The stake of fire

h of Hollow F

gh the cracks in the soul. The further north we rode, the more the world felt untethered from time. Trees gnarled into unnatural

ood colored frost. I didn't ask.

o something sacred

Red

who abandoned their path and let madness consume them. Where her tears fe

es were bu

Red Vale was not a

r the

od who chose t

vale on the f

ss was more ominous than the storm. My horse whinnied and refused to take a

ed. "This is as

tepped past the treeline, the air thickened. Like walking through the bre

it?" Lucien as

es

sn't

recog

n me was ca

ke teeth jutting from

s were carved into the structures, older than the old tongue, curving like the ph

ong before the packs. Before the Lycan tribes s

the symbols. It flared beneath my fingertips fa

n wat

blood," he said. "That's n

ure what to say. The magic h

h. Tall. Split cleanly down the middle. Bla

it, the vision

aw

an from

ht, standing before a crowd of wolves wh

r, a burn

blade held i

amiliar gold eyes bleedin

ci

. Wild eyed

ned her

oke my

la

away from the m

e me, hands at my should

pered. "Bleed

ent

ride. But she, she looked through me

isn't just memory. This place..

amp near

old protections even the vampires feared. The fire strugg

gger he gave me in my lap, tracing the

lly, voice low. "They died when I was youn

ed at me, ey

by old women who hated wolves," I continued. "When the change c

hey di

terly. "Instead, th

light. "You know... my father told me once that the goddess

he chos

"I don't think sh

ice something that twisted li

n't you? The one I saw in th

carries memories. Whispers passed down through the generations. Some say s

d into t

he died to

Of her eyes. Of the silve

didn't die. She bec

e Red Vale sho

to sc

owing. The fire was dead, and the sky above

merged fr

ns. Not

os

ecters of those buried beneath the Vale. They slith

m touch you,"

dagger, hea

open into a permanent snarl. I slashed wi

did

ced along its edge, and the gh

word glowe

uted over the noise. "Souls

y n

e drawn

as r

ignor

came

dagger burned in my hand, but

owl

from me in both

ream. No

ca

osts s

shimm

y one... t

owered h

y go

of the snow, surrounde

n to" I said,

Lucien whispered.

toward m

oes thi

nd for the first

of

r

ou are no longer becomi

are

faded, they left

dallion buried be

it and handed it to me.

eclipse. On the other: two wolves, ba

s called the Veil Sigil. Said to

red a

ive it

we'll need more than str

ached

medallion again

bur

pa

ai

as

somethi

ing an

hing

up into

lpha. Pr

? Not

so

surv