Novel & Cerita A Shadow In The Ember Audiobook

Ember's POV When I opened my eyes, there was no sky, no ground — only light and silence. A hollow world made of fire and shadow. Every breath I took tasted like smoke and iron. The air was alive, breathing with me, whispering things I didn’t want to hear. I tried to move, but the ground beneath me rippled like molten glass. My reflection looked back at me — except it wasn’t me. It was older. Crueler. A smile curved across its face, slow and sharp, like it had been waiting centuries to see me.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” Evren kept walking without answering. But his silence spoke loudly enough. And for the first time since everything happened, he wasn’t entirely certain anymore. As he disappeared farther down the corridor, Evren muttered bitterly to himself, “Entered Embermoon and somehow gained two irritating shadows that follow me everywhere nagging worse than my dead mother. Truly cursed.”

CHAPTER TWO. CRASH THE PARTY. No. No, this had to be wrong. This had to be some kind of mistake. Maybe it was a different Marcus. Maybe it was a different Isla. There had to be an explanation. Lyra moved closer to the house on shaking legs. Her boots felt like they were filled with stones. Each step took enormous effort. Through the large front window, she could see inside. The main room was packed with people, all facing the center where Marcus stood there.

“Embers that Erase Names!” Light swept across the darkness, but the shadow did not shatter. Instead, it laughed. “You cannot destroy will, Rayden. That same will lives in you.” Rayden stopped mid-air. His breathing was heavy. The laughter echoed from every direction. Then a shadowed hand rose from the ground and pierced through his chest. Rayden staggered, blood spraying, but strangely, the flames around his body only grew larger. “You’re right,” he whispered, his voice beginning to distort from the heat. “You live in me.”

The Ember Guard. Riven drew his daggers. “Well. Guess we didn’t need sleep anyway.” Silas moved in front of me, drawing symbols in the air with wards that glowed faintly gold. Ashen’s eyes flashed white, his blades ready. Kyren didn’t look back at me, but I felt him through the tether and the storm gathering under his skin, restrained only by sheer will. When the first of the Ember Guard stepped forward, their voice was hollow and cold. “Shadowborn,” it said. “You were forbidden to return.”

“You’ll never be whole!” Emily’s tears streamed hot, but her voice didn’t waver this time. “Maybe I won’t ever be whole,” she shouted, light blazing from every pore. “But I’ll never belong to you again!” The blast ripped through the void, tearing the shadow apart in a storm of smoke and light. For a heartbeat, silence. Then Emily dropped to her knees, trembling, chest heaving, the light flickering softer now. The shadow wasn’t gone. She could feel it, faint, lurking in the cracks.

And the Echo would learn: Shadow cannot silence fire.

“She told me that I would want to give up. That others would try to dim the light in me. That I’d be called names. ‘Shadow. Curse. Ghost.’ She said all of that. As if she knew.” Ryker didn’t move, barely breathed. Trixie lifted her eyes. “But she said, ‘You are not a shadow. You are not my ghost. You are my dawn. My blood. The fire they’ll never tame.’” Her lips trembled. “And then she kissed my forehead. She bled on my ribbon. And she whispered, ‘Wait for the light. Be the light, if it never comes.’” Tears slid down her cheeks. “And then she was gone.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN Cassian's Pursuit The ember-infused carriage cut through the night like a blade of living fire, its gilded exterior catching moonlight as it sped along the mountain pass toward Shadoweave. Cassian Holt sat rigid within its luxurious confines, his copper hair gleaming in the ambient light generated by the small ember crystals embedded in the carriage walls. Each crystal pulsed in time with his agitated heartbeat, responding to his turbulent emotions despite his attempts to maintain composed control.

“For now.” Kol looked toward the tree line, and saw him. Emory stood in the mist beside Ronan. The Shadowborn knelt around them. Emory didn’t move. He just turned once, a last glance, and walked away. Kol called his name, but the sound disappeared into the wind. The estate burned. Elias sank to the ground beside Kol, whispering, “It’s not over.” Kol said nothing. His eyes stayed on the horizon, where the red dawn rose like blood over the ruins.