It had been two days since the ambush in the corridor. Two days since I tore open something deep, ancient, and unrelenting inside me.
I hadn't told anyone what happened. Not truly. Not about the voices. The blood. The woman in chains. Not even Sophie. Especially not Sophie. I trusted her, but some truths carry weight heavy enough to crack even the strongest loyalties.
Still, something had shifted. She hovered near more than usual, her gaze cutting toward me when she thought I wouldn't notice. Her fingers twitched near her blade sometimes—not out of fear, but readiness. I wasn't sure which unnerved me more.
And the hooded figure… he hadn't left.
I didn't know when he slipped in or how he vanished, but I always felt him. Like a shadow stitched to my own. His presence was steady, silent, and certain. He didn't speak much. But I knew he was watching. Protecting. Not out of fear. Not because he was afraid of me.
But because something bigger was moving. And he was watching over me, to make sure I was okay.
I stood in the abandoned wing of the estate. It was always cold. Dust clung to forgotten portraits, memories lingered like smoke. I walked the halls aimlessly, fingers brushing along the old stone, chasing silence..like it had been worn smooth from time and secrets.
I didn't know why I came here.
Maybe I was hoping the silence would answer me.
Instead, the silence opened something else.
I felt the pulse again, like a second heartbeat under my skin. It wasn't pain. It wasn't power. It was presence. A knowing. A calling
"Katerina."
I didn't startle. His voice had become familiar, even comforting.
The hooded figure stepped from the shadows, eyes unreadable, but familiar. Like I'd seen him in dreams.
"I knew I'd find you here," he said, glancing around. "You always go to places that remember things."
"You make me sound sentimental."
"I think you are."
I turned to him, arms crossed. "What do you want?"
"I want to know how much you remember."
I hesitated. "Enough."
He studied me, and for a moment, something flickered in his eyes, not fear. Something heavier. A burden shared.
"She was your ancestor," he said. "The woman in the vision."
"I figured that much out."
"She wasn't just cursed," he continued. "She made a choice. When the Dominion over the Restless passed into her bloodline, she didn't hide. She wielded it."
I swallowed hard. "To raise the dead?"
"To protect the living. And destroy those who tried to own them."
"She said they feared her."
"And they did. They still do."
I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know all this?"
His gaze dropped. "Because my ancestors helped bury her."
My stomach twisted and chest tightened. "What?"
He didn't flinch. "It wasn't by choice. They were part of the old guard, sworn to protect the royal line, even from itself. When she turned, they called it madness. My ancestor helped lead the raid that brought her down."
I stepped back, rage flaring. "And now you're what? Trying to finish what they started? Is that why you're always around me? Helping me?"
"No," he said quickly, stepping forward. "No, Katerina. I'm trying to stop it from happening again."
My jaw tightened. "You think I'll turn?"
"I think you already have," he said softly. Then, before I could move, he reached out and pulled me into a sudden embrace. "And I won't let anything happen to you. I promise." he whispered.
The air stilled around us.
"You've already done what she couldn't held it back. Buried it. Controlled it."
I should've pulled away. Should've been furious.
But I didn't.
I relaxed into him. Because with him, I didn't have to pretend to be brave.
Some part of me already knew he was right.
"I need answers," I whispered.
"You'll have them," he promised. "But not here. Not now."
"Then when?" I stepped back from his embrace.
"When the next attack comes."
My blood ran cold. "You think they'll try again?"
He nodded. "They'll keep coming until they finish what they started. You've made more enemies, Katerina. Powerful ones. And now they know you're not just a threat to their schemes… you're a threat to everything they fear."
I didn't sleep that night. I watched the fire burn low in the hearth, the shadows stretch long on the walls, and listened to my heartbeat counting down something I couldn't name
Mine.
Hers.
All of it tangled in a legacy I hadn't chosen.
And when morning came, I didn't dress in silk.
I wore black. Leather. Blades strapped to my thigh. My mother's locket around my neck.
If they wanted a monster… I'd give them one.
But first, I needed more allies.
Sophie was alone in the map room, tracing lines over parchment. Her eyes flicked up when I entered.
"Where've you been?" she asked.
"Hiding. Thinking."
She raised a brow. "Dangerous combination."
