The forest didn't welcome them back. When Eden and Kade crawled out from the ruptured Hollow, the pines stood unnaturally still, as if stunned. The air buzzed with latent magic, crackling across Eden's skin like a warning. The moment she crossed the tree line, the trees bowed, not from wind, but something deeper. Recognition.
Kade limped beside her, blood on his shoulder. "We have to get to the pack house."
Eden barely nodded. Every step forward felt like walking out of a dream and into something far worse because something had followed them back.
By the time they reached the edge of Silverthorn, the sun had risen, but it gave no warmth. The town looked wrong. Doors shut, windows locked, smoke curling from chimneys that hadn't burned in weeks. Every curtain twitched as they passed as if the town knew what she'd done or worse, what she'd become. Eden clutched the ancient book to her chest, every word still branded on her thoughts. Azariel. Flame bearer. Door warden. Bloodline of Ashenhowl.
ade placed a hand on her back. "We won't talk to anyone yet. Not until we know what they saw."
She met his gaze "and if they saw everything?"
"Then we run." but it was already too late as they reached the gravel road that led to the Thorne estate, a figure stepped out from the woods.
Clara Thorne. Kade's younger sister. The only one who ever smiled in this cursed town but today, she wasn't smiling. Her hand gripped a silver bladed spear, her red braid hanging wet from fog.
"You brought it back," she said flatly.
Kade stiffened. "Clara"
"You opened the Hollow," she snapped. "Do you know what you've done? What this means?"
"I didn't mean to," Eden said quietly. "I was looking for answers."
Clara's eyes flashed gold. "You didn't find answers. You woke up a war."
Inside the pack house, the air smelled of pinewood, blood, and tension. The council had gathered, old men with scarred faces, women with glowing eyes and branded wrists. All of them Thorne-blooded. All of them afraid.
Eden stood at the center of the great hall like a hunted thing, while Kade paced behind her, shielding her with his body. "She didn't do this alone,"
Kade said coldly. "I led her to the crypt. I gave her the key." "And she opened the Door,"
one councilor barked. "Do you know what that means, Kade? That thing's been sealed for a hundred years. Do you even remember why?"
"I remember what it cost," he snapped. "I remember watching them burn trying to keep it closed."
Eden stepped forward. "Then help me." The room fell silent. She continued, voice steadier than she felt. "I didn't ask for this but I'm not going to run from it either. If Azariel's loose… then tell me what he wants."
An old woman at the end of the table, eyes clouded white with age, spoke slowly. "He wants to wear your skin." Immediately, there was absolute Silence.
Eden's heart thudded. "What?"
"You're the Flame bearer," the old woman whispered. "He can't fully rise unless he finds a vessel strong enough to hold him."
Kade's fists clenched. "He's not getting near her." The woman smiled sadly.
"He already is." Eden swayed. She remembered the voice in the Hollow. You love him and that's foolish. She remembered the way the air cracked when she'd called flame. The way the roots had bent toward her.
"What if I can stop him?" she asked. The old woman shook her head. "You can't."
"But I can fight."
"No." Her voice dropped to a chilling whisper. "You can burn. And that terrifies them more than him."
Later, alone in one of the guest rooms, Eden sat by the window, staring at the trees. Her hand still burned faintly from the touch of the Hollow.
Kade entered without knocking. "You shouldn't be alone."
She didn't look at him. "Maybe I should."
He walked to her side. "You're not a monster, Eden."
She turned to him. "Then why do I feel like one?"
"Because you're afraid of what's inside you." He reached out, brushing his fingers against hers. "So am I." There was a long pause.
Then she asked, "What did they mean about burning?"
He didn't answer. Not with words. Instead, he pulled down the collar of his shirt, and Eden gasped. A scar ran down his shoulder. A burn mark. In the shape of a handprint. "I touched the Hollow once," he said quietly. "It marked me. But it chose you."
That night, Eden dreamed of fire of Silverthorn burning. Of wolves crying out her name. She woke gasping and found the book open on her chest. Pages turning on their own and a single word burned into the next page, "Offer". Eden stared. The book wasn't finished. It wanted something and she had a feeling it wouldn't ask nicely.
At dawn, a scream cut through the morning. Eden and Kade bolted outside where smoke poured from the northern fields. A barn had been torn apart. Clara stood nearby, blood on her hands, eyes wide.
"It's happening," she whispered. "They're waking up. The Hollow born."
Eden stared at the wreckage giant claw marks across the doors, the air reeking of sulfur and ash.
She turned to Kade. "We don't have time to prepare."
"No," he said. "But we have one thing they don't."
She looked at the sky. "Me."