The Fire in Her Veins
Eira's blood was not her own.
She felt it the moment the last of the Heart's crystal dissolved into her skin—a foreign pulse slithering through her veins, whispering in a language older than time.
"Mine," it purred.
The ruins of Vaelis trembled as the first vyrth clawed its way from the rubble, its scaled body unfolding like a nightmare given flesh.
Kaelan's grip on her arm was iron. "We need to go. Now."
Eira couldn't move. The Heart's power coiled around her bones, sweet and suffocating.
"Kill the Shadowmancer,"it urged. "He will betray you."
She wrenched away from Kaelan, her voice not entirely her own. "It's *talking* to me."
Above them, the sky darkened—not with clouds, but with wings. Dozens of Forgotten, drawn to the Heart's awakening.
The nearest vyrth lunged.
Eira moved without thinking.
Silver fire erupted from her palms, not the wild bursts from before, but a blade of pure starlight. It sheared through the creature's neck in one clean stroke.
Black ichor sprayed the stones.
The other vyrth hissed, circling.
Kaelan stared at her, his golden eyes wide. "Eira—"
"Liar," the Heart whispered through her teeth. "Traitor."
Her magic flared again—
A horn cut through the chaos.
---
The King's Gambit
The Hunters arrived like a storm.
Dozens poured from the tree line, their black armor etched with the Shadow King's sigil. At their head rode a figure clad in obsidian plate, his face hidden behind a helm shaped like a screaming skull.
The Shadow King.
Kaelan went rigid. "No."
The king dismounted, his boots crushing dead leaves as he approached. The vyrth recoiled—not in fear, but recognition.
"You stole from me, little star," he said, his voice echoing unnaturally. "Now I take back what's mine."
He raised a hand.
Kaelan screamed.
Shadows tore from his skin, spiraling toward the king like smoke to a flame. Eira lunged for him, but the Heart's power in her veins rebelled, rooting her in place.
"Let him burn,"it crooned.
Kaelan collapsed as the last of his shadows were ripped away, his body convulsing. The king absorbed them, his armor glowing with stolen power.
"You see, Starlight?" The king's helm cracked open, revealing a face that was—
Young.
Too young. Too much like Kaelan's.
"I am not the villain here," he said softly. "I am the cage."
Then he turned his hollow gaze to the vyrth.
"And you just set them free."
The Unmasking
The king removed his helm.
Eira's breath caught.
He had Kaelan's sharp cheekbones, the same gold-flecked eyes—but where Kaelan's gaze burned, the king's was empty.
"You're—"
"His brother," the king finished. "Veyl."
Kaelan groaned, struggling to his knees. "Liar."
"Is it a lie?"Veyl tilted his head. "You swore to serve me. To bring me the Starlight heir. And yet—"He gestured to Eira. "Here she stands, armed with the one thing that can unmake us all."
Eira's mind reeled. Kaelan's brother was the Shadow King.
And he'd known.
The Heart in her veins *laughed*.
"Now you see," it whispered. "Now you choose."l extended a hand. "Give me the Heart, Eira. Let me lock the Forgotten away again before they remember exactly what they are."
Above them, the winged vyrth dove.
Kaelan met her eyes across the battlefield, his expression raw. "Don't."
The Heart snarled:
"Kill them both."
Eira closed her eyes
And *pushed*.
The Breaking
The explosion of starlight lit up the sky.
Eira didn't target the vyrth. Didn't strike at Veyl.
She tore the Heart out of herself.
The pain was unimaginable. Silver fire poured from her mouth, her eyes, her mark splitting open like a wound. The Heart's crystal reformed in the air between her hands, screaming
"NO!"
—and shattered.
The blast threw everyone back. Eira hit the ground hard, her vision swimming.
The vyrth howled, their bodies flickering between scales and something *lelse—shifting, melting, like shadows in the light.
Veyl staggered upright, his face ashen. "What have you done?"
Eira coughed blood. "What you couldn't."
The Heart was gone.
And with it, the chains holding the Forgotten's true forms at bay.
Teaser for Chapter Seven: The Forgotten War
The Heart's destruction woke something ancient.
Something even the Shadow King feared.
And it recognized Eira.
"Welcome home,"it whispered.