The mountain trembled.
Deep beneath Blackwood, in caverns older than memory, ancient mechanisms groaned awake for the first time in centuries. Stone gears ground against one another, seals cracking, runes flaring to life.
The Trial of Power had begun.
Ivy stood at the cavern entrance, her breath misting in the cold. The Royal Mark glowed faintly beneath her armor, a steady pulse against her heart. Before her yawned a tunnel of black crystal, its surface alive with moving symbols.
Maelis stood beside her, staff planted firmly into the stone. “This place was built to test the first queens,” she said. “Most never emerged.”
Rowan’s hand tightened around Ivy’s. “Then we don’t let you enter.”
She turned to him, eyes steady. “If I don’t, I will never control what I am. And the Shadow King w
