The sky cracked open that night.
Above the Hollow Keep, the stars bled red and vanished one by one, swallowed by clouds that moved like living things. The forest groaned, ancient trees bowing under a sudden, unnatural wind that tasted like iron and fire.
Deep underground, in the ruins still echoing with silence, Aelira stood at the heart of the broken seal, the crown of black flame in her hand.
It didn’t burn her.
It whispered.
Wake them.
She turned, slow, deliberate. Her bare feet left no prints in the ash. Shadows clung to her like a cloak. The crown pulsed in her palm—alive. Hungry.
And the girl who’d once been Amelia was gone.
This was something more.
Something ancient.
Something returned.
⸻
Raze clawed his way out of the rubble, blood pouring from his side, smoke curling f