I moved beside her, fingers brushing the edge of the map. "What if I told you everything they said about my mother was a lie?"
"I'd say… I already suspected."
That caught me off guard.
"I was three when she died," she continued. "But my parents remembered her. Not the tyrant the court whispered about. She was fierce. Protective. People don't burn women like that unless they're afraid."
I smiled faintly. "Then I need you now more than ever."
"For what?" Sophie asked, voice quiet, yet sharp as flint.
"To help me destroy the ones who tried to erase her. And to make sure they never do the same to me."
Her gaze held mine, something shadowed and fierce flickering in her eyes. "Then let's begin."
The words barely left her mouth when the air... thickened. Stilled. As if the very room was holding its breath.
A sharp pulse struck beneath my collarbone..
It began as a subtle thrumming in my chest. Not fear. Not adrenaline. Something deeper.
Once.
Twice.
Then again, stronger.
I reached for the locket. It was hot. No, burning. I hissed and tore it free, letting it dangle in the open air.
The chain bit into my skin as the pendant pulsed..no, throbbed, like it had a heartbeat of its own.
And then it bled.
Not crimson. But ink dark and thick, seeping from the cracks and trailing down my skin like melted shadow.
Sophie stepped back, her eyes wide. "M-my lad...what the hell—"
My knees grazing the edge of the table.
"Katerina—!" Sophie stepped forward, but I threw out a hand.
"Don't. Just—don't touch it.". I was frozen, heart slamming against my ribs, breath shallow and uneven.
The locket vibrated violently in the air, spinning once, twice and then split open.
The air around us shivered.
And then...ripped.
The world snapped.
Not physically. Not completely. But something beyond the veil tore. I felt it. A line unraveling in the fabric of this reality. A tear that bled light and smoke and soundless screams.
A figure emerged.
Wreathed in silver mist and black flame, it stepped through the tear with the sound of chains dragging through water. It was tall..inhumanly tall and its form blurred at the edges, like reality hadn't quite decided what it should look like.
My legs went weak. "Wha…"
Its eyes opened.
They weren't eyes, not really. Just twin points of ghostlight, flickering like dying stars inside a barely shaped face.
Then it knelt.
The air turned silent.
"At last," it whispered, voice both thunder and wind. "The bloodline wakes. My lady… you've called me."
Its eyes locked onto mine like it had been waiting centuries just to look at me.
I opened my mouth, but no words came. My pulse roared in my ears. My skin felt too tight. The locket, now cold, thudded once more against my chest, like a seal finally broken.
"What… are you?" My voice trembled with awe and something dangerously close to fear.
"I am your shadow and sword," it said. "Your witness. Your weapon. Bound to the Emberheart bloodline before your mother's breath first stirred."
A thousand questions clawed at my throat, but all I could do was feel. The weight of this bond. The truth humming in my marrow. This wasn't just a spirit. It wasn't dead. It wasn't alive.
It was a fragment of something sealed away long ago… and now, because of me, it had returned.
"I was forged in the fire of rebellion," it said. "When your bloodline stood at the brink of extinction, I was the last vow they made, to protect what little remained. To wait… until you."
I swallowed hard. My hand, still sticky with locket blood, trembled.
"I don't understand."
"You were never meant to understand," it said, "until you became worthy of knowing. Until the curse within you fully opened its eyes." his voice echoed
I shook my head. "This isn't possible."
He tilted his head "And yet… here I stand."
Sophie, to her credit, hadn't drawn her blade. But she was watching, tense and silent, eyes flicking between me and the entity.
"What do I call you?" I asked. My voice sounded too small. Too human.
"Names are bones. They hold power. They anchor and bind, but if it comforts you…" It tilted its head. "You may call me Vale."
The name struck something inside me. Not memory, instinct. Like my bones already knew the taste of it.
"You were bound to my ancestor?"
"I was her shield and her blade. I watched her rise, and I watched her burn. And when she sealed the Emberheart within herself, I was the lock."
It stepped forward, close enough now for me to see the shifting script etched into its form, runes and symbols, endlessly moving, endlessly burning.
"You've awakened the curse, Katerina. That means it has begun."
"What has?"
Vale tilted its head again, and this time I swore it smiled. It was a terrible thing to see.
"The hunt."