Brina didn’t know she was being followed. She moved through the trees like a shadow. Barefoot, quiet, swift in the way of someone who had fled too many times not to be good at it. But Evelyn had hunted before. She knew how to place her weight, how to move when the night was thick with sound, how to hold her breath so even her pulse wouldn’t give her away.How to avoid twigs and leaves. How to be deadly silent. The woods grew thicker past the grain fields, damp with old pine and layered moss. The silence wasn’t peaceful it was sharp, coiled, breathless. Evelyn’s wolf pressed close to the surface. Not anxious. Not afraid. Just alert. Because this time, she wasn’t running. She was watching, she was ready. She was awake. Ahead, Brina paused and drew something from her tunic. The obsidian stone glimmered faintly in the moonlight before she tucked it back and slipped across an invisible line Evelyn knew far too well. The border. The one Adrian’s enforcers never used to cross. The one Evel

Brina didn’t wake for nearly a full day. The healer had worked in tense silence, her hands moving swiftly as she cut away the infected tissue and extracted the tiny silver hooks embedded behind the girl’s ear. It wasn’t just a tracker—it was punishment, a cruel creation twisted into the nerves to send searing pain if Brina hesitated to obey.Evelyn never left the hut. Not once.She sat by Brina’s bedside with her elbows on her knees, fingers laced tightly enough to ache. Her wolf paced inside her skin, restless and low growling, but Evelyn kept her movements gentle as she dabbed at Brina’s brow with a warm cloth.The girl was small. Barely older than 8. But there was a quiet strength to her even in sleep—the same fragile, furious will to survive Evelyn had seen in Sophia. Not her face. Not her voice. Just… the fight.When Brina’s eyes finally fluttered open, Evelyn was still there, cloth in hand. The girl flinched violently, her breath catching.“Hey,” Evelyn murmured. “It’s alright.

The bakery was a sanctuary of warm flour and rising dough, but Evelyn’s heart felt raw beneath the familiar hum of daily life. She worked the dough mechanically, fingers pressing and folding, but her mind was miles away counting down the hours until she faced Adrian’s court. The weight of the coming storm pressed on her chest, making her breaths shallow and thoughts jagged. The scent of fresh bread mingled with the sharp tang of fear and anticipation. She wiped her sweaty palms on her apron, fighting the urge to run her hands through her hair in frustration. Her wolf prowled beneath her skin, restless, whispering. She ignored it. Or tried to. The door creaked softly. Evelyn didn’t need to look up to know who it was. Damon. He filled the doorway like a shadow stretching into her safe little world. Dark. Steady. Unshakable. Yet his presence never felt oppressive, it was the quiet weight of a storm, inevitable and strangely comforting. His eyes found hers immediately. They al

Crisp morning air sharp with frost, hit her hard when Evelyn stepped out of the bakery. Her breath curled white, like dragons breath as she adjusted Brina’s scarf, pulling it tighter around the girl’s small shoulders. “Too tight,” Brina murmured. “You’ll thank me later,” Evelyn replied, smoothing a stray strand of hair from her pale cheek the same way she used to with Sophia. Kael and Damon stood by the edge of the village, silent as statues. Kael’s gray eyes swept the treeline, always searching, always calculating. Damon’s gaze, however, was fixed on Evelyn. She hated how steady it felt, like a string in her chest pulling tight every time he looked at her. They set out as the first light of dawn spread across the hills. Evelyn walked beside Brina’s small horse, Kael taking point, Damon following silently at the rear. The woods swallowed them quickly, the air growing colder, heavier. Brina rode quietly, her hands fidgeting in her lap. Occasionally she whispered to herself, sof