Karag Dûr answered with a deep, resonant hum.
When the echo faded, Rune swept out of the room and returned to the combat arena, where his Harbingers waited. They huddled on the platform, silent and still, staring at something on the ground.
At his approach, they parted. And there where a drop of Alora’s blood had fallen, grew a glowing red flower.
A Blood Bloom.
Then Rune’s hands trembled, for there was no doubt in his mind.
His bride had the power to kill him.
CHAPTER 26
Alora
The dream began with a child weeping.
Alora’s sobs echoed through the marble halls, her small hands pressing to her mother’s hollow cheek. All color had drained from Salvia’s face, her skin a muted gray. The air smelled of lilies and candle wax and death. Her little voice trembled as she begged her to wake, begged until her throat was raw.
When the chapel grew dark, her footsteps wandered through the quiet castle. She searched for her father, desperate for the comfort that had always soothed her.
The door to his study opened quietly beneath her small palm. She heard her father’s voice, low and broken. Then another offered tender words.
Alora stepped closer, her bare feet soundless on the stone. They stood by the windows, framed in sunlight, Delphi’s hand on Laurent’s arm, her lips pressed to his.
Alora’s chest twisted and she cried out,“You’ve forgotten Mother already!”
They turned, expressions struck with guilt and shame.
Delphi reached for her, voice gentle. “Alora, calm down, dearest. It’s all right?—”
No.
It wasn’t.
Nothing would ever be all right again.
She screamed insults as Delphi hugged her, trying to soothe her.
Alora hated her. She hated everything. She wanted it allgone.
White light burst from her palms. Shrieking, Alora flailed, striking Delphi’s face. The woman’s agonized cry split the air. The scent of scorched flesh filled the hall. Laurent’s fingers dug into Alora’s shoulder, tearing her away.
She hit the floor hard, gasping. Her glowing hands trembled, light blazing wild and uncontrolled, burning like a newborn sun. Delphi continued to scream and writhe, her face blistering as her skin melted in the perfect outline of Alora’s hand.
Her father stared at her in horror, and she saw it in his eyes.
I’m a monster.
His shout followed her as she ran away. Through the hall, through the dark, until grief and light devoured everything in her path.
Alora’s eyes opened with a soft gasp.
Fog clung to the edges of her mind as she blinked into the soft candlelight, the ceiling above her glittering faintly with pink quartz.
She sat up sharply as the dream shocked her fully awake, the memory crashing into her like cold water. The scent of smoke and scorched skin still lingered. Her heart slammed against herribs when she looked down at her hands and saw white light pulsing faintly beneath her skin.
It curled over her arms in winding trails like vines, magic humming in the air around her.
