And Eiren’s smile faltered for the briefest instant.
The air thickened like oil.
Eiren’s smile returned, this time sharper, crueler. She held out a hand, palm up, and from the swarming ranks of Veilspawn behind her, a lone figure stepped forward.
Not a beast.
Not a creature.
A woman.
Clad in jagged black armor that gleamed of obsidian and bone, her face hidden behind a metal mask shaped like a screaming wraith. Her movements were stiff, soldier-perfect. No hesitation.
“Do you want to know what dreams truly bring?” Eiren asked, voice turning syrup-sweet. “Let me show you what becomes of those who dare believe they were worthy of more.”
She turned slightly, a queen introducing her prize.
“My general. The first of many.”
The masked woman stopped just a few feet in front of Eiren, chin lifted. With a sharp metallic hiss, she pulled the mask free.
Gasps rippled down the Nythran line.
Even Kael staggered a step back.
Maris’s heart cracked open in her chest.
Astrielle.
Not the Astrielle they’d known. Not the daughter Valea had mourned. Not the sharp-eyed warrior with crimson braids and too much pride.
This version of her… was hollow.
Her hair, once richly red, was now dulled, frayed like scorched silk. Her eyes glowed black. Her smile was not one of joy or recognition.
It was feral.
Deadly.
And filled with knowing rage.
“I dreamed once,” Astrielle said, her voice echoing too many times across the field like Eiren was speaking through her, or alongside her. “I dreamed of being queen. Of being chosen.”
She turned her eyes on Kael.
And the hatred there was endless.
“I gave my life to you. I bled for your kingdom. I shaped myself into a weapon for your court, for your crown, for you.”
Kael didn’t move. He didn’t speak.
“And you slaughtered me like a dog. All for her.” Her gaze shifted to Maris, blade-point sharp. “A human. A nobody.”
Maris felt the blow in her chest.
Eiren let out a mock sigh, stepping forward as if to console the broken creature she’d twisted into her champion.
“Poor Astrielle. She was everything a king should have wanted, devoted, deadly, trained. And what did that get her?”
