Outside, bells toll for the dawn—mocking and hollow.I slip my mask back on and turn toward the golden doors where the guards await their orders.
“Clean this,” I say to no one in particular.“Speak to no one of the events that transpired here.Ensure the city wakes to celebration, not mourning.The High Luminary of Radiance has joined Solan’s eternal flame.”
They bow, already moving to obey.None of them notice that the light leaking from my fingers isn’t gold at all, but a thin shimmer of silver.I close my fist, hiding the glow from those who are too observant.
“You!”I nod to a nearby guard.“Find Riven.Now!”
He dips his head then turns swiftly, his armour rattling as he sprints down the marbled corridor.
Riven will find her.And when he does, the Goddess and I will finish what was started a century ago.
This time, we will do it properly.
29
SEREN
Darkness swallows me whole.
The corridors twist, every turn leading me deeper beneath the city.Smoke and iron cut through every breath as I drag in short, desperate gasps.Behind me, footsteps echo—scattered shouts rolling through the halls like thunder.Kael’s voice, or the guards; I’m no longer sure.
My bare feet slap against the stone as I descend.Light fades with each step until I’m moving by memory—not my own, buthers.I follow the pulse that beats beneath my ribs.
Down, she whispers.Always down.The roots remember what the sky forgets.
The ceilings hang low, the air turns wet.It smells of home.Pipes crawl along the walls, humming with the stolen life of the city above.Drops of water hit the stone like seconds ticking away.
I keep moving until the pursuit is only a rumour.My breath turns ragged, a misty plume escaping my lips; every inhale scrapes my throat raw—bitter, cold and unforgiving.
The further the shadows pull me, the more I feel like myself—not the girl from the Hollow, but something newer.Lethal.Something I am only beginning to understand.
I spread my hands, fingers tracing the damp brick.Nyx’s excitement blooms in my chest, and a low, rattling chuckle—like the scraping of bone—escapes me.The sound doesn’t feel like mine.
You did it, my child.
The crescent warms—a caress from the Divine Mother.MyDivine Mother.The word feels dangerous in my mouth.
“Where to now, mother?”I whisper the name into the void, the syllables strange against my tongue.
Now, my child, we begin the search for the shrines.
I duck behind a crumbling archway and stop, straining to hear the clink of armour or the stamping of boots on stone.But there is only silence.My heartbeat is a drum, too loud for the quiet.
The map.Her words tickle the back of my neck.
Closing my eyes, I watch the red veins take shape in my mind, willing my pulse to slow.Then, I hear it: the distant patter of footsteps—softer, quicker than I would expect from the heavy-set guard’s.A shadow passes—tall, broad, and hauntingly familiar.
“Seren?”a voice rasps.
He steps into the amber half-light of a hanging lantern, his hair dusted grey with ash.
Kael.
I recoil into the archway as my shadows hiss and crawl to meet him.
“I’m not here to drag you back,” he says, though his eyes flick nervously to the darkness pooling around his boots.“You need to keep moving.They’ll seal the tunnels the moment they realise you’ve come this way.”
“So what?You’ll lead me out of here from the kindness of your heart?”
