All Chapters of THE VEILED BRIDE : Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

138 Chapters

WELCOME TO THE SHADOW WORLD

CATHERINEI moved through the corridors so quickly the guards struggled to keep pace behind me, their boots slapping against stone as they scrambled to catch up."Open the door." It slammed against the wall, swinging hard on its hinges.Empty. My eyes went straight to the restraints. Nothing. No Kiva. No Tamara. Just the pole standing alone in the centre of the room, broken and abandoned, splinters scattered across the floor. For one second, I simply stared, unable to process what I was seeing.Impossible. The collars I'd placed around their necks were designed to drain their magic completely, to leave them helpless. There was no way either of them should have been capable of breaking free on their own.Then I heard it."Hey, bitch."I froze in place.A laugh followed, sharp and familiar."You miss us?"I turned slowly. Tamara stepped out from the shadows, her expression daring me to react.She grinned.Then she shoved me hard.I stumbled backward, catching myself against the doorfram

THE SHADOW WORLD

KIVAThe first thing I noticed was the silence.The Northern Gates had silence too, the kind that settled over the forest at night when the wind finally died down and even the wolves seemed to understand that some moments were better left undisturbed. But this was different. There was no wind here. No insects. No birds. No sound of anything living at all. Just darkness, thick and total, pressing in from every direction.I opened my eyes slowly.Black mist curled around my body, drifting low over the ground like smoke that had forgotten how to rise. For a moment I couldn't remember where I was or how I'd gotten there. Then I felt the hand still wrapped tightly around mine.Tamara.She was lying beside me, her breathing shallow and uneven. I pushed myself up immediately, my hand still holding hers."Tamara."She groaned, not moving."Give me a second.""You said that before we fell.""I know." She cracked one eye open, squinting up at me. "Still working on it." I looked around properly

I AM YOU

KIVASomething was wrong. I knew it before I even opened my eyes. The silence had changed shape. A moment ago I'd been standing in the Shadow World with Tamara and Catherine. I remembered Tamara's hand wrapped around mine. I remembered Catherine's warning. I remembered the darkness moving somewhere between the trees, coming closer.But now there was nothing.I opened my eyes."Tamara?"My voice disappeared into the dark without so much as an echo. No answer came back.I turned in a slow circle."Catherine?"Still nothing.My heart started beating faster, a steady thud climbing in my ears. I stepped forward carefully, my eyes adjusting to the gloom, and realized the forest was gone. The twisted trees, the black mist curling low over the ground, the strange silver cracks running through the sky, all of it had vanished without a trace. I was standing somewhere else entirely. Somewhere that felt familiar in a way that made my skin crawl. The Northern Gates. But not the Northern Gates I kn

THE OTHER TAMARA

TAMARAI woke up laughing. I didn't know why. That was the first problem. The second was that I couldn't remember what I'd been laughing at in the first place. I sat up slowly, blinking against the dark."Okay." I looked around. "That's creepy." Nothing answered. I was alone, completely alone. No Kiva. No Catherine. No black forest with its twisted trees. No strange creature hiding somewhere between them, waiting. Just me, and darkness stretching out in every direction."Great."I got to my feet."Where the hell did everyone go?" My voice echoed back at me, hollow and strange. I waited for something, anything. Nothing came."Okay." I put my hands on my hips. "Not funny anymore." Still nothing. I took a few steps forward. The ground beneath my feet looked like black glass, smooth and reflective, and my own reflection followed along beside me. I stopped walking. It stopped too. I moved again. It moved with me, matching every step.I frowned down at it. "You're starting to piss me off."

WOUNDS ONLY HURT WHEN YOU ARE SCARED OF THEM

CATHERINEI opened my eyes, and I knew immediately what this was.The darkness. The silence. That strange emptiness that seemed to stretch out forever in every direction with nothing to mark its edges. The Shadow World.Except there was no Kiva here. No Tamara. No trees, no ground beneath me that I could feel. Nothing at all.Just me.I looked around slowly, taking my time with it."So this is your little game."My voice echoed off nothing and came back to me distorted. Nothing answered.I smiled anyway."Fine."I waited. A few seconds passed in complete stillness. Then I heard footsteps, slow and deliberate, coming from somewhere I couldn't quite place.I turned toward the sound. And there she was. Me. My own younger face staring back at me, my eyes, my hair, the same face I'd worn long before the years had sharpened every soft edge off it. Before disappointment had carved itself into every part of me. Before Ynnefer. Before Axel. Before the Northern Gates. Before I'd learned that lo

