All Chapters of Marked By The Tribrid King: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

POV: Aria MonroeLuna didn’t wake.Not fully.Her body remained warm, her breath steady, but her eyes stayed closed—glowing faintly beneath her lids. Aria sat beside her, stroking her hair, whispering lullabies she hadn’t sung in years.“She’s dreaming,” Kaelion said.Aria looked up. “Of what?”His voice was low. “Of the queen.”—The Grove showed them again.This time, the vision was sharper.Aria stood in a field of stars.The queen appeared—older now, her eyes hollow, her crown cracked.“You’ve bonded,” she said.Aria nodded. “I chose balance.”The queen smiled. “Then you must face me.”Aria frowned. “You’re dead.”The queen’s voice trembled. “So was the realm.”—Aria woke with a gasp.Luna stirred.Her eyes opened—glowing, pulsing, ancient.“I saw her,” Luna whispered.Aria brushed her cheek. “The queen?”Luna nodded. “She’s waiting.”Kaelion knelt beside them.“She’s echoing through Luna,” he said.Aria’s voice cracked. “What does she want?”Kaelion’s gaze darkened. “To return.”

POV: Aria MonroeThe Grove was no longer a sanctuary.It had become a crucible.The silverleaf canopy shimmered with tension. The ley lines beneath Aria’s feet pulsed too fast, too loud. The air felt charged—like the forest itself was bracing for impact.The council had returned.Elders from the vampire enclaves. Alpha emissaries from the northern packs. Cloaked seers from the witch sanctuaries. All drawn by the bond. All summoned by Kaelion’s call.Aria stood beside him, her mark still fresh, her body still humming from the ritual. Luna sat quietly behind them, her eyes half-lidded, glowing with a light that belonged to no single species.“She’s the echo,” one elder whispered. “She’s the flame,” said another. “She’s the threat,” murmured a third.Kaelion’s voice cut through the tension. “She’s the future.”Lucien stepped forward.His mark pulsed with frostand fire—a fractured mirror of Kaelion’s. He wore no crown, but his presence was regal. Commanding. Dangerous.“She’s bonded,” he

POV: Aria MonroeThe Grove didn’t sleep.Not anymore.Since Lucien and Sera’s bond had been forged, the ley lines pulsed erratically. The trees whispered in languages older than blood. The altar, once cracked and dormant, now glowed with a soft, golden light that flickered like a heartbeat.Aria stood at the edge of the clearing, watching Luna sleep. Her daughter’s mark shimmered faintly beneath her skin, pulsing in rhythm with the Grove. It was no longer just a symbol—it was a beacon.“She’s changing,” Kaelion said, stepping beside her.Aria nodded. “I can feel it.”Kaelion’s gaze was steady. “She’s not just echoing the queen anymore. She’s becoming something else.”Aria’s voice cracked. “What if she becomes her?”Kaelion didn’t answer.—The rupture came at dawn.It started with a tremor—barely noticeable, like the Grove exhaling. Then the light shifted. The silver canopy turned gold. The moss beneath their feet began to steam.And Luna screamed.Aria ran to her, dropping to her knee

POV: Aria MonroeThe Grove didn’t erupt again.It held.Suspended in silence.The flames that had surged from Luna’s body now hovered—golden, violet, and crimson—threading through the ley lines like veins. The altar lay shattered, but the runes beneath it glowed brighter than ever. The divine figure remained, cloaked in light, watching.Aria stood beside Luna, her hand still clasped in her daughter’s. The spark pulsed between them, not just magic—but bond. Not just prophecy—but choice.“She’s chosen,” Kaelion said, rising to his feet.Lucien nodded. “But the Grove hasn’t.”—The divine figure stepped forward.Its voice was no longer distant.It was everywhere.“She carries the spark,” it said again.Aria’s voice was steady. “She carries herself.”The figure tilted its head. “Then let her prove it.”Luna stepped forward.Her mark flared.“I already did.”—A new circle formed.Not carved.Not summoned.Born.The ley lines twisted into a spiral, etched into the soil with light and shadow

POV: Aria MonroeThe Grove was quiet.Not burned.Not broken.Just resting.The silverleaf trees had begun to regrow, their branches reaching upward like hands toward the stars. The altar had sunk into the soil, replaced by a ring of soft moss and glowing runes. The ley lines pulsed gently beneath the earth—no longer erratic, but steady, like a heartbeat rediscovering its rhythm.But Aria wasn’t in the Grove.Not tonight.She stood at the edge of the lake beyond the southern ridge, where the water shimmered with moonlight and the air smelled of pine and frost. Luna slept nearby, curled beside Sera in a nest of blankets and firelight. Lucien kept watch from the shadows, his mark dim but alert.Kaelion approached quietly, his cloak trailing behind him.“You needed distance,” he said.Aria nodded. “I needed silence.”Kaelion sat beside her, close but not touching.“You’re afraid,” he said.Aria’s voice was low. “I’m changing.”Kaelion turned to her. “You’re becoming.”—She hadn’t told an