All Chapters of Throne of Ash and Amethyst: Chapter 41 - Chapter 48

Chapter Forty-OneThe War for Every DoorDarkness lasted three heartbeats.On the fourth, someone screamed.On the fifth, the Crossing came apart.Emmy felt Ignisvath’s hand ripped from hers.“IGNIS!”No answer.She reached through their bond.Closed.Not because either of them had closed it.Something had slammed the door between them.“No.”Emmy pushed.Nothing.“Ignisvath!”Amethra’s laughter moved through the darkness.“You thought changing the rules made them yours?”Emmy spun toward the voice.“Where is he?”“Which one?”“Don’t play with me.”“Dragon King. Father. Mother. Friends. You arrived carrying so many attachments.”A violet light appeared.Emmy’s amethyst key.She grabbed it.The instant her fingers closed around it, a circle of purple light spread beneath her boots.She was alone.The Crossing was gone.Ignisvath.Dimitrius.Jasmine.Caliana.Xander.Aurora.Elara.Sera.Gone.Only Amethra remained.The woman stood fifty feet away.White robes moved around her though th

Chapter Forty-ThreeThe Sister in the AmethystThe baby cried again.Emmy stopped breathing.Not a memory.Not an echo.Not another trick from the maker-network.A baby.Crying.Now.The sound came from the cracked violet stone resting against Emmy’s chest.Small.Frightened.Alive.Emmy’s fingers closed around the amulet.“Mom.”Jasmine didn’t answer.“Mom.”Her mother’s face had gone so pale that even the dim golden light inside the cavern couldn’t hide it.Dimitrius stood beside her like a man who had forgotten how to move.Emmy looked between them.Twenty years of secrets seemed to exist in the silence.Her shock turned into anger.“What do you mean I had a sister?”Jasmine’s lips trembled.“I thought she died.”“That doesn’t answer me.”“I know.”“Then answer me.”Ignisvath came closer.Not between them.Never between them.Beside Emmy.She felt his presence without needing the bond.Draven stood several feet away, watching with an expression that suggested even he understood thi

Chapter Forty-FiveJasmine Comes HomeJasmine did not know where to put her clothes.Of all the problems Emmy had expected after defeating ancient systems, freeing Vaelgorath, discovering a sister trapped inside an amethyst, surviving the Ninth House, burning a throne, and helping turn a royal chamber into a place where people could argue without kneeling—her mother standing in the middle of a bedroom holding three dresses had not made the list.“Why are you staring at the wardrobe?” Emmy asked.Jasmine glanced over her shoulder.“I’m deciding.”“Between?”“The wardrobe and the chest.”Emmy looked at both.“The wardrobe.”“Why?”“Because that’s where dresses go.”“That isn’t universally true.”“Mom.”Jasmine smiled.Emmy stopped.That word still did something strange to her.Mom.For so long it had belonged to memory.To absence.To the ache behind Emmy’s ribs whenever she imagined a woman she could barely remember clearly enough.Now Mom could turn around.Mom could smile.Mom could

Chapter Forty-SevenThrone of Ash and AmethystThe last door appeared at sunset.Emmy almost missed it.That, more than anything, told her how much her life had changed.There had been a time when the appearance of an unknown door would have stopped everything.She would have felt it before seeing it.Her amethyst would have burned.Her wolf would have paced beneath her skin.Her vampire blood would have sharpened.Ignisvath would have appeared beside her with golden fire already gathering in his hands.Someone would have whispered about prophecy.Someone else would have found an ancient book.Dimitrius would have said something irritatingly mysterious.And Emmy would have opened the door because she believed every mystery that found her had become her responsibility.Not anymore.Now she nearly walked past it carrying tomatoes.“Emmy?”She stopped.Ignisvath stood twenty feet away beside the little cottage they had eventually claimed as their own.Not the castle.Not a palace.A cott