Ciel Tempest Novels & Stories

* One older woman’s lip curled in open disgust before she schooled her face. Tension coiled tighter in my gut. The temple rose at the city’s highest point, white marble gleaming under the sun. Guards flanked the entrance, but inside it was cool and quiet, incense smoke curling toward vaulted ceilings painted with moon phases. Celeste waited in a circular chamber lit by shafts of colored light. She looked ancient yet ageless, silver hair braided with moonstones, eyes like polished obsidian. Xior’s hand brushed the small of my back as we entered—light, but unmistakably claiming. I shivered.

“Traitor in the Inner Circle.” Lucien’s mother. Isolde Nerezza. Only a few of us even knew she was a source for Emberbound. “This isn’t some skirmish test,” Nora said. “It’s bigger.” Event. The word settled like stone in my chest. “What kind of event?” Elias replied instead of me. Cool, collected, hands stuffed in the pockets of his slim black coat. “One that will require strength,” he continued. “Specifically stormborn and sky-called alignments.” Iris went stiff next to me.

The air at the peak of Mount Celestia was thin and biting, but neither Seraphina nor Ryan felt the chill. They stood at the absolute zenith of the realms, a place where the barrier between the mortal world and the infinite cosmos was as thin as a translucent veil. Below them, stretched out like an endless tapestry of twinkling stars, lay the unified realms—Eldoria, the Sun-Drenched Plains, the deep mountain holds of the dwarves, and the whispering elven groves.

“Then it’s fortunate I didn’t come here to hesitate.” For the first time, Ares had no immediate reply. That silence mattered more than any shouted threat. The sea pressed in around the shore, the tide drawing a bright line at the edge of the sand. Celeste stood within it like she had been placed there by something ancient and unarguable. The gold in her eyes and blood had become a statement. The electricity in her hair had become a crown. The air around her hummed with the kind of potential that only appears when a mortal line is starting to blur.

POV: Rhea Mooncrest "Do you feel that, Queen? The way the sky wants to break for you?" Silas stood at the mouth of the cavern, his scarred silhouette framed by a sudden, violent flash of lightning. The storm had come out of nowhere, a tempest of black clouds and screaming winds that tore through the Whisperpine Forest. Rhea stood deep in the shadows of the cave, her breath hitching as the thunder rumbled in her very bones. The Hex of Desire, amplified by the raw, chaotic energy of the storm, was no longer a dull ache; it was a rhythmic thrumming in her blood that demanded to be answered.

I told Falcon about the conversation I just had with James, and what he expected of me. “You’re screwed,” Falcon said, and laughed as I drove home. I parked the Jeep and looked at Falcon as we got out of the car. “Just don’t do anything stupid with Tala. You should know Levi’s her dad,” I said, and he looked almost afraid. “Shit. Really?” I had to smile. “Really. Tala is the only female badass of this pack, and the only daughter of Levi Sinclair.” Falcon dragged his hands through his hair. “Okay, we’re both screwed. You were right.”

Just then, someone beside her gasped, breaking the silence. “The three lycan princes!” Suddenly, something shifted within Lydia, as if she had been expecting this moment. A voice in her mind, Circe, stirred to life. “MATE,” it exclaimed, resonating with a deep longing. The aroma intensified; it was a blend of hot coffee and honey. She recognized that the scent was coming from the man in front. Without thinking, she began to walk toward him, feeling the pull of her instincts. Circe hadn’t failed her; she felt drawn to hug him and plant kisses on his cheek. But before she could reach him, the prince walked past her and scooped up Thalia in his arms. Thalia giggled as he brought her down, his b

We put all of the cut-out pieces together, and Tempest studied them for a while, like she was making sure to memorise every detail. Her new appearance was just as beautiful, but she was more...Normal? She'd pass as a friend of mine, I mean. Slender, athletic build, 5'7 in height. Her long hair was cropped just under her chin and curled in small ringlets of inky black that framed her face magnificently. Her irises and sclera remained completely black, like how her facial shape had remained, as did her pale skin that seemed to resemble rays of moonlight.