LET ME IN

TAMARAI was still standing there. Alone, or at least I thought I was. The darkness around me had gone strangely quiet. Too quiet. I could still hear the remnants of my own breathing, ragged in my ears, but everything else had vanished completely. No Kiva. No Catherine. No voices. No footsteps. Nothing at all. I looked around slowly."Okay." I rubbed the back of my neck. "This is getting old."Nothing answered. I took a step forward, and the black surface beneath my feet rippled like water. I stopped. Another ripple moved across it, then another, spreading out from where I stood.I frowned down at it."Seriously?" A voice whispered from somewhere behind me."Tamara."I spun around. Nothing there.I narrowed my eyes at the empty dark."Who's there?""Tamara." The voice came again, this time from my left. I spun that direction too. Still nothing. Then from behind me."Tamara."Then my right."Tamara."I clenched my fists, my patience running thin."Come out."Silence answered me, thick

THE WHITE ALPHA

KIVA"Kiva."I lifted my head. Tamara stood several feet away from me, and for one terrifying second, I almost smiled."Tamara." She didn't answer. She just stared at me, her head tilted slightly to one side, dark hair sliding over her shoulder, and something about the stillness in her body felt horribly wrong. Then she smiled, and my stomach dropped straight through the floor. That wasn't my sister's smile."Tamara?" She took one step forward. The ground cracked beneath her foot. I froze in place. Another step, and the darkness around her moved with her, not following her like a shadow should, but pouring off of her like it belonged to her. Black veins of energy crawled up her arms and vanished beneath her skin. Her eyes had gone completely black, and the air around her seemed to bend with every breath she took."Tamara..."Her head snapped upward. Then she disappeared.I barely had time to react before she slammed into me. Her fist connected with my stomach, and the air exploded out

THE RULES OF THE GAME HAS CHANGED

KIVA.Tamara was barely breathing. That was the only thing I could see. Everything else had disappeared, the darkness, the Shadow World, Catherine, even the blood still running down my face. None of it mattered right now. My sister was lying on the ground behind me, completely unconscious, her body still trembling from whatever that thing had done to her.I crouched beside her."Tamara."Nothing.I touched her cheek. Cold. Too cold.My heart clenched painfully."Come on, babe." I shook her gently. "Open your eyes."Nothing happened. I looked down at her, and for a moment fear threatened to swallow everything inside me whole. Then something strange happened. The white light around my body pulsed once, twice, and suddenly I knew what to do.I didn't know how I knew. I simply did.I placed my palm flat against the ground."Protect her." The words left my mouth before I'd even fully thought them. White light spread out beneath my hand, and a circle appeared around Tamara. Then another cir

WHAT ARE YOU?

KIVA.Catherine raised her hand, and the entire world seemed to answer her the instant her fingers lifted, thousands of black tendrils erupting out of the cracked ground all at once and tearing straight toward me like they had a hunger of their own. I didn't move, even though every instinct screamed at me to. I lifted my hand instead, calm on the outside even as my heart slammed against my ribs, and white light exploded from my palm in a wave that met every single one of them halfway. The tendrils disintegrated before a single one could so much as brush against my skin, dissolving into nothing the way smoke dissolves into open air.Catherine smiled at that, slow and unbothered, like she'd expected exactly this outcome and was pleased to have it confirmed."Good."I narrowed my eyes at her, refusing to let the small victory show on my face."That's all you've got?"She laughed, low and delighted, the sound curling through the ruined air between us like it belonged there."Oh, sweethear

THIS IS MY SACRIFICE

KIVAI walked toward her calmly, unhurried now in a way that mirrored how she'd walked toward me only minutes before."Enough." She tried another spell, her hands shaking as she formed it. I raised one hand in response, and it disappeared before it could even take shape.Catherine stepped backward, real fear finally showing on her face."No."I kept walking toward her, closing the distance one steady step at a time."You've had your fun."She attacked one final time, desperate now, and I caught her wrist mid-strike without any real effort. Her eyes went wide with disbelief."Let me go.""No."She tried to pull away from me, twisting hard. I tightened my grip instead, and the white light around my fingers burned straight through the darkness clinging to her skin."You hurt my sister."Her expression changed at that, fear finally breaking all the way through whatever composure she'd had left."You brought us here." I grabbed her other wrist too, holding her fully now. "You tried to use

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