All Chapters of Throne of Ash and Amethyst: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Chapter Thirty-OneThe Burning NamesThe first library died before Emmy reached it.She saw the smoke from the sky.Black columns twisted above the eastern forest, thick enough to stain the morning red. Flames climbed through the trees surrounding the ancient wolf archive, turning the horizon into a glowing wound.Emmy clung tighter to Ignisvath.His enormous black wings beat against the heated air as they descended toward the burning structure.Dragons filled the sky around them.Some carried riders.Others flew alone.Below, wolves raced through the forest while humans and vampires formed lines from the river to the flames.But the fire was wrong.Emmy knew that immediately.Normal fire didn’t move against the wind.This did.It crawled.It chose.Flames ignored the wooden beams and stone walls whenever there were no records nearby. Instead, they curled around shelves, consuming parchment, leather books, carved genealogy tablets, and painted family trees.It was hunting history.“Ig

Chapter Thirty-ThreeThe First ChoiceBy noon, someone had already tried to steal a key.Emmy learned this while standing barefoot in the middle of her bedroom, wearing one of Ignisvath’s shirts and attempting to convince herself that she was entitled to at least one hour without ancient magic, collapsing kingdoms, mysterious bloodlines, or people trying to use her as a supernatural lock.She had managed twenty-three minutes.A pounding came at the door.Emmy closed her eyes.“No.”Another knock.“Emmy?”Caliana.“No.”The door opened.Emmy turned.“I said no.”“You also didn’t lock it.”“Because I live in a castle guarded by dragons.”Caliana entered.“And yet here I am.”“Unfortunately.”Caliana smiled.“Good morning.”“It is noon.”“Then good afternoon.”Emmy pointed at the door.“Try again tomorrow.”“Someone tried to steal a child’s key.”Emmy’s hand dropped.“What?”“I knew that would work.”“Who?”“Lord Serrick.”Emmy stared.“The vampire?”“Yes.”“The one who spent six hours a

Chapter Thirty-FiveThe Woman Who Came BeforeElara’s first question about the new world was not about dragons.It wasn’t about vampires.She didn’t ask why enormous stone buildings rose beyond the valley, why people wore clothing she had never seen, or why a black-scaled dragon circled overhead with wings large enough to darken half the courtyard.She stood in the sunlight for nearly a full minute, her green eyes closed and her face tilted toward the sky.Then she opened them and looked at Emmy.“Do strawberries still exist?”Emmy stared.Behind her, Caliana made a choking sound.Dimitrius blinked.Ignisvath’s eyebrows rose.Aurora began to cry.Not the broken, grieving tears she’d shed for Lyssara.These were different.Soft.Almost joyful.Elara looked between them.“What?”Emmy smiled.“Yes.”Elara’s entire face changed.“Truly?”“Yes.”“They didn’t destroy them?”“Who would destroy strawberries?”“The makers.”Emmy’s smile disappeared.Of course.Elara said it as though it were o

Chapter Thirty-SevenWhat the Bond ChoosesThe first person to die from the pull was a man Emmy never knew.She learned his name later.Tomas Vey.Forty-three years old.Wolf.Baker.Father of two.Mate to a woman named Elsin.He had been standing outside his bakery in a village nearly two hundred miles from Dragontooth when the first anchor awakened.His mating bond tightened.Elsin screamed.Tomas grabbed her.And because the makers had once woven mating bonds into the same ancient network that governed blood, prophecy, and inheritance, the anchor decided their connection belonged to it.It pulled.Not their bodies.Their bond.Tomas died before he hit the ground.By the time Emmy learned his name, seventeen others were already dead.⸻“Stop!”Emmy’s scream echoed through the vampire throne room.Her bond constricted again.Pain ripped through her chest.Ignisvath dropped to one knee.His hand remained locked around hers.“Close it!”“I am!”The bond wouldn’t obey.That frightened h

Chapter Thirty-NineHer Mother’s VoiceEmmy forgot how to breathe.The Crossing disappeared.The endless road of light beneath her feet.The millions of doors.Sera.Elara.Aurora.Caliana.Xander.Even Ignisvath standing beside her.For one impossible moment there was only a voice.Her mother’s voice.“Emmy.”Soft.Familiar.Warm enough to reach directly into the part of Emmy that was still a child.Dimitrius whispered,“Jasmine.”Emmy turned.Her father had gone completely still.He stared toward the enormous black door at the distant edge of the Crossing.His Lycan sight might not perceive the world as Emmy’s did, but he had heard the voice.And he knew it.That frightened Emmy more than anything.Ignisvath’s fingers tightened around hers.“Emmy.”She barely heard him.The darkness beyond the final door moved.“Come closer, sweetheart.”Emmy’s knees almost buckled.Sweetheart.Her mother had called her that.Not constantly.Usually when Emmy was frightened.When she had nightmares.