The Sacred Nexus

The remnants of the shattered communication array were cold under my fingertips. The sheer force of the energy I’d channeled—the desperate, mother-fueled power—had bought Marcus a few precious seconds of warning, but it had left me brittle and depleted. Enid confirmed the baby was safe, a small victory against the tide of catastrophe, but the cost was a painful clarity: I was now physically compromised.
Sophie, however, was a whirlwind of controlled fury. With the name Atlas as their target, she and Enid plunged into the most ancient, forbidden texts—the scrolls detailing the dark rites of the Elder God of Succession. Hours passed in a frantic, silent blur.
Finally, Enid let out a gasp that was closer to a sob.
"I have it," the witch whispered, pushing a brittle, silver-threaded scroll toward me. "The full requirements for the Ascent Ritual."
I forced myself to focus, tracing the spidery script with my eyes. The ritual had three components:
The Golden Blood: The pure, untainted blood of a royal descendant. (Adrian.)

The Elder's Vow: The willing sacrifice of the petitioner's own will and lineage. (Atlas's desperate ambition.)

The Sacred Nexus: The ritual must be performed at the precise location where the Divine Bond was originally sealed, fueled by the power of the original joining.
I slammed my hand onto the scroll, the shock rendering me speechless. "The Divine Bond? What are you talking about?"
"The bond between Marcus and you, Your Majesty," Enid clarified, her eyes wide with revelation. "The Elder God doesn't just want power; he wants to overwrite the very foundation of your reign. He needs to sacrifice Adrian at the place where you and Marcus first became one—the place where the Dragon King's power and the Golden Line's power fused."
My mind flashed back through moments of intense, life-altering connection—the palace, the forest, the hidden places of power. But one place stood out, a location of unparalleled magical potency.
"The Heartwood Grove," I breathed, the name a sacred curse. It was a secret place on the palace grounds, a millennia-old grove of sacred oaks where our ancestors had renewed their vows and where Marcus and I had secretly, passionately, forged our unbreakable, divine mate bond. It was a wellspring of raw, untamed power—the perfect altar.
"It's the most magically potent place on the grounds," Sophie confirmed, her voice laced with fear. "If Atlas performs the ritual there, fueled by Adrian's blood, the Elder God will not only ascend, but it will corrupt the entire foundation of our bond, stripping Marcus of his title and power forever."

The Ticking Clock

"Marcus found the lair, the temple," I said, rising unsteadily to my feet. "But the temple is just the storage and the command center. The ritual itself has to be performed at the Grove. He's in the wrong place!"
The horrifying truth: Marcus was wasting precious time battling Atlas's forces in the catacombs, chasing the enemy's shadow, while the real target—the ritual site—was just outside the palace doors. Atlas was likely moving Adrian right now.
"The full moon is still weeks away," Sophie pointed out, though her hope was strained.
"The ritual doesn't need the full moon to start," Enid countered, pointing to the text. "It requires Maximum Potency. The closer to the full moon, the better. But the ritual can be forced to begin at any time, provided the petitioner uses enough raw power." She glanced at the clock. "With Adrian's pure blood and Atlas's divine fury, they could begin in a matter of hours. Tonight."
"We have to go to the Grove," I declared, ignoring the sharp pain in my side. I grabbed a dagger from the armory display. "I can't reach Marcus with another surge. We have to stop Atlas before he starts the final sequence."
Sophie stepped forward, her face set with grim determination. "Mom, you can barely stand. Let me take a strike team. Lyra's Dragon Guard is mobilizing."
"No," I insisted, shaking my head. "The Grove is protected by wards only my bloodline can traverse without immense resistance. And I know the defensive spells of that place better than anyone. I'm going. And you are coming with me. We are not sending a squad to fight a God; we are going to sever the ritual."

The Secret Weapon

As we raced out of the research room and down the hall, my hand instinctively went to my abdomen. The power I had just used—the sheer force required to warn Marcus—had been amplified by the life growing inside me. This baby, the ultimate symbol of the powerful bond Atlas sought to destroy, was now a source of unexpected, raw power.
"Sophie," I said, glancing back at her as we ran. "Listen closely. If Atlas has begun the sacrifice, and if the final sequence is underway, you have to do something radical. You have to be ready to use your purest blood to disrupt the circle. It will hurt, but it's the only way."
I didn't tell her the deeper truth—that the child she was protecting, the sibling she thought was simply a powerful Alpha, was the reason for this nightmare. I needed her focus unclouded.
We burst out of a hidden exit and ran toward the dark, whispering canopy of the Heartwood Grove. The air grew colder, the energy heavier, pulling at my soul. Up ahead, I saw a faint, eerie glow pulsing from the center of the trees—a purple light that matched the dark energy I'd seen in the main hall.
Atlas was already there. The ritual had begun.
I looked back one last time toward the city, sending a desperate, silent thought out to the dragon who was now miles away, tearing apart stone and earth for a son who was right under his nose.
Hurry, Marcus. Hurry.
We plunged into the Grove, running toward the purple light, knowing that if we failed, we would lose a son, a King, and the world—all at the hands of a bitter, desperate brother.