All Chapters of BETRAYED BY HER BLOOD, CLAIMED BY THE NIGHT: Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"Do you want me to hang him now, Sofia, or do we really have to go through the theater of asking him why he’s covered in a Councilor’s blood?" Jax’s voice was like grinding gravel, cutting through the frigid air of the makeshift tribunal. He was standing at the edge of the elevated dais in the Great Hall, his hand resting heavily on the pommel of his sword. Outside, the roar of the Abribi mob was a rhythmic, terrifying pulse against the stone walls."He gets a trial, Jax. That is what a 'Free Zone' means. It means we don't become the Queen just because the weather turned cold," Sofia replied, her voice steady despite the way her heart was battering against her ribs. She sat in a chair that was too large for her, draped in a heavy pilot's jacket that smelled of Nomo’s tobacco and old grease. The silver scar on her chest felt like a hot wire, pulsing in time with the agitation of the crowd."The people don't want a trial, Sofia! They want warmth, and since

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"How long were you planning to stand there and let me believe you were him? Was it the way I looked at you, or did you just enjoy the taste of the tea I made for a dead man?" Sofia’s voice was a jagged blade of ice, echoing through the ribbed obsidian corridors of the High Citadel. She didn't wait for an answer. Her hand snapped upward, and a bolt of liquid sapphire light hissed through the air, shattering a decorative crystal vase inches from the imposter’s head."Sofia, stop! You’re confused, the cold has gotten into your head!" the thing wearing Nomo’s face shouted, stumbling back against the wall. He looked perfect. He had the same slight smudge of engine grease on his jawline, the same fraying thread on his flight jacket, and the same desperate, protective wide-eyed look that had always made Sofia’s heart soften. "It’s me! It’s Nomo! I was at the reservoirs, I just got back!""The real Nomo doesn't use his left hand to wipe his brow when he’s nervou

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"Look at me, Nomo! Don’t you dare look at those mirrors! They are showing you a version of me that died the moment I chose you over that throne!" Sofia’s voice was a desperate scream, echoing through the distorted, violet-stained air of the Shattered Realm. She grabbed Nomo by the collar of his shredded flight jacket, her knuckles white, her fingers trembling as they brushed against the cold, sapphire-jade scales beginning to creep up his neck."I can't... Sofia, it’s all so loud. The Sovereign... she’s telling me that your love is just another form of gravity. A way to keep me pinned under your heel so I can’t fly away from your shadow," Nomo groaned, his eyes flickering between a terrified amber and a hollow, mercury silver. He was fighting the very air he breathed, his lungs rattling with the metallic taste of the Mirror Realm. "Every time I look at you, I see the iron. I see the vats. I see the girl who could rewrite the world with a snap of her fing

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"How many more of us have to die screaming at their own reflections before we admit that steel doesn't work against a nightmare made of light, Jax?" Sofia’s voice was a whip-crack in the freezing air of the staging grounds. She stood atop a pile of rubble that had once been a neighborhood gate, her eyes fixed on the High-Sector. The palace was no longer stone; it was a jagged, pulsing needle of silver glass that pierced the bruised violet sky."We use what we have, Sofia! If a sword doesn't work, we use two! If that fails, we use the fire!" Jax shouted back, his voice thick with the desperation of a man who had lost half his battalion to shadows in the last hour. He was wiping thick, silver dust from his visor, his hands trembling. "The men are losing their minds. They look into a puddle and see their dead mothers reaching for their throats. You want me to lead a charge into a palace that literally eats our resolve for breakfast?""I want you to lead a c

(ZILO’S POINT OF VIEW)"The pressure is spiking, Nomo! If you don't break the connection now, your heart is going to burst from the feedback!" Zilo screamed, his hands hovering over the makeshift transfusion valves as sparks showered from his diagnostic tablet. The air around the three of them was thick with a violet static that made the hair on his arms stand on end."I’m not letting go, Zilo! Keep it open! She’s breathing again, can’t you see that?" Nomo roared, though his voice was barely a rasp. His face was the color of ash, his veins standing out like black ink against his skin as the sapphire light of Sofia’s blood fought for dominance against his own human red."Her resonance is absorbing you! It’s not a transfusion anymore, it’s a predatory bond! You’re becoming an anchor for a storm you can’t survive!" Zilo fumbled with a pressure gauge, his eyes wide with terror. The tubing connecting the two was no longer clear plastic; it was a glowing, translucent purple conduit that thr