Chapter 30
Chapter
Thirty
Severeth stood like a specter conjured from nightmares, her crimson eyes fixed on me as I descended the steps with Zander at my side.
She hovered just above the stone of the Ascension Grounds, her midnight cloak rippling around her like smoke, her feet not touching the ground.
The air bent around her with an unnatural stillness—as though the world itself held its breath.
Zander and I rushed down to the grounds.
Kaelith landed beside me, but I waved her back. She was tense, but silent. This was my battle.
“How did you evade the wards?” I asked, stopping several paces away from the Blood Fae.
Her lips curled, slow and deliberate. “It’s one of my many secrets,” she purred, her voice soft and taunting. “But I didn’t come for your questions, Ashlyn. I came for your blood.”
I tilted my head, power coiling low in my gut. “Then I’m happy to give you a fight.”
Zander moved closer, the heat of his magic rising like a second sun beside me, but Severeth’s eyes flicked toward him and she lifted her hand with languid grace.
A crackling sound ignited before the silver and red circular barrier formed around us with a hollow thrum, cutting Zander off with a jarring pulse of magic. He slammed his fist into it. “Ashlyn!”
“I didn’t come for you, prince,” Severeth sneered. “Stay out of it.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she struck. Shadows surged from her hands and raced toward me like vipers. I dodged, sliding low across the ground as lightning crackled around my fingers. I twisted my wrist, released a bolt, but she was already moving—too fast, always too fast.
We danced.
Power flared between us. Her shadow struck, I countered with light. Her windstorm met my lightning. Every step was muscle memory now, every dodge a whisper of something primal, raw, and furious.
But something was wrong.
I felt it after the third exchange. Her strikes were slower, sloppier—not wild, just restrained. Her attacks hit with half the weight they used to. Was she testing me?
Not trying to kill?
“What are you doing?” I asked
I met her gaze as I ducked under a slash of electricity. She smirked—just enough to confirm it.
She was holding back.
Kaelith’s voice curled like thunder. She tests your limits, not your strength. She wants to see if you’re ready.
Ready for what?
I feinted left, rolled right, and drove my fist, lit with sparks, into her ribs. She let the hit land, grunting—but no blood. No counter.
My chest heaved as I took two steps back, breathing hard. She floated upright, fixing her cloak with an infuriating calm.
Then she smiled. “Better. But still so full of mercy.”
“You’re not fighting me,” I said aloud, realization dawning like a storm breaking. “You’re measuring me.”
Severeth’s lips parted in a delighted sigh. “Good, little storm. You’re starting to understand. But tell me—when the final battle comes… will you still hesitate to strike?”
The heat scorched up around me the second her blade flashed.
I saw the glint—too late.
Severeth twisted, her body moving like smoke wrapped in silk, and from beneath her cloak, she drew a curved dagger. It gleamed obsidian in the low light, but when it struck, the blade hissed silver as it kissed my shoulder.
Pain flared, sharp and bright. I twisted away just in time to avoid a deeper wound, but the edge still caught me, slicing through the thin layer of armor and flesh. I hissed, my hand flying up to catch the warm trickle of blood—but there was barely any.
Only a thin silver line marred my skin, almost glowing before the magic inside me surged and knitted the flesh whole again. The pain was gone in seconds.
She watched it heal and smiled. Of course, her eyes said. You are what he claimed you were.
Kaelith roared behind me.
The sound was so furious, so full of protective wrath, it rattled the stones beneath my feet.
Hein added his voice a moment later, and the flames that followed struck the barrier like a wave of molten rage.
The magical dome shimmered violently as their fire smashed against it, again and again, until the air inside our makeshift arena began to boil.
The temperature soared.
Sweat beaded down my neck and spine. My lungs clawed for cooler air as it thickened, blistered by the firestorm battering the magic.
Severeth didn’t move.
Her crimson eyes locked with mine, as if daring me to see her clearly now. She’d drawn blood, and something about that fact pleased her more than I could understand.
“Your dragons burn for you,” she said, voice calm despite the inferno dancing just beyond her barrier. “That will be your strength... or your undoing.”
I flexed my fingers, lightning crackling through them. “You’ll never touch them.”
Severeth twirled the dagger once, then slid it back beneath her cloak.
“I already have.”
And then, without a word, she vanished.
The barrier shattered with a thunderous crack, heat blasting outward and scattering ash across the grounds. Kaelith lunged toward me, wings flared, her mind rushing into mine like a tidal wave.
You are hurt.
I’m fine.
She marked you.
It’s healed.
But even as I said it, I touched my shoulder.
The skin was smooth.
But the silver mark remained.
Zander slipped his arm around my waist, pulling me gently into his side, his touch a comfort and a tether as the heat from Kaelith’s rage still crackled through the air.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
I nodded, but it wasn’t just a nod—it was firm, certain, and probably more stubborn than truthful. “I’m fine.”
His gaze lingered on my shoulder, where the faint silver line still shimmered like some cursed brand. But he didn’t press, just pulled me closer.
A courier emerged from the castle’s arched entrance, the bright royal crest stamped across his chest. He moved with urgency, crossing the grounds with eyes lowered in reverence or fear as Kaelith and Hein watched him approach.
Without a word, the young man extended a scroll toward Zander and then bowed before hurrying back the way he came.
Zander’s jaw tightened as he broke the seal and unrolled the parchment, eyes scanning the contents.
“What is it?” I asked, already bracing.
“Theron’s called a war council,” he said flatly. “Iron Fang and Thrall Squad are to attend.”
My stomach dropped.
Did he want to incite another fight?