The Hollow Throne sat at the chamber's far end, raised on a platform of black stone. It pulsed, not visibly, not in any way I could name, but I felt it in my bones. It beat to a rhythm that matched nothing living or of this world.
Daemon stood beside me, shadows coiling around his frame like living things. He had always kept some of his power in reserve to slow the effects of the curse, but now he let it burn as brightly as it could.
"It's waiting," he said quietly.
"For what?"
"For us."
I looked toward the far end of the vast throne room.
A figure sat unnervingly still upon the throne.
The Veil sang against my blood, recognizing its own reflection, twisted into something monstrous.
Behind us, beyond the sealed doors, Malzaun's veterans had bought our presence here with their lives.
Ahead, the Devourer waited.
CHAPTER 28
SERIS
King Aeron sat upon the Hollow Throne.
Not sprawled. Not commanding. Just… sitting. Hands resting on the armrests. His head tilted at an angle no living spine should manage, eyes open, but empty.
Before the throne stood another figure.
Taller than Aeron. Broader. Clad in ancient armor. A crown rested on his head, simpler than Aeron’s, but heavier.
"Seris Vale." Aeron’s mouth moved. The voice that emerged belonged to nothing human. "Last daughter of the Veil-touched line. The bridge between worlds."
I stepped forward. Daemon moved with me, shadows gathering like armor.
"We’ve been waiting," the Devourer continued through Aeron’s throat. "So very long in this cage of flesh and stone have I waited to meet you."
The figure before the throne didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. He simply stood there, a monument to the wrongness consuming the city.
"You know what I am," the Devourer said. "Your teachers told you the story. The alliance. The binding. The cost paid in blood and magic and the slow death of kings." Aeron’s headtilted further, vertebrae crackling. "But they didn’t tell you everything."
Behind me, Kael and Kane positioned themselves at the doors. Zephyr took a knee to my left, crossbow aimed at the space between King Aeron’s eyes. Daemon’s shadows coiled tighter.
"Veil magic." The words dripped with contempt. "Power drawn from the barrier between dimensions. So proud were your ancestors. So certain they were the masters of this world because they could channel the Veil." Aeron’s lips pulled back into something that almost resembled a smile. "But the Veil is only a door, child. Its power is limited. Constrained. It cannot give you what you desire."
The throne pulsed.
The First King’s armor creaked as something beneath it shifted.
"I can," the Devourer said. "Your ancestors once made an alliance to bind me to this throne. They may have succeeded, but look around you. Where are the Fae of the Veil? Look before you. The valiant First King."
Ice crawled down my spine.
"All those who have opposed me inevitably meet their doom and become simple tools. Even your champions fall to my will."
"Your mother understood," Aeron continued. "Why do you think she ran? Why hide you in the human world, suppress your magic, and teach you to be small?" The puppet-king’s fingers drummed against stone. "Because she knew what would happen when you woke. When the door you carry opened fully."
"She protected me." My voice came out steadier than I felt.
