Chapter 274
We didn’t wait for light.
By the time we reached the coast, the stars were fading and the sea glowed with the first touch of dawn. Kyral flew ahead, her cry cutting through the clouds like a warhorn. Zaerion circled above us, fire building in his throat. We didn’t need stealth—we needed fear.
Because whatever waited for us in those shadowed ruins by the water needed to know this:
We were coming for blood.
Mirella clutched the Elderblade at my side, its glow pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat. My Alpha rode behind me, jaw clenched, eyes set on the storm building above the sea. His wolf was close—too close—and I could feel his tension like static in the air.
“This isn’t just a sacrifice,” Mirella shouted over the wind. “He’s trying to crown her.”
“Crown her?” I echoed.
“As a shadow queen. She’s of royal blood, Aria. If the ritual completes, he’ll bind his soul to her body and she’ll be the host.”
My stomach twisted. “And she’ll die in the process.”
“Or worse—she won’t.”
The ruins loomed like a scar against the shoreline. Jagged towers, half-consumed by the waves, stood like broken teeth. The scent of blood and salt filled the air.
As we landed, Kyral hissed. “They’re here.”
Mirella was already scanning the ground. “There—fresh tracks. Leading to the lower chambers.”
We didn’t speak again.
We descended into the belly of the ruins, Zaerion staying above as our guard. The tunnel spiraled downwards, lit with faint violet torches, each one flickering with unnatural flame.
At the base, we heard chanting.
Low. Inhuman.
We burst through the final arch.
The scene froze before us.
Lilah lay on a stone altar—eyes closed, face pale. Black chains coiled around her wrists and ankles, humming with dark energy. Around her stood four robed figures, their faces hidden, their voices raised in the tongue of shadows.
And in the center, a figure cloaked in bone and fire.
The Bone King.
He turned.
His face was obscured, but I saw the hollowness where eyes should’ve been. Fire burned in his mouth as he smiled.
“Ah,” he said, voice like ash, “the true queen comes to watch her successor die.”
I raised my hand.
The Elderblade ignited in my grip, glowing like molten gold. Kyral shrieked and launched herself into the chamber, scattering the robed figures with a blast of fire.
But the Bone King didn’t flinch.
“You cannot stop this,” he hissed. “You were chosen for one purpose: to awaken the last of the dragons. And now, your bloodline will complete the circle.”
I advanced slowly, every step controlled. “Let her go.”
“She’s the vessel,” he said. “But you… you are the flame.”
The ground cracked beneath us as he raised his hand.
A burst of shadowflame erupted between us, hurling me back. I hit the stone wall with a grunt, pain lancing down my spine.
“Aria!” the Alpha shouted.
He charged in, sword raised—but one of the robed mages caught him mid-strike, sending a dark chain flying across his chest. He crashed to the ground with a growl, pinned.
Mirella tried to reach Lilah, casting spell after spell, but the altar was shielded by a barrier of smoke and bone.
I rose to my knees, eyes fixed on the Bone King.
“You can’t kill me,” he said.
“No,” I agreed.
“But I can sever your hold.”
I called to Kyral without words—just instinct, just flame.
She came to me, eyes glowing. I pressed my hand to her snout.
And then… I pushed.
Not just fire. Not just power. But memory.
The Elderblade surged in my grip.
I rushed forward again, ducking under a chain of shadow, blade slicing through the shield around Lilah with a flash of blinding light. The barrier shattered.
The Bone King screamed.
I plunged the blade into the altar.
The magic howled.
The chains around Lilah snapped. Her body jolted, gasping for air.
But then—everything stopped.
A silence so thick it stilled even the dragons.
And then his voice came again—inside my head this time.
“You are the last queen because you were made to be.”
Visions slammed into me—
A council. Hooded elders. My mother—young, terrified—holding a child.
Me.
“She will carry the blood of every dragon queen before her,” one elder said. “And when the Bone King rises, she will be our sword—and our sacrifice.”
“She cannot know,” another said. “If she chooses love, the fire will falter. If she chooses war, the kingdom will burn.”
“And if she chooses both…”
The vision shattered.
I stumbled, gasping.
My Alpha was beside me now, bleeding but standing. Lilah was still breathing, unconscious, but free.
Mirella steadied me. “What did you see?”
“They made me,” I whispered.
“What?”
“The council. The flameborn. They bred me to be this. A weapon. A curse.”
She said nothing.
Because what could she say?
The Bone King had vanished, for now. But we knew he’d be back.
This wasn’t over.
We left the ruins just as the sun broke the horizon, casting golden light over the wreckage.
Kyral flew ahead, silent. Zaerion circled protectively above.
The Alpha walked beside me, one arm around my waist to keep me steady.
He didn’t ask questions.
Not yet.
When we reached the cliffs again, I turned to him.
“My life—my power—it’s all part of their design,” I said bitterly. “They never gave me a choice.”
He looked at me then—not as his queen, not as the mother of dragons—but as a woman.
“And now?” he asked.
“I still don’t have a choice,” I whispered. “If I walk away, everyone burns. If I stay… I burn instead.”
He reached for my face, brushing the sweat and soot from my cheek.
“Then we burn together.”
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