“You will not have me. You donotget to keep me from her,” I snarl. I reach inside myself. Into the light. A blinding pulse of golden-white fire erupts from my chest. It doesn’t burn me, but the mawless screams. He tries to pull away, but I hold tighter. My skin shines bright as the light races down my arms, searing into the creature.
He screams again, a sound that shatters the trees and makes the earth quake. His form writhes, cracks, and splits apart. Suddenly, in a single blinding burst, he’s gone.
I fall to my knees as the forest goes silent once more. No screams. No movement. No mawless.
Just me, Lioran, and Asbel.
We don’t linger. We don’t take time to recover. We are too close to getting out of this place. So, they help me stand very slowly, and we continue our walk to the portal.
Every muscle in my body aches, and every breath feels like fire in my chest. Blood soaks my torn leathers, causing them to stick to my skin. My vision blurs and steadies only when I clench my jaw and force focus.
We are close.So close.
“Keep moving,” Lioran urges, his voice tight with strain as he slings my right arm over his shoulders.
“I am,” I grind out, though my legs threaten to bucklewith every step.
On my other side, Asbel’s grip is painfully firm. “Just a little farther now.”
The laughter of the mawless still rings in my ears, like a lingering ghost that refuses to fade. My body is in excruciating pain from every blow, every wound.
The shimmering outline of the portal comes into view ahead, glowing like salvation itself. It should have been an hour’s walk—it took us nearly three.
Every step drags, slowed by the weight of injury, exhaustion, and the growing stiffness in my limbs.
When we finally cross the threshold, magic pulls at us, twisting, dragging us through. Then we stumble hard onto the solid stone of the palace courtyard.
Cool air rushes around us, carrying the scent of rain. Relief sweeps over me in a wave so strong it almost hurts.
I try to straighten, to take in my surroundings, but my vision tunnels. My legs give out, and the world tilts sideways.
“Koen—!”
I don’t hear the rest. Darkness claims me before I even hit the ground.
Chapter 27
?---- Serenya ? ----?
Laughter echoes through the gardens, bright as sunlight in spring. I turn, breathless, as Alira tosses a handful of flower petals in my face.
“Oh, you are cruel,” I gasp, brushing petals from my hair.
“I am beautiful and creative,” she declares, spinning dramatically. “You should appreciate it more.”
We collapse into laughter, falling into the grass like children again. For a moment, there is nothing else. No court. No crown. No trials. Just sunlight, the perfume of roses, and the feeling of being young and unburdened.
I blink, and I’m somewhere else entirely.
Now I am in the training yard, sweat slicking down my back as Torin circles me with a wooden blade. “You’re late on your pivot,” he says sternly.
“Maybe it’s more fun this way,” I tease, blocking his next strike with a grin.
He narrows his eyes, but there is no real fire in them. “You’ve been spending too much time with Kallan. His sarcasm is starting to infect you.”
My laugh echoes as the dream shifts again.
I stand in the center of the flagstones with Dimitri circling me like a hawk.
