All Chapters of Ascend or Be Consumed: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

“The disk array—” I lifted it quickly, clumsy and desperate to revert the conversation back to it even though my cheeks felt hot from the heat. It pulsed in my hand as if listening to me. “I was thinking I could adjust its reach, so it could maybe take me outside of Blackcroft and anywhere in the Magical realm, but it risks destabilizing the core runes. Do you… think Dominic could really help refine it?” His dark intense gaze was fixed on my face but he didn't seem like he was listening. “Lucan,” I called out to him sharply. He jerked. The shadows in his eyes didn’t vanish, but they cooled—barely. “Do you think Dominic could help refine it?” I asked again since he seemed not to have heard me before. Lucan exhaled slowly through his nose. His dark, intense gaze flicked from me to the array like I’d just thrown him a lifeline. “You’re reckless,” he muttered, his voice now deeper and taut. “But yes. Dominic is the only one who might help you perfect it. You’d need it for the

The flashes came quick and sharp like lightning. Yet I knew the upriser’s face from those visions as surely as if I’d lived it. She was beautiful, radiant, and undeniably powerful but she was not half-fae like me. I became very curious about her. Who was she, really? How had she become the Circle’s mate? What made her rise against them? And why had she been erased from history, when her power was clearly unmatched? Why did they always shut me out when I asked about her? My thirst burned, pulling me out of my thoughts. I felt too thirsty to be engrossed by someone I had been in the past. I crouched by the stream, its silver glow shimmering faintly under the moonlight. It looked alive, and humming softly When I listened closer, I heard it whispering my name. But not the name I knew. “Maureen… Maureen…” I shivered as the syllables grew clearer, slipping into my bones. Confused, I asked my wolf, ‘Is that not your name?’ ‘Yes,’ she murmured, ‘but I’m not sur

The jog was the longest I had ever endured. My lungs burned with the effort to keep moving and my calves screamed like engines pushed past their limit, grinding toward failure. Still, High Chancellor Veylor’s voice snapped through the darkness. “Keep up.” I pushed harder, forcing one foot in front of the other. “You slow down, you prove me right,” he called back without even looking at me. “Fragile. Weak. A waste I should’ve never let into Blackcroft.” “I’m not that weak,” I hissed through clenched teeth, though my chest felt like it was tearing apart. The atmosphere was chilly yet I was drenched in my sweat. “Then prove it,” he barked. His pace never faltered. He jogged at an effortless pace compared to my stumbling strides. “Don’t embarrass me.” The words hit deeper than they should have, stoking a deep ache in my heart. I frowned at his back. Who was he that I mustn't embarrass? I wanted to scream, to curse him, but instead I swallowed the taste of blood and kept runn

Inside the box lay thousands of Black Stones, piled high, gleaming like obsidian stars. “What…?” I whispered, staring at the impossible wealth before my eyes. I blinked hard. “Is this for me?” Lucan nodded and I gasped. “Really?” I could barely contain my joy as he continued. “The money is from Lithi. Payment to balance the deal for your creation.” The memory hit me sharply. I remembered our bargain, the trap I had made, and the subsequent sale. My chest tightened. Veylor’s sharp intake of breath cut the air. His blue piercing eyes narrowed, thunder rolling in their depths. “You sold one of your creations?” His voice struck like a whip. “You will not do so again.” The rebuke stung. My mouth moved before I could stop it. “If not… how else am I supposed to make money?” Veylor’s gaze darkened, he stepped forward, pressing a small iron key into my palm. The metal was cold and piercing just like his eyes. “All the Black Stones, and rarer still, are in my vault. Spen

Lucan didn’t leave my bed for the rest of the weekend. He stayed. He fucked me until I had no voice left to beg, no strength left to resist, no thought left but him. And when my body gave out, when I couldn’t move another inch, he’d wrap himself around me and let me collapse into deep slumber. Every time I thought I’d finally get to breathe, I’d wake to his mouth on my nipples and his fingers stirring inside me as his dark eyes devoured me in the dim glow of dawn or the silence of midnight. He didn’t stop touching me. He didn’t let me forget for a single heartbeat that he was here. Throughout his stay, I didn't dream about Eryx at all. By the time Sunday bled into Monday, I didn’t know if I was sore from exhaustion, or from the sheer impossibility of keeping up with him. I felt claimed, refined, altered in ways I couldn’t name. By Monday morning, my body felt like it had been broken down and rebuilt a dozen times over. I was sore in places I hadn’t even known existed, my ski