light barely seeping through the cracked blinds, casting slanted bars of gray across the peeling walls. Shadows clung to the corners, still and heavy, as if they'd been watching her al

ven legs. She reached for it, her heart sinking when she saw the unknown

st she'd buried deep, a life she'd clawed her way out of. She hesitated, her thumb hovering over the decline button, her pulse a dull thud in her ears. Curiosity-or m

th by a river's current. A woman's voice, unfamiliar but commanding, each s

r mouth went dry, but she forced her voice to stay steady, a p

as if Lila's defiance was a child's tantrum. "The council requires your presence.

n valley, the heart of the council's power. The place she'd fled at eighteen, swearing she'd never go back, its iron gates slamming shut behind her like a guillotine. Lila's pulse

't get to walk away, Shadowborn. Your absence has been tolerated long enough. The c

rd echoed, a term she hadn't heard in years, one her family had whispered with equal parts awe and fear, a label that marked her as something rarer, something dangerous. She wasn't just a Morgan, not

bed by a stone, their edges fraying into jagged shapes-a claw, a crown, a figure with no face. She clenched her fists, willing them to still, her nails biting into her palms. She couldn't

en she looked too long. Lila's small hands trembled as she stood before her family, their eyes sharp and unyielding, a tribunal of judgment. Her mother, Cassandra, sat at the head of a long mahogany table, her silver hair pulled tight in a severe bun, her gaze cutting through Lila like a blade, cold and unyielding. Her brother, Darian, s

ce low but resonant, a command t

left no room for refusal, their pale blue piercing her like shards of ice. Lila raised her hand, her fingers trembling, and the shadows on the floor obeyed, as if they'd been waiting for her call. They twisted, forming a perfect spiral that spun slowl

slithering through the air. "She's strong," one said, an older man with a scar a

ures and eyes like flint, her tone laced with unease. "

ore she masked it. "She is a Morgan," she said, her voice sharp enough

small and exposed. She'd felt it even then, the way he watched her, like she was a puzzle he couldn't solve, a rival he

hield, their whispers soft but urgent, as if trying to comfort her. She'd overheard her mother and Darian in the hall, their voices low but clear through

devoid of warmth. "Or she'll be dealt with. The c

t she understood enough. She wasn't just their daughter, their sister. She was a tool, a weapon, a liability. And if she failed them,

e into sharp, lonely edges. She'd run from Blackthorn, from her family, from the council's suffocating grip, trading their gilded cage for a city where she could disappear. She'd built a life here, small and fragile but hers-a lif

No sign of the man in the coat, but she felt his presence like a shadow she couldn't shake, a weight that followed her through the streets. Was he one of them? A counci

eat, but the message was short, from an unknown number: You can't hide forever. Come home, or we'll bring you back. The

he'd done it before, five years ago, when she'd slipped away from Blackthorn under cover of night, her heart pounding as she boarded a train with nothing but a backpack and a stolen wad of cash. But the council wasn't her family alone; they

? What had changed in the five years since she'd left? The shadows in the room pulsed, as if echoing her defiance, their forms shifting into a jagged crown, then a pair of wings, then a figure with outstretche

eturning meant answers, but it also meant stepping back into a world that had nearly broken her, a world of cold eyes and colder ambitions. She thought of her mother's voice, sharp as a blade, and Darian's calculating ga

d. She crept to the door, her bare feet silent on the cold floor, and peered through the peephole, her pulse hammering. The hallway was empty, the dim light flickering, casting long

in the shape of a crescent moon, its edges gleaming faintly in the dim light. Her stomach twisted, a cold dread settling in her bones. She recognized

the wax crumbling like ash under her fingers. Inside was a single card, heavy and embossed with silver script that seemed to shimmer, as if infuse

nd secrets with a snap of their fingers. They thought she was still the scared girl who'd run away, the child who'd trembled under their gaze. But she wasn't their pawn anymore

nding tall, her hands outstretched, her silhouette sharp and unyielding. Lila watched it, her lips curving into a

ding with the dark. In his hand, he held the carved pendant, its symbols pulsing with a faint, unnatural light, a rhythm that matched the beat of Lila's heart. He tilted his head, as if listening t