Chapter 23: Burn the Gods, Then Run
897 Words
The Queen descended into the eastern valley at dawn.
She did not ride.
She walked.
And the ground itself bent beneath her.
Behind her came the Mirror Guard—twenty of her most devout, draped in reflective armor etched with spells that shimmered with false images. Their eyes glowed white. Their blades whispered.
They didn’t speak.
They simply marched.
And the wolves still standing after the mirrorfire purge scattered like birds.
Luna crouched behind a fallen pine, blood dripping down her leg, her heart pounding too hard in her throat to breathe.
Alec, her youngest scout, knelt beside her, eyes wide.
“Alpha,” he whispered. “What do we do?”
Luna didn’t answer right away.
Because this wasn’t a battle.
It was an execution.
And her wolves were the target.
She gritted her teeth.
“We give them a reason to remember us.”
At the ridge’s edge, Luna stood.
Tall. Wounded. Unbroken.
Flanked by the thirteen remaining wolves of her unit.
Some bruised. Some shaking.
All staring at a death they refused to bow to.
The Queen raised one hand.
A signal.
Mirror spells activated with a low chime.
And illusions exploded into being—ghost wolves, flame doubles, shadows meant to confuse and disorient.
A normal pack would panic.
Luna’s didn’t.
Because they weren’t normal anymore.
They were hers.
“Shield spell. Formation three. Eyes closed.”
The wolves obeyed instantly.
They shut their eyes.
Bared their throats.
And howled.
The sound fractured the Queen’s spell.
A piercing, primal cry—so rooted in blood and rage that even the mirrorfire stuttered.
Luna ran straight into the chaos.
Daggers drawn.
Heart wide open.
She didn’t aim for the Queen.
Not yet.
She aimed for her faith.
One mirror knight fell to her left.
Another to her right.
She moved like wind, like moonlight on water, weaving between shadow-illusions and flashing blades.
She didn’t stop.
Even when a spell sliced across her side, burning her ribs raw.
Even when her legs faltered from blood loss.
She reached the Queen in six minutes.
Six wolves down.
None dead.
Yet.
The Queen turned.
Unsurprised.
“I wondered when you’d finally run out of places to hide,” she said.
Luna panted.
Sweating. Trembling.
“You didn’t kill me the first time. You won’t kill me now.”
The Queen’s mouth twisted into something like pity.
“I don’t want to kill you,” she said. “I want you to watch.”
She raised her hand again.
This time—Luna’s wolves turned on themselves.
One screamed.
Another clawed her own face.
Illusions inside the mind.
Terror spells.
Blood binding reversal.
Luna’s stomach twisted.
But she didn’t fall.
She lunged.
Dagger high.
And for a second—
She almost reached the Queen’s throat.
Almost.
Until the Queen caught her by the wrist.
And whispered something in an old tongue.
Luna’s body froze.
Her dagger dropped.
Her knees buckled.
But she didn’t collapse.
Because someone caught her.
Kael.
He crashed through the tree line like a fury unleashed, his fist already slamming into the Queen’s shoulder, knocking her backward ten feet.
She didn’t fall.
But she staggered.
And that was enough.
Luna gasped.
“Kael…”
“I’m here.”
“I told you not to follow me.”
“I’m tired of watching you bleed for me.”
They didn’t have time for reunion.
The Queen straightened.
Raised both hands.
And the sky shattered.
A dome of mirrorfire exploded overhead, covering the entire ridge.
Wolves screamed.
The air sizzled with distortion.
Kael grabbed Luna and pulled her into a roll, covering her with his body as the sky fractured above them.
The ground trembled.
Magic cracked.
Reality itself seemed to bend—
And then Kael howled.
The sound was not human.
Not just wolf.
It was ancient.
It was Alpha.
The Queen faltered.
And in that breath—
Luna stood.
Covered in blood.
Still burning.
And charged.
She didn’t need Kael to follow.
He was already beside her.
Two bodies. One rhythm.
One truth:
This ends today.
They moved like storm and shadow.
He took the guards.
She took the Queen.
The knife in her hand wasn’t blessed.
Wasn’t silver.
It was hers.
And when it cut across the Queen’s cheek, it bled truth.
The Queen screamed.
Kael tackled the nearest spellcaster.
Luna screamed at the moon.
Their wolves rallied.
And the ridge burned.
When it ended, it wasn’t silence.
It was absence.
The Queen was gone.
Vanished through a mirror gate.
Most of her Mirror Guard lay broken or unconscious.
Ten wolves dead.
Eight more unable to walk.
And Luna—
Collapsed into Kael’s arms.
He held her long after the fire died.
Rocked her.
Wiped the blood from her eyes.
“I almost lost you,” he said.
“I told you not to come.”
“Say it again.”
She blinked up at him.
“You’re a bastard.”
He smiled.
“I missed you too.”
They didn’t speak more.
They just kissed.
Hard.
Messy.
Alive.
And when night fell, Kael carried her into the forest.
Not to hide.
But to heal.
And when he laid her down, he didn’t undress her fast.
He kissed her wounds.
Whispered over her bruises.
Entered her slow.
Held her tight.
And f****d her like she was the center of the world.
Because she was.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD