“And then,” I say, eyes flicking once more to the hidden crown, “we keep fighting. We keep guarding the forges. We keep our mates alive. Until the crown speaks or the Fates choke on their own silence.”
Alaric snorts, but there is no real humor in it. “Spoken like a man in love.”
I bare my teeth. “Spoken like a Lord of Fire.”
He smirks. “Same thing these days, apparently.”
Before I can answer, the stone at Dagan’s feet stills entirely.
“The Vein,” he says. “It calls. There is a tremor in the wards.”
Alaric’s head snaps up. Kael’s eyes flash tide-dark.
“Then we don’t waste another breath,” I say. “We go. Now.”
Because whatever the crown is waiting for, whatever pattern the Fates are weaving—I know this much.
If Idris reaches The Ember Vein before we do, nothing Delia and I have just begun to build will matter.
No dreams. No hope. No Nightfall.
But I will not let that happen.
Then, the sound hits like a blade to the spine.
Not a siren. Not a horn.
It’s the wards.
A high, keening vibration that isn't sound so much as pressure — slamming into the marrow of my bones, rattling the Great Flame in its hearth, making every torch in the Eyrie gutter blue for a heartbeat.
Alaric is the first to snarl. “The wards.”
Kael’s head snaps toward the nearest window, eyes going flat and lethal. “The Vein.”
Dagan’s hands curl into fists; the stone under our feet lurches like it wants to break loose. “Idris.”
“We move,” I bark.
We don’t argue. We don’t waste breath on plans. We know what this means.
The protections we laid over The Ember Vein are being tested.
Breached.
Someone — something — has touched what should be untouchable.
“We must tell our viyellas,” Kael says, already turning.
“Go,” Alaric growls, wings shimmering just beneath his skin. “Get them to safety. Then we fly.”
I’m already moving.
The corridors blur, stone and shadow streaking past as I unleash just enough power to scorch the air in my wake.
Servants flatten against walls, bowing low, but I don’t slow.
I can feel Delia through the bond — bright, steady, then spiking with bewildered concern as the wards’ alarm pounds through the castle.
