The shrine pulsed behind us, a silent reminder of what waited ahead.
And what could never be reclaimed.
I stepped over a twisted root, Kaelith’s voice still humming softly in the back of my mind as I scanned the trees for movement. The air was heavier here—thicker. Wrong. The shadows bled deeper, pooling between trunks like spilled ink. I reached for my blade instinctively.
She stepped out.
Seraveth.
Her silver-white hair shimmered unnaturally in the dim light, her black eyes catching the red glow from the Blood Fae shrine behind us. She didn’t belong in this realm. She never had.
My blade was in my hand before she took a second step. “Back up.”
She tilted her head, smile curving, cold, patient, knowing.
“It’s time for you to fulfill your destiny,” she said, voice like velvet stretched over something jagged. “We need our dragons’ fertility back.”
I took a step back, blade between us. “Not going to happen.”
She didn’t flinch. “If you won’t do it for destiny…” Her gaze drifted upward. “Then do it to save your dragon.”
My heart dropped. Cold settled into my chest like a stone hurled through ice.
“What did you do?” My voice shook. I hated that it shook.
Seraveth stepped closer, as slow as a serpent slithering toward prey. “Nothing… yet. But the blood shrine has a cost. They all do. And Kaelith is tied to you. Her magic feeds yours. Her life… depends on it.” She stopped just outside my reach. “If your bond shatters, she’ll die. We both know her evolution is incomplete.”
I gritted my teeth, Kaelith’s energy pulsing weakly in the back of my mind, as if she sensed Seraveth. As if she remembered her.
“Don’t test me,” I growled. “Because I will kill you.”
Seraveth smiled again, a sliver of white teeth too harsh for her face. “You can try. But the threads of fate are already tangled, little storm. And we both know…” She leaned closer. “You were made for this.”
Kaelith’s voice cracked in my mind.She cannot touch me, not unless you break.
Then I won’t,I told her.Not ever.
But the chill in my bones didn’t ease.
Because Seraveth hadn’t come to fight.
She came to warn.
ChapterTwenty-Eight
The trees pressed close, shadows thick and cool as Seraveth stepped fully into the light. Her hood fell back, revealing eyes like split rubies and hair that shimmered with obsidian threads. I raised my sword without thinking.
“Your time is running out,” she said, voice like velvet draped over a dagger. “You must fulfill the prophecy. You must take your place at the Blood King’s side.”
“I would rather die.”
Her lips curved into something that resembled a smile, but there was nothing warm about it. “That can be arranged. But only after your destiny is complete.”
“I’m not going to the Blood Isle,” I snapped, tightening my grip on my blade.
“Oh, but we both know that’s not true.” She stepped closer, her presence crawling over my skin like a sickness. “You need something from there, don’t you? To save your precious king.”
I didn’t answer, but my silence was confirmation enough.
