บททั้งหมดของ The Witch's Demon Mate: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

They hadn’t gone far. The world beyond the Gate was cold, quiet — too quiet. A hollow wind whispered through the ruins of the structure they’d escaped from, carrying the scent of scorched stone and old magic.Kael crouched low on a ridge of black shale, shadows wrapping around his form like armor. Aria knelt beside him, every breath measured, eyes locked on the scene below.Below them, the Covenant had arrived.Dozens of Inquisitors moved in silence — their armor whispering as they swept through the burnt remains of the clearing. Lanterns of pale green flame floated around them, each light revealing the devastation they’d left behind: the warped sigil stones, the ashes of what had once been wards, and bodies. Too many of them.“Kael…” Aria’s voice was barely a whisper. “They’re right there.”He didn’t answer immediately. His gaze was fixed on the figure at the center of the ruins — tall, composed, with silver-white hair that shimmered like frostfire. Her presence was stillness and con

The wind over the Iron Ravine carried the stench of burned magic—sweet, metallic, and wrong. It clung to everything: the stone, the air, even the breath of those who dared to stand near its edge.Selene reined her horse to a halt at the precipice, cloak snapping behind her like a banner torn from the heavens. The Ravine yawned before her—a canyon of black rock split by glowing seams of molten ore that pulsed with a slow, steady heartbeat. She could feel the echo of them below, the residue of fire and shadow twined too tightly to separate.“They passed through here,” murmured Inquisitor Varen, crouching low beside a patch of scorched ground. His glove brushed the ash, and a brief flare of crimson light sparked beneath his fingertips before fading. “Hours at most. The trail’s still warm.”Selene dismounted, boots crunching over the charred soil. The world here was quiet except for the distant groan of the earth shifting far below. She knelt, touching her fingers to a line of burned sigi

The air above the Iron Ravine shimmered with the residue of broken magic — the faint perfume of ash, ozone, and shadowfire. Selene stood at the center of it, boots sinking into dust, her silver eyes reflecting the dying glow of sigils burned into the earth.“They were here,” she said quietly.The Inquisitors behind her bowed their heads. One of them dared to speak. “But the echoes—”“—are false,” Selene finished for him, her tone like a blade sliding back into its sheath. “Illusions. Ghost trails. They’ve learned to hide their resonance.”She crouched, brushing her gloved fingers over a faint scorch mark on the stone. The residue of Kael’s flame pulsed faintly beneath her touch — warm still, though already fading. “He’s feeding her strength,” she murmured. “That’s new.”Around her, the air whispered with the voices of her coven soldiers. Reports of sightings. Weak signatures. Fading trails.Selene ignored them all. Her attention was fixed on the faint trace of the bond — a pulse burie

The crystal mirrors shattered at once. Glass rained down across the ritual chamber, scattering light and blood in equal measure. Selene staggered forward, a scream clawing up her throat as raw power lashed back through the scrying circle. The silver in her veins burned, flaring white under her skin. “High Priestess!” one of the Inquisitors rushed to her side, but Selene struck him away with a flick of her wrist. The backlash had left her trembling, eyes glowing like twin moons, pupils reduced to slits. She inhaled once. Twice. Slow and sharp. “They pushed me out,” she said, voice trembling with both awe and fury. The words tasted like acid. “He—she—merged their magic.” The chamber fell silent. The remaining mirrors reflected her fractured image — dozens of Selene faces staring back, each one burning with the same controlled rage. Another Inquisitor, older and cautious, spoke carefully. “You mean the witch… survived the full connection?” Selene’s laugh was low and dange

The Mistwood Vale stretched endlessly before them—mile after mile of shadowed fog, shifting like something alive. Every step felt heavier here, every breath a test. The mist clung to their skin like silk and smoke, whispering echoes that didn’t belong to either of them.Kael’s hand stayed near hers but didn’t touch. “The mist listens,” he said quietly, voice a low rumble against the silence. “It feeds on thought, on sound. Stay focused on your heartbeat. Nothing else.”Aria nodded, her pulse steadying beneath his words. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched—not by eyes, but by memory. Selene’s whisper still lingered in the corners of her mind, faint but sharp as frost.“Kael,” she said softly, “if she can reach me through the bond, then how do I stop her?”He stopped walking. The fog swirled between them, parting just enough for her to see his face. “You don’t stop her,” he said. “You shield her out.”Aria frowned. “And how do I do that?”He moved closer, lifting his