Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 31 - Chapitre 40

The staircase collapsed beneath our feet before anyone could react. Stone shattered with a deafening roar, and the floor vanished. I lunged for Betty, snatching her wrist just as she slipped into the void. Adrian seized my other arm, but the sheer downward drag Resisted even a wolf’s strength. My father’s shouted warning was swallowed by the rumble, and Lucian’s ruthless expression flashed across my mind just before darkness swept over us. We fell in a Stream of ancient debris and glowing symbols until a brutal impact slammed against my spine. I hit the cold stone hard. Before I could draw breath, Betty crashed on top of me; I wrapped my arms around her instinctively, absorbing the brunt of the collision as we tumbled across the floor. Feet away, Adrian scrambled upright, his eyes wildly scanning the dark. “Ryan!” he barked. “Betty!” Blood trickled from a fresh gash above his brow. Farther back, my father groaned, struggling to push himself up from the stone. Lucian was nowhere in

The words echoed through the chamber long after the Throne fell silent. Now, the Throne had to choose its prisoner. My entire body went cold. The chains around Adrian and my father snapped taut, forcing them both to their knees. Betty grabbed my arm as another chain slithered across the floor toward us. I raised my palm, bursting silver energy into the stone and freezing the link inches from her boots. It didn't break. It suspended there, coiling in the air like a snake poised to strike. "Don't fight it," the king warned, watching me with calculating eyes. I rounded on him. "You expect me to listen to you?" "No," he said flatly. "I tell you because I know what happens when the Throne is resisted." My father thrusted against the binding on his leg. "Ryan, don't listen to him! He’s trying to break your resolve." "I'm trying to keep him alive," the king snapped. "You've never cared about anyone's life." "That's where you're wrong." The king’s gaze drifted toward the void of the

The moment the heavy stone door sealed behind Ryan, the sound of the outside world died instantly. No Cael, No father, No ancient chamber echoing with past mistakes Only suffocating darkness. Ryan stood rigid, slowing his breath as his senses scrambled to map the pitch-black space. Beside him, Betty shifted silently. On his other side, Adrian pressed a hand flat against his own chest, his breathing ragged. Then, a low tremor rolled through the dark. Ryan’s head snapped up. A heartbeat. Heavy, slow, and impossibly deep. And it wasn't coming from any of them. “Do you hear that?” Betty whispered, her voice barely cutting through the silence. Ryan nodded, unable to tear his gaze from the dark ahead. Adrian’s face had drained of color. “I’ve heard it before,” he murmured. Ryan turned to him instantly. “Where?” “Inside my dreams.” Before Ryan could press further, a sudden bloom of silver light cut through the gloom. A figure stepped from the radiance. Ryan’s enti

The voice bled through the stone from beneath the floor. Bring me the Shadow heir. Ryan instantly stepped in front of Betty, interposing himself between her and the spiderweb of cracks spreading across the floor. Silver light flickered in his eyes as his wolf surged to the surface, growling at the unseen threat. “You’re not taking her.” The darkness beneath the floor pulsed like a heavy heartbeat. You have no authority here, vessel. Ryan’s hands curled into tight fists. “Then crawl out and say that to my face.” “Ryan, don’t!” Adrian seized his shoulder, shoving him backward just as a silver bolt shot from the fissure and slammed into the far wall. Stone exploded across the chamber. Adrian hurled himself sideways, shielding Betty with his body as sharp fragments showered around them. For several breathless seconds, the chamber fell dead silent. Then Betty stepped out from behind Adrian. “Why does it want me?” Ryan turned sharply. “It doesn’t matter.” “It matters to me!” She

“Mother!” Betty’s scream echoed down the collapsing passage, but the darkness swallowed every trace of the woman who had sacrificed everything for her. Ryan locked his arm around Betty’s waist as she fought frantically to get past him, her fingernails digging through his shirt while the floor cracked beneath their boots. “Let me go!” she sobbed. “Ryan, she’s still in there!” “I know!” “Then stop holding me back!” Ryan loosened his grip, but before Betty could break away, the passage shuddered with violent fury. A massive slab of stone crashed down, sealing the darkness from view. Dust exploded into the air, choking them and forcing all three to stumble backward. Betty lunged at the fallen monolith, pounding her bare fists against the rough granite. “Mother! Can you hear me? Mother!” Silence was her only answer. She struck it again, harder, until the skin over her knuckles split and bled. Ryan caught her wrists, pulling her back before she could shatter her own hands. “Betty,