Chapter 35: Cassian’s Curse
The moon hung low, a pale coin resting in a velvet sky, casting thin silver light across the quiet grounds of the western gardens. The court had gone quiet after the chaos of the Bloodline Test, but Eira’s thoughts screamed in her skull. Her soul still throbbed from the Oracle’s words, her failure to fully align with Elyanora’s divine mark, and the terrifying flicker of Selis’s voice echoing through her mind like the crackle of flame beneath frost.
She couldn’t sleep.
The air smelled of wilted roses and wet stone as she wandered deeper into the gardens, her bare feet silent on the moss-threaded marble paths. The silence felt ancient. The kind of silence that wrapped around tombs and held memories that shouldn’t be woken.
And yet, something tugged her forward
