Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

EmberWe walked in a line of uncertain purpose, the torchlight flickering along the narrow passage like it breathed. Seren was at the front, drifting more than walking, as if pulled by something older than this world.“She sure we’re not walking into a trap?” Bram muttered behind me, the clink of his gear echoing in the tight corridor. “Because this feels trap-adjacent.”“She said she saw it in a dream,” Corin replied dryly, ever the grounded one. “That’s about as solid a lead as we get with her.”Seren suddenly stopped, her wide eyes glowing faintly in the eerie blue cast of the runes. She turned slowly toward us, her voice feather-light.“It’s here. We’re standing on the bones of prophecy.”Orion’s fingers brushed the hilt of his blade instinctively, though his voice held his signature smirk. “Well, that doesn’t sound like the start of a horror story at all. Definitely not where someone loses an eye.”Caelan exhaled tightly, glaring sideways at Orion. “Do you ever take anything seri

EmberThe Velvet Coil had always felt like a place of carefully curated chaos. Velvet drapes in blood-wine hues, candlelight that flickered with more than just flame, and music that whispered like sin through the walls. But tonight, it felt heavier. Like the shadows were listening.We sat around a circular table in one of Lazriel’s private lounges, tucked behind a curtain embroidered with golden serpents. Bram was already fiddling with some sort of glass orb he claimed was a “controlled combustion charm,” which did not ease my anxiety. Corin stood, arms folded across her chest, watching the door like it might betray us. Seren had curled herself onto a pile of plush cushions, barefoot and humming softly to herself. Orion, of course, leaned casually against the wall near me, flipping a dagger between his fingers with that maddening smirk he wore like armor. The air was heavy with something no one wanted to put into words.“I’m going to say it,” Caelan announced from across the table, ar

BastionTime doesn’t move here. It loops. The chamber breathes, walls pulsing faintly like something alive, shadows stretching and recoiling as if listening. I had stopped counting the days, or nights, or whatever passed for mercy in this place. I sat on the stone floor, wrists free but useless. Sariyah didn’t need chains anymore. She never did.“Still waiting?” her voice asked softly.I didn’t look up. “I told you,” I muttered. “I won’t kneel.”A shadow brushed my cheek, almost tender.“Oh, Bastion,” she sighed. “You never listen. I don’t want you to kneel.” The air shifted. The chamber dissolved. Suddenly I was standing in Crescent Falls. It was no longer on fire, it was once again whole, unbroken and alive. The scent hit me first, smoke and rain and something warm almost familiar. It was Ember. I turned, and there she was, laughing. Her hair was longer than I remembered, darker at the edges like it had been kissed by flame too many times. She stood close to him. Orion. My chest tig

EmberMorning doesn’t arrive so much as it intrudes. Gray light bleeds through the high windows of the Velvet Coil, catching on steel and leather and quiet determination. No one speaks much. There’s no laughter now, no teasing. Just the sounds of armor being buckled, blades checked, straps pulled tight.Corin tightens the bindings on her gauntlets with sharp, efficient movements. Bram hums under his breath as he adjusts a pack far too heavy to be reasonable, judging by the faint clink of hidden explosives, it’s probably worse than it looks. Seren stands barefoot near the doorway, eyes closed, breathing in slow, measured rhythm like she’s listening to something none of us can hear. Caelan methodically checks maps one last time, jaw set, already ten steps ahead of the rest of us.Lazriel adjusts his coat, all velvet and shadow, looking like a king about to walk into a den of knives. Azrael leans against a pillar, arms crossed, watching us with a critical, unreadable gaze.Orion steps up

OrionThe bond is rotting. That’s the only way I can describe it. Like something beautiful being slowly drowned. Ember’s presence inside my chest flickers, distorts, slips out of reach no matter how hard I claw for her. I slam into the bars again. Shadow explodes from my hands, cracking stone, bending iron, but the cell holds. Of course it does. Sariyah never half-builds a cage.“Ember,” I snarl, dragging the name out of my throat like a prayer and a threat. “Don’t you dare listen to her.”The bond answers faintly but there is hesitation. The thought that she may be slipping away nearly breaks me. I turn on the cell like a caged animal, shadows lashing the walls, burning to get up, to get to her. I don’t care who I have to kill to reach her. I don’t care how many centuries I leave smoldering behind me.“She’s pulling her under,” I growl. “I can feel it. She’s making her doubt herself.”Caelan grips the bars across from me, jaw clenched so hard I can hear it grind. “Then we move. Now.