Chapter 38: Promised in the Blood
Kael's scream echoed long after the root had died.
He clawed at his chest like something was still inside him not pain, but absence. Like something had been torn loose that never belonged, yet had still grown roots in his bones.
Lyra knelt beside him, arms steady but her eyes her eyes were shifting.
She was watching the pool. Watching it shrink into dust.
And hearing a voice.
Not Kael's.
Not Oran's.
Not the Saint.
A new voice. Feminine. Familiar.
"You were not the only one promised."
---
The moment snapped.
The chamber, still thick with dying magic, began to groan like the foundation itself couldn't hold without the pact.
Above them, roots split with wet cracks. Dust fell in streams.
"Time to go," Kael rasped, still half-dazed.
But Lyra didn't move.
She stared at the inscription that had revealed itself on the wall behind the throne.
New. Glowing. Written in fresh red.
Her name.
Not Lyra Elowen Vale.
But Seren Vale.
---
Kael saw it too.
He whispered, "Seren? That was your sister's name."
Lyra's voice trembled. "No…"
Kael looked at her.
But she wasn't looking at him anymore.
She was staring at the reflection of herself on the stone wall only the reflection wasn't matching her movements.
The reflection was smiling.
---
The chamber shattered behind them.
They ran.
---
Up the black staircase, breath ragged, roots scraping at their heels.
The exit wasn't there anymore.
Only a narrow tunnel that hadn't existed before lined with flickering carvings that moved when they weren't looking.
They plunged into it.
And the shadows followed.
Outside, in the ruined town square…
Maerin paced.
The town had changed.
Not just crumbled.
Changed.
Windows now faced the wrong direction.
Statues she'd grown up seeing were weeping blood from the eyes.
Children's laughter echoed from houses that were supposed to be empty.
And in the sky…
The sun had stopped moving.
---
Kael and Lyra burst from the tunnel, gasping.
Maerin raised her weapon. "Where's Oran?"
Lyra shook her head. "Gone."
Kael was pale. "But we're not free."
And then Lyra said it.
"It wasn't Kael they wanted all along."
Maerin froze. "What?"
Kael looked at Lyra like he'd never seen her before.
"The pact didn't ask for a son… it asked for a daughter."
---
They stared at her.
And behind her, the statue of the Hollow Saint cracked open.
From within, a shadow stumbled out.
Slender. Robed in white.
Hair like snow. Eyes like the Saint's echo.
And then Lyra whispered, "Seren?"
Seren real or not walked barefoot into the square.
And whispered:
"She was never sacrificed."
Then pointed at Lyra.
"But you will be."