Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Not in the way you think.
His words lingered in the silence between us, wrapping around my heart like a thread pulled too tight.
She doesn’t want a rider.
Gods, it felt like I’d been sucker punched.
I froze, breath shallow, chest tight, like my ribs couldn’t quite decide whether to cave in or hold the weight. The words weren’t cruel, but they weren’t comforting either.
Not the way I’d hoped.
Not the way Ineeded.
But Siergen’s presence shifted in my mind, quieter now, laced with something close to regret.
I don’t mean… you, he said gently,not exactly. You’ll understand soon.
I wanted to ask what that meant. Wanted todemandthe truth.
But before I could form the words, his mind withdrew from mine, slipping away like mist through my fingers.
And I was left alone again.
Not in the forest.
But inside my own skin.
I sat there in the aftermath, knees still in the dirt, arms limp at my sides, feeling moreunseenthan before Seraveth’s magic had crushed me to the ground.
His words had been meant to soothe.
But they left me more unsettled than before.
The trees thinned as I made my way back to the others, the scorched clearing and twisted wreckage of the noble’s carriage coming back into view. My limbs ached with every step, but it was nothing compared to the chaos burning behind my ribs.
They were still spread out, combing the edges of the tree line for clues, but when they saw me, they gathered fast.
Zander was the first to reach me, his eyes scanning my face like he already knew something had gone wrong. The others followed—Tae and Riven, Naia, Jax. Even Ferrula paused, her expression unreadable, but alert.
Cordelle stood at the edge of the group, arms crossed, his eyes focused beneath his hood.
“I had another visit from my Blood Fae stalker,” I said quietly.
“Seraveth,” Riven guessed, voice tight.
I nodded.
They waited. No one interrupted. Not even Zander.
“She said…” My throat felt tight. I forced the words through anyway. “She said I’m blood-bound to the Blood King. That I’m his granddaughter. That my mother ran, took a human lover, and hid me in plain sight. And she said…” I swallowed hard. “That Kaelith is what’s keeping me from reaching my full power. That if I let her die… I could become something more.”
Ferrula cursed under her breath. Jax stiffened.
But Cordelle?—
