All Chapters of BETRAYED BY HER BLOOD, CLAIMED BY THE NIGHT: Chapter 181 - Chapter 190

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"You think a few blooming flowers and a bit of starlight make this a sanctuary, Elder? To me, it just looks like another cage with different bars," Sofia said, her voice raspy but sharp enough to cut through the heavy, perfumed air of the clearing. She stood tall, despite the violet-tinged sapphire blood still weeping from the punctures on her arms. Her amber eyes remained locked on the wooden mask of the ancient entity."It is a sanctuary for those who understand their place in the cycle," the Elder Fae replied, the sound of its voice like tectonic plates grinding deep beneath the earth. "You, Sofia, are a fracture in that cycle. You are a bridge built of stolen power and human desperation. I am offering to heal the break. I am offering you eternity.""Eternity is just a long time to watch the people I love turn to dust from behind a wall of trees," Sofia spat, her knuckles white as she clenched her fists. "I didn't break out of a vat just to become a d

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"Move the next group forward, Jax! I don't care if they’re too weak to stand, drag the cots if you have to!" Sofia’s voice was hoarse, a jagged rasp that barely carried over the low, miserable moaning of the makeshift infirmary. She stood in the center of the Abribi District’s central plaza, which had been converted into a field hospital. The air was thick with the smell of ozone, antiseptic, and the sweet, cloying scent of the Gray Rot."They’re terrified of you, Sofia. They see that emerald light on your palm and they think it’s just a different kind of poison," Jax replied, his face grim as he guided a line of trembling refugees toward her. He was covered in soot, his sapphire-coated blade sheathed but his hand never far from the hilt. "The rumors from the Forbidden Forest are spreading faster than the cure. They say you made a deal with the wood-devils.""Let them talk. As long as they keep breathing, they can call me whatever they want," Sofia snapp

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"Don't touch me! Nomo, get back, the resonance is unstable—you’ll shatter just like I am!" Sofia’s voice was a frantic, crystalline chime, echoing with the sound of vibrating glass. She stood in the center of the Abribi Plaza, her arms still outstretched toward the thinning black clouds, but her body was failing. The blue cracks across her skin were widening, leaking a thick, ethereal violet mist that pooled around her feet like smoke."I’m not letting go, Sofia! If you break, I break with you!" Nomo screamed, his boots skidding on the silver-slicked stone as he fought to keep his grip on her waist. His hands were glowing with the emerald warmth of the forest's gift, but even that ancient magic was buckling under the sheer kinetic pressure of the sapphire umbrella. "Zilo! Jax! Do something! She’s coming apart!""I can't shut it down! The feedback loop has gone autonomous!" Zilo’s voice came from the clock tower, cracking with a helpless, high-pitched ter

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"If you don’t stop vibrating, Nomo, you’re going to set off the internal sensors before we even reach the airlock," Sofia whispered, her voice tight with a tension that felt like piano wire stretched to the snapping point. She was crouched in the shadow of a jagged piece of hull plating, her sapphire-cracked hand pressed hard against the cold, silver metal of the Seraph’s Sorrow. The flagship lay like a wounded beast across the ruins of the plaza, but even in its broken state, it hummed with a terrifying, predatory energy."It’s not me vibrating, Sofia. It’s the ship. It’s hungry," Nomo replied, his fingers white-knuckled around the grip of his pulse rifle. He was kneeling right behind her, his breath coming in short, shallow hitches. The violet spark in his eyes was erratic, reacting to the massive psychic weight leaking from the Soul-Gem deeper within the vessel. "Zilo, tell me you’ve got the mag-locks bypassed. We’re sitting ducks out here in the open

(SOFIA QUISPE’S POINT OF VIEW)"Run, Nomo! If you don’t move now, you’re going to be part of the scrap heap when this hull hits the ground!" Sofia screamed, her voice barely audible over the groaning of the Seraph’s Sorrow. The ship was dying. Without the Soul-Gem, the internal gravity had failed, and they were stumbling through a corridor that was tilting at a forty-five-degree angle toward the snowy abyss below."I’m not leaving without you! Grab my hand!" Nomo yelled back, his boots sliding against the silver-plated floor. He was clinging to a hydraulic pipe, reaching out as the flagship lurched violently to the left. A secondary explosion rocked the prow, and a wall of golden fire raced toward them from the core."The airlock is gone, Sofia! We have to use the breach in the cargo bay!" Zilo’s voice crackled through the static in Sofia’s ear, high-pitched and frantic. "I’m already at the edge! Jax is holding the line, but the ship is breaking in half! Jump or burn, there are no oth