e in years, Amara

His eyes, the color of storm-washed stone, seemed to look beyond the dirt on her cloak and the fe

, the wind pressed against the fortress walls,

d. "You say my family's bloodline is bound to the g

angerous than power itself. Your bloodline traces back to the first High Priestess of the Moon - a woman who forged an

Blessed and cursed.* The

he smell of smoke, the sound of screaming, her mother's trembling hand pushing he

.. the goddess must choose the survival of the bloodline over the survival

tasted bitter and

faded with time. The firelight danced over tapestries that depicted silver-eyed

hearth, gripping its cold, carved edge. "I'

the heart of a prophecy. One that speaks of darkness rising, and of a child of the

hudded painfull

his gaze. "And you? What's

you, protect you... and guide you toward your awaken

o you even know what that means? Or are you just follo

mistake duty for blind faith. I question the goddess every daw

hem like a drawn blade,

le of burning logs. Amara drew in a slow

, softer now. "Not just what the g

closer, the scent of leathe

magine. Power that terrifies even the goddess. And I believe that po

lieve that I... am meant to stand

ed to shrink to just them: the steady beat of her heart, the d

to her bones. "I don't know if I can be who you say I am," she confessed,

ldn't be the first to doubt your place in destiny. B

. That word haunted her mo

and relics. His hand hovered over them before sele

traced a moon at its center, surrounded by runes she couldn't

all rise, bound by blo

," she whispered

rant power freely. It's born of pai

Father...* Their deaths weren't random. They were

rattling the window shutters as

th, steadying her voic

t awaken. And you must learn to control it befor

tightened

ng," Kael said grimly. "And not all who

hadows she couldn't name sti

his alone, Amara. I swore an oath to th

head lowered. "By moon and stone, I swea

pricking her eyes. No one had ever offere

uched his shoulder. "Then by moon and blood, I s

in the air, anc

, casting their shadows onto the wall

e was no longer the frightened girl running through forests. She was the last daughter o

thered. But within these stone halls,

began w