Chapter 1
DEMI-DAUGHTER
Seryn ~ Nowadays
The Dream Ancient had to be fucking with her.
“Da-daughter?” I stammered. The world tilted under my feet, and I locked my knees. My fingers flew up to skim Morpheus’ warm hand as it cupped my cheek. A shimmer of recognition tingled under my skin.
My mind tore through everything that he’d said. Everything that had happened in the last days. The Nightbloom Sundering treaty that kept him and his brother Phobetor from crossing into each other’s realms. His imprisonment.
Mama and Morpheus were fated.
Shallow breaths caught in my throat, my heart slamming hard into my ribs. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not after Gavrel had sacrificed himself to the Void to protect me from Melina.
A broken sob tumbled over my bottom lip, and Morpheus’ touch left me, his brows pulling together.
But there, the corners of his eyes and mouth were soft and curious.
Tender.
Kaden shifted closer to my side as Elders Strom and Guust stared wide-eyed at us. Everyone was still, a symphony of respirations dancing around us before dropping into the churning, metallic pool in the center of the pit.
A riot of emotions pummeled me. Smashed into my mind and bones like an explosion of rocks. As if I’d been the one trapped in amber all these turns until it shattered around me.
I’d lost Gavrel.
Devastation choked me.
I was Seryn Nightshade.
Anxiety sliced into my gut.
Yaya.
Fear.
Melina.
Rage.
The Withering.
Helplessness.
Father—no, Gideon.
Bitterness.
Images of all the times Gideon had scrutinized me as if I were a bug under his boot. His coldness. His disdain. His resentment. He’d never treated me with anything but callous obligation.
Because my mother had asked him to care for Letti and me, that final day in Surrelia, before she disappeared when I was seven.
“Take care of them,” Mama pleaded.
Gideon lifted his chin, his expression softening as he met her gaze. “Of course, my love.”
He’d known he wasn’t my father but had raised me anyway. With a heavy dose of acrimony and reluctance.
I clutched the small bit of gratitude I felt for the man, letting it temper my disgust. But any lingering respect I had was dwindling by the second. He’d gotten Hestia culled and hadn’t done a thing when the Akridais came for me.
I scanned Morpheus’ countenance as his frosty eyes, so like mine, glinted with something close to affection. The strong, aquiline nose. The robust angles of his cheekbones and jaw.
A sculptor could have chiseled every bit of him; he looked like a marble statue brought to life, draped in gold. Perhaps he was after being trapped in stone for nearly a century.
No, he was real.
His words were real.
Beseeching.
I blinked several times, my knees threatening to give out.
The Ancient before me didn’t blink.
It’s true. Isn’t it?
Morpheus was … he was my bloody father.
Damn me to the Murk.
“Holy fuckity fuck. You’re a demi-Ancient?” Kaden squawked, his jaw halfway to the floor. “Please don’t smite me, Ser. I know I can be a twat, but I’ve been your loyal idiot since we were two. Best friend privileges, yeah?”
A wry chuckle slipped from me, his joke breaking the spell I’d been under, tugging me out of the disbelief and confusion strangling me. The back of my hand lightly smacked Kaden’s chest, and he smiled tenderly, wrapping his arm around my waist, supporting me.
Morpheus’ eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at Kaden and then went slack as he looked back at me expectantly.
I bowed my head with a deep inhale and then stepped out of Kaden’s hold. My fists clenched as I moved toward my … my father.
Before I could make contact, my attention snapped upward as the whir of the semi-translucent conveyor sounded from above. Inky energy writhed along its perimeter. Through the base, I glimpsed two blurry silhouettes.
Blue and yellow halos flared around Marah and Endurst. Morpheus’ gilded aura rippled over him, and my nape thrummed in response.
As the disk descended, the glass cast a saffron tint over the flickering crimson above it.
“Wait,” I ordered before anyone could deliver an embered attack. The familiar sound of friendly bickering floated down before its occupants were fully in view.
“The duuuuungeon,” Breena sang as she wiggled her fingers and jumped, filling the space beside me. She slung her arm over my shoulders. “Betcha thought you could go on another dungeon adventure without me. Eh, Ryn? Fat fecking chance.”
Kaden crossed his arms. “I think you missed out on a large part of the adventure.”
“Not my fault the wyverns thought you couldn’t make it without them. Besides, there’s always another adventure.” She winked at Morpheus, and his brows rose. “Who’s this tasty morsel?”
Kaden coughed, and Marah’s hands fluttered over her mouth.
“My Ancients, woman. Can’t you see it’s bloody Morpheus?” Rhaegar scolded, head shaking as he stepped off the platform and bowed low.
Morpheus lifted his hand, and Rhaegar rose, taking the spot behind Breena and ruffling her hair. She swatted at him before huffing and curtsying. “Well, hello there, oh, Ancient of Dreams. Did I hear right that ya knocked up Firefly’s mom?”
“Bloody void,” Kaden muttered.
Breena shrugged. “What? It’s echoey down here. If he wanted it to be a secret, he should’ve whispered.”
The corner of Morpheus’ mouth quirked.
I glanced at Breena. “You heard right, but Gavrel—” I stepped closer to the molten surface, and Rhaegar cursed under his breath, eyes narrowing in understanding. My breath hitched. “Is it … calmer?”
The substance’s movements slowed, rippling like dark, metallic water in slow motion. All eyes were fixed on the opening.
“The full moon wanes. You need to go before it closes.” Morpheus’ gaze flicked between Breena and me, then landed on my hand.
He continued, voice low and urgent, “The ring … it’s a conduit to the Oneiric realms, carving doorways through celestial borders. Mortals can only wield it under the full moon, when ember flows strongest. As my daughter, you might be able to portal outside lunation—or it could rip you apart.”
Breena snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh, is that all? Charming. I’m coming with you, Firefly.”
There was no use in arguing with her. And no time, regardless.
Besides, I had no desire to discover firsthand whether my bloodline made me tear-resistant.
Morpheus leaned in, concern tightening his features.
“Do not lose the ring. If you land in the Stygian Murk, you’ll need it.
That place was forged from raw, volatile aether with nothing to govern it.
Like the tides, limbo expands and collapses with each lunation as it feeds on shifting ember currents.
Without a celestial key like your ring, anything caught inside—Ancient or not—remains trapped until the next full moon. ”
I lifted my chin. “If they even survive that long.”
Morpheus’ shoulders relaxed, satisfied that I had understood.
Kaden pulled me into a tight hug, then Rhaegar followed, holding me at arm’s length and squeezing my shoulders gently.
“Bring him home,” Rhaegar instructed. “If anyone can, it’s you. We’ll handle things here. Marek is determined to find Yaya.”
A sad smile spread across my lips before I turned and then paused in front of Morpheus. He’d said he needed me to find my mother in the Void, which meant that’s where he believed her to be. Hope glowed within me, casting light upon my resolve.
“I … I’ll do my best to find Mama,” I whispered roughly, remembering that my father also had a lot to lose if I didn’t return.
Morpheus tucked a curl behind my ear, and I leaned into his warmth for a moment, realizing how starved I’d been all these turns for the nurturing touch of a parent.
He smiled, dropping his arm. “I’ve caught glimpses of you throughout the turns. In your dreams and Maya’s. And I have no doubt you can do anything you set your mind to. Once you return from my brother’s domain—and I know you will—we’ll have time to learn one another. If that’s what you wish.”
I nodded and slowly stepped away from him, pressing my lips inward. I filled my lungs and grabbed Breena’s hand.
She squeezed, grinning at me fiendishly. “Adventure time?”
My grip tightened on her fingers.
And then we jumped.