Marked by Three: A Fated Destiny Series Book 1 #starywritingacademyv

The Watchtower

John

The moment I left her, I knew I was breaking protocol.

I shouldn’t have touched her.

I definitely shouldn’t have taken her.

But I’d do it again.

I drove straight to the Watchtower—a cloaked location that exists in-between. Not a place on any map. Not physical. Not quite astral either. A liminal zone known only to the Guard and those we protect.

At the center stood an obsidian spire—our anchor point. I pressed my palm against the surface and muttered the incantation in the Old Tongue.

“Advenire Guardem.”

The world fractured around me.

When it reformed, I stood in the Hall of Echoes. Walls carved from stone older than time, torches burning blue with captured flame, and a table that had seen the rise and fall of civilizations. The Guardians were already assembled.

Seven of us total.

All assigned to high-blood Regalia lines across the world.

Lucien, ever the tactician, looked up first. “You crossed the line.”

“I protected her,” I replied.

“You touched her,” he countered. “There’s a difference.”

“She’s waking up,” I said. “And when she does, she’ll need more than spreadsheets and spellcraft. She’ll need me.”

Thalia—keeper of bonds, guardian of two in the North—narrowed her eyes. “You bonded with her?”

I hesitated.

That was answer enough.

Lucien slammed his palm against the table. The torches flared. “We don’t mate, John. That’s not our purpose.”

“She’s not just a charge,” I growled. “She’s the last living bloodline of House Elara. Her lineage runs unbroken to the Regalia origin. She isn’t like the others. She isn’t just waking up—she’s pulling something with her.”

“What do you mean?” Thalia asked.

“I mean the seal is breaking. I saw it. I felt it. Her climax wasn’t just physical—it was an ignition. A surge. The mark hasn’t appeared yet, but it will. And when it does, every dark thing that’s been sleeping since the Great Silence will come looking.”

Silence.

Then, Lucien: “You compromised the oath.”

“She’s not a mission,” I said coldly. “She’s my fate.”

The table pulsed with ancient magic.

The Guardians looked at one another, then finally to Thalia, who whispered, “Then heaven help us all… because that means the war is beginning again.”