From the corner of my eye, I notice Ivy quickly retrieving something from the floor—a small vial with iridescent liquid that shifts with an otherworldly luminescence. The fairy's movements are furtive as she swiftly tucks it into a hidden pocket, clearly not meant to be seen. It looks significant, perhaps connected to whatever Asher was planning, but Seraphina's injuries demand my immediate attention, so I file the observation away for later.
"Can you stand?" I ask Seraphina.
When she shakes her head weakly, I sweep her into my arms, cradling her against my chest. Her scent—vanilla and magic and something uniquely Omega—fills my senses, calming the chaos of my thoughts.
Her Omega scent is already shifting against me—the acrid terror fading as my Alpha pheromones wrap around her. Through our completed bond, I feel her Omega settling, finding security in my arms despite everything.
"Emmett, prepare the blood healers," I command. "Ivy, you may accompany us. Your healing abilities appear...adequate."
"High praise from the lord of compliments," Ivy mutters, but follows as I carry Seraphina from the cottage.
As we leave, I catch the hushed conversation between Emmett and Ivy trailing behind us.
"Is that what we're calling 'creatively sadistic' these days?" Ivy's wings flutter nervously. "Noted."
"You should see his collection of preserved moments," Emmett says, his voice dropping. "There's a particularly vivid one from the Northern Campaign that still makes senior warriors faint."
"And yet you stay loyal to him. Either you're the bravest man I've ever met or the most foolish."
"Perhaps both," Emmett admits, a hint of something warmer flickering in his usually stoic expression. "Though I prefer to think of it as job security. No one else wants the position."
"Can't imagine why," Ivy retorts. "Though I must admit, there's something...intriguing about a man who can stomach this level of horror without running away screaming."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Emmett replies, and I glance at him to see the ghost of a smile touching his lips.
As we move into the night air, I feel Seraphina's fingers brush against the vial containing Asher's soul. Her touch is light, questioning.
"A memento," I tell her softly, my Alpha voice a dark promise. "To remind you that nothing—not death, not prophecy, not fate itself—will take you from me. You're my Omega. My mate. Mine."
The crystal glows faintly against my belt, Asher's consciousness trapped in eternal torment inside.
I carry her through the darkness toward home, the prophecy's words echoing in my mind. A child of shadow and light. My child. For the first time in centuries, I find myself afraid of what the future might hold—and more terrifyingly still, afraid of how much I might want it despite the fear of losing her.
CHAPTER 27
VULNERABLE TRUTHS
SERAPHINA
I feel weightless in Malakai's arms as he carries me through the silent corridors of the Shadow Court. The journey from the cottage passes in a haze of pain and exhaustion, my body struggling to process everything that happened. Asher's soul is trapped in a vial on Malakai's belt. My father's manipulation. The prophecy that apparently orchestrated my entire life. Too much. It's all too much.
Ivy hovers beside us, her wings casting prismatic patterns along the dark stone walls. She hasn't stopped watching me since we left the cottage, her usually mischievous expression replaced by genuine concern. Even Emmett walks with unusual tension, his hand never straying far from his sword's hilt.
As we reach Malakai's private chambers, a cluster of shadow healers wait outside the door, their somber faces and dark robes marking them as practitioners of blood magic. The sight of them sends a ripple of revulsion through me. More hands on my body. More violation. More intrusion.
"No," I whisper, my fingers curling into Malakai's tunic, distress sharpening my scent. "No healers."
He pauses, looking down at me with an unreadable expression. I sense surprise, then understanding. I feel what he went through when he tore Asher's body apart and extracted his soul. He turned into a real monster then—pure violence unleashed.
"Leave us," he commands, his voice leaving no room for argument. "All of you."
The healers exchange glances but withdraw without protest. Even Emmett hesitates only briefly before bowing and stepping back.
"You too, fairy," Malakai adds when Ivy tries to follow us into the chamber.
"But she needs…" Ivy begins, her wings fluttering with indignation.
"She has me," Malakai interrupts, his shadows swirling more thickly around us both. "You've done enough."
