Chapter 19
973 Words
The bodies were still being removed when dawn finally crawled over Black Hollow.
Gray light filtered through broken windows and drifting smoke, illuminating the destruction left behind:
blood staining marble
shattered stone pillars
claw marks carved into the walls
silver weapons scattered across the floor
The estate smelled like death.
And Midnight could still hear the mountain breathing beneath it.
She stood alone on one of the upper balconies overlooking the forest, arms wrapped tightly around herself while cold wind whipped through her long black hair.
The woods below looked endless.
Dark.
Watching.
Nothing about this place felt normal anymore.
Not after last night.
Not after the Shadow Eaters bowed to her.
Abyss-born Queen.
The title still made her stomach turn.
The balcony door slid open quietly behind her.
Midnight didn’t need to turn around to know it was Kael.
The mate bond had already warned her.
Or comforted her.
She still couldn’t tell which.
Heavy footsteps stopped beside her.
Silence settled between them while snow drifted slowly through the trees below.
Kael finally spoke.
“You should have slept.”
Midnight stared out at the mountains.
“I close my eyes and hear them whispering.”
Kael’s jaw tightened slightly.
“The Hollow King?”
“And the others.”
That got his attention immediately.
Silver eyes shifted toward her sharply.
“There are more voices now?”
Midnight nodded once.
“The closer that thing gets to waking up… the louder they become.”
Kael went still beside her.
Dangerously still.
Like he was calculating threats she couldn’t even see yet.
Midnight looked down at her hands again.
Normal.
Human.
But she remembered exactly how the shadows obeyed her last night.
No hesitation.
No struggle.
Like they’d been waiting for her command their entire existence.
“I killed someone.”
Kael’s gaze shifted toward her slowly.
“A hunter.”
“I know.”
Midnight laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying it like that makes it better.”
Kael leaned his forearms against the stone railing beside her.
“The hunter was trying to kill you.”
“That doesn’t explain why it felt good.”
Silence.
Cold wind moved between them.
Then Kael said quietly—
“It felt good because you survived.”
Midnight frowned slightly.
“That’s not normal.”
“It is for predators.”
The answer should not have comforted her.
And yet…
A small part of her relaxed anyway.
Kael watched her carefully from the corner of his eye.
Reading her.
Always reading her.
“You think too much.”
Midnight snorted softly. “And you don’t think enough.”
The corner of his mouth twitched faintly.
A near smile.
Gone quickly.
But it was there.
Midnight noticed.
And suddenly realized something terrifying.
She liked seeing him soften around her.
The mate bond pulsed warm immediately.
Kael noticed that too.
Of course he did.
His silver eyes darkened slightly.
“Careful.”
Midnight blinked innocently. “What?”
“You know exactly what.”
Heat crawled slowly up her neck.
Annoying alpha.
Before she could answer, the balcony door opened again.
Lucien stepped outside carrying a thick black folder beneath one arm.
His golden eyes moved between them once.
Then narrowed slightly.
“Well,” he drawled. “That tension is getting worse.”
Kael looked unimpressed.
“What do you want?”
Lucien held up the folder.
“Answers.”
Midnight straightened instantly.
Kael’s expression hardened.
Lucien walked toward them slowly, unusually serious now.
“I went into the archives beneath the estate after the attack.”
That immediately got Kael’s full attention.
“You went into the lower archives?”
Lucien shrugged slightly. “Someone had to.”
The alpha looked irritated.
And worried.
Midnight noticed both.
“What’s in the lower archives?”
Lucien’s gaze shifted toward her.
“Things your bloodline probably wishes stayed buried.”
Not comforting.
At all.
Lucien opened the folder carefully.
Ancient pages filled with strange symbols and sketches rested inside—old parchment stained with age and something darker.
Blood.
Midnight could smell it instantly.
Her stomach twisted.
Kael noticed immediately and shifted slightly closer to her instinctively.
Protective.
Lucien definitely noticed that.
Again.
He ignored it.
Mostly.
“These records were sealed by Kael’s ancestors after the first abyss war.”
Midnight frowned.
“Abyss war?”
Kael cursed quietly under his breath.
Lucien continued anyway.
“Centuries ago, demon hybrids nearly destroyed the supernatural world after one of them opened a permanent fracture between realms.”
Midnight’s pulse quickened.
“The Hollow King.”
Lucien nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
He turned one of the pages around toward her.
Midnight froze.
The drawing looked like her.
Not exactly.
But close enough to steal her breath:
black hair
glowing crimson eyes
shadows curling around massive wings
Beneath the sketch, ancient writing stretched across the page.
Lucien translated quietly.
“When the abyss births its final heir, shadow and fang shall kneel together.”
Cold spread through Midnight instantly.
Kael stepped closer.
“What else?”
Lucien hesitated for the first time since she met him.
That alone terrified her.
Finally he flipped to the next page.
Midnight’s blood went cold.
It wasn’t a prophecy.
It was a family record.
A bloodline tree.
And near the bottom—
her mother’s name.
Midnight stared in disbelief.
“No.”
Kael took the page from Lucien instantly.
His expression darkened violently.
“What is it?” Midnight demanded.
Neither male answered quickly enough.
Worst possible sign.
Midnight stepped forward and ripped the paper from Kael’s hands herself.
Then froze.
Because directly beneath her mother’s name—
was another.
Father: Unknown
Blood Classification: Royal Abyss Line
Midnight stopped breathing.
And at the very bottom of the page, written in faded black ink:
If awakened, terminate immediately before ascension occurs.
- Writer
