Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 31 - Chapitre 40

Lyra’s POVThe forest was quiet when we left the dungeon behind. Smoke still hung in the air from the melted chains and the scent of burned metal clung to Kael’s jacket. He didn’t speak as we followed the faint trail of blood leading into the trees. The moon was high, pale and sharp, lighting every branch and root in silver.Cassian and two wolves trailed behind us, but Kael waved them off when the trail turned north. “Stay with the patrol line,” he ordered. They obeyed without a word. Whatever waited ahead wasn’t meant for anyone else.The path curved through the trees until we reached a clearing. The ground was blackened and in the center, carved into the soil, was a glowing mark. It looked almost identical to the one on my shoulder, spiraling gold lines edged with black veins, alive and pulsing faintly.Kael crouched beside it. “This wasn’t here before.”“It’s her,” I said quietly. “Eira did this.”He brushed his fingers near the edge of the rune, but the moment his skin came close,

Lyra’s POVThe northern forest was colder than I remembered. The air was thin, touched with ash and every sound felt stretched and wrong. Kael walked ahead of me, his steps steady but slower than usual. The mark on his chest glowed faintly through his torn shirt and I could feel the pulse of it echoing under my own skin.The bond made it impossible to ignore him, even when silence pressed between us.We had been running and walking since dawn. The trees grew taller and the shadows denser the farther north we went. The path was littered with old bones and broken symbols that dictate witches’ charms, torn banners and the faint scent of vampire blood. The forest wasn’t just dying. It was being consumed.Kael stopped suddenly and he crouched near a fallen trunk where a sigil had been burned into the bark, the same circular rune Eira had used in the dungeon. “They’ve been here,” he said quietly.I stepped closer, studying the symbol. “And not just that, they’re moving fast.” He nodded, his

Lyra’s POV.The world went silent after the altar broke. For a heartbeat, it felt like time stopped. The stones that once held the seer’s markings split apart and the air itself trembled. Smoke and light rose from the crack in the earth, twisting together until they became a shape, not shadow and not flame, but both.Kael stood in front of me, blood streaking his jaw, his chest still glowing from the wound that refused to close. Cyril’s body lay motionless near the altar, but his last spell lingered like poison in the air and then the Hollow rose.It wasn’t a beast, not really, but it was ancient and vast, with eyes that looked like they remembered every sin ever committed under a moon. Its form rippled, half-wolf, half-human, and sometimes something worse. When it spoke, the sound came from everywhere at once: the air, the ground and my pulse.“You were never my cages,” it said. “You were my halves.” The voice crawled under my skin, deep and cold. I staggered backward, clutching the

Lyra's POV.His mouth trailed lower, nipping at my collarbone, then capturing a nipple through the fabric. I arched into him, my hands tangling in his dark hair. The bond hummed, amplifying every sensation: the heat of his body, the roughness of his calluses and the way his hardness pressed against my thigh.I tugged at his pants, freeing him with my fingers, wrapping around his length. He groaned, thrusting into my hand as I stroked him, slow and deliberate."Lyra..." His voice was a plea, raw with need. He pushed my legs apart, his fingers dipping between my thighs, finding me wet and ready. He circled my clit with expert precision, drawing moans from my lips until I was writhing beneath him."Please," I begged, guiding him to my entrance. He entered me in one smooth thrust, filling me completely. The bond flared, pleasure exploding like stars behind my eyes."Fuck me," I panted, rocking back against him. "Fuck me hard."Kael needed no further encouragement, setting a brutal pace as

Kael’s POVThe rift's collapse echoed like a dying thunder, the elders' primordial energy sealing the portal with a final and resounding crack that vibrated through my bones.The battlefield fell into stunned silence, the air thick with the acrid scent of scorched earth and spilled blood. Lyra lay crumpled in the dirt, her abdomen no longer glowing with that terrifying urgency.The heir's surge was halted, for now, by the ancients' intervention. One of them, the lupine giant, had extended a tendril of iridescent force, weaving a temporary ward around her and binding the child's essence back into dormancy."It sleeps," the elder rumbled, its voice like grinding gravel. "But the fracture remains. Guard it well."I scooped Lyra into my arms, her weight slight against my chest and her breathing shallow but steady. The bond pulsed between us, a lifeline amid the wreckage.Selene, her form fully mortal now, the Seer's light extinguished, collapsed nearby, supported by a few surviving Vale w