c Thor

and creatures that bled shadow instead of blood. But nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me f

dn't move. She didn't flinch. That's when I knew the girl I met on that rooftop was gone. This woman beside me wa

but ready, eyes dartin

a step

ould be

but in the way trauma distills you into something unrecognizable. Her eyes still held that same

raveyard with a sigil carved into my back

the silence. "What do you

"Do you remember my lullaby? The on

N

Every song, every story. I was a threat to them, so they

d uneasy. Magic like that wasn't priestess work. That

around the dagger. "Why com

." Isla turned her gaze to the estate behind us. "Alari

n't,"

e I was a naive chil

my throat. Not the territorial kind. The hel

want from me?"

hesit

was the f

their silence carries mo

a step forw

er let you be born

it harder t

een struck, and for a moment, n

wouldn't survive. That a Crux child would destroy the balance. But I felt you grow insid

on the small of her back. She didn't lea

," I said to Isla. "The prieste

wn one by one. Took our daughters. Our sons. Used their blood

ut razor-edged. "Why didn

d the veil. Every time I reached out, something pulled me back. Your birthmark? That

the dagger. She hadn't noticed the glow pulsing from t

Then louder, to Isla: "You brought a shadow

rrowed. "Of

ut through

man. N

hing

" I bark

a didn't hesitate.

pped. I felt them crumble like glass under boo

lias. "Vaul

bol

la. "What did

ed white. "No

d between us

ht died in childbirth. She didn't. Alaric too

went

, ch

nison. Wind blasted through the

h the debris. Same face

l, this one had worship. She moved like a predator wrapped in

're

you?" Sie

d. "I'm what you would've beco

further in

nes carved into her collarbone. A necklace

Sel

th so sharp it hur

t's impo

They kept me. Trained me. Fed me t

re ly

ing through fire? Of wolves chanting your nam

rt to shake. I grabbed h

," Sierra said.

elene smiled

raised

oor opened

us had seen before. The house groaned. The walls cracke

g the Hollow,

. "That place was s

behind me. "Wh

nswer ch

irst A

"Time to meet your t

ward. Not out of b

r blood cult? Then bring it.

sed the

d like l

the first time

gil cr

wind

re beneath the

in r

cogni

exploded i

stared

hadows see

me low. Shar

ot you

ned to me, e

ric did. What you knew. And I want every

dded

w, we go to t

didn'

smi

tually," she whispered. "All

into the dark, lik

sealed b

didn'

r a lo

her, ready if

di

ed to he

et her

ence said

he dagger still gl

she entered my world, she l

y acc

blo

ed of fire. But this tim

d into th

one was

Se

Al

e Firs

her name l

ru