The Prince, the Rogue & the Reckoning

t the silence was deceptive, stretched tight across the corridors like a bowstring waiting to snap. Guards pa

creak and footstep. Her hands itched to return to the relic, to feel its hum beneath her fingertips, to sense the s

k found dead, fields scorched with no fire, and shadows moving independently of their source. Whispers in the streets

ning every shadow, every glimmer of movement beyond the walls. "They're testing us," he

ghtened. "So the

it means protection. But the danger doesn't vanish because the meda

ed. "Choos

ds, but the connection isn't severed. You'll have to be ready if the c

hrough the treetops. Shadewraiths, moving in the wind like black smoke, silent and hungr

ned. "Then we train

ence during the council, the way he hadn't intervened, hadn't offered reassurance. That steadiness had felt like neglect. And still

lements, overlooking the fields beyond the city walls. The air shimmered w

gures. They moved with inhuman grace, eyes glinting like shar

t giving the relic to the

opping it. It's about controlling it. And

were swift, slipping between arrows as if the wind itself carried them.

lling. "That's the spirit. Let

lunged, and though she was not wielding the medallion, she could sense its echo, the residual magic that pulsed faintly through

rion joined them only occasionally, observing with a composed, almost clinical interest.

its of endurance, forced her to confront fear and exhaustion, and yet al

rself leaning against a wall, breathing hard, soaking wet. Cassi

tly. "Every time I think you'r

ugging. "Better r

th me than alone," he murmured, and before she could reply, his fi

hes, the noble heir too restrained to act, too careful to intervene. The contrast burned in her

ed to feel the warmth and protection he represented, but every time she im

r attention, challenged her at every turn. And though part of her mourned the

like a storm. And she realized, with a mixture of fear and thrill, that her heart could be divided. Aer

than the Shadewraiths, coated in black scales that shimmered under moonlight, they

ch. Her pulse raced, every nerve alive. Cassian a

he asked,

ping her dagger.

across the courtyard. Lyra fought alongside Cassian, their movem

ave left her hands, but it had not left her destiny. She had a choice-

n had never b