Mother Riven's POV
I stood at the center of the Hollow Cradle, the ancient heart of our sanctum, where spells hummed even in sleep and the walls breathed the breath of the coven. But now, there was only silence. Stillness.
My fingers twitched around the obsidian staff carved with the names of every girl I had raised, every Witchborn who had walked through my rites and bled under my hand.
Selene was among them.
No… had been.
A shiver crawled up my spine.
"Check the east wards again," I snapped.
Two sisters flinched before scrambling into the shadows. Even the fire in the runes dimmed when I turned toward them.
"She shouldn't have been able to move," I muttered, walking slowly down the winding corridor that led to Selene's former quarters. "Not with three layers of suppression magic, a blood-lock, and silverbane in the walls. I carved the glyphs myself."
And yet the door… was open.
Like she had walked out of her cage with the ease of opening a curtain.
I stepped inside.
The sheets were still rumpled from her sleep. The floor bore faint wet footprints. The air still sang with the remnants of her aura, but it was different. No longer dull and tamed.
It had bloomed.
"She's Ascending," I breathed, more to myself than anyone. "Too soon."
The girl was supposed to be bound to this place until I said otherwise. Until her final veil broke. Until she could no longer tell the difference between the one I made her and the one she used to be.
"Mother," a voice called behind me. I turned to see Elira, my second-in-command, her face pale. "The gate sigil. It's… gone."
I said nothing.
"The obsidian cracked," she added. "Shattered clean. No one saw her pass, but… the Wastes are open."
I took a slow breath.
"I carved that seal in my own blood," I whispered, rage coiling low in my belly. "I wove it with my life force. Not even the Council should've been able to touch it."
Elira swallowed. "Perhaps the Council didn't."
My eyes snapped to hers.
"You think she did it?"
Elira hesitated.
"She didn't even know who she was, Mother."
I turned away, my voice ice.
"She didn't need to know. Her blood always did."
A gust of cold wind swept through the hall behind us. Every rune on the wall flickered once, then dimmed again.
She was too far now.
I could no longer feel her.
"She's unbound," I whispered.
"She's out there," Elira added.
"No," I said softly. "She's not just out there."
I stepped toward the altar in the center of the room, one hand lifting, the air bending to my touch as I whispered an incantation older than the Waste's bones.
"She's going after him."
Elira gasped. "You don't mean.."
"Yes." My eyes burned. "The Alpha. The one whose line we burned from prophecy."
"We thought he was dead."
"We were wrong."
The flames in the wall torches roared back to life.
"Find her," I commanded. "Before the bond fully seals. Before the Council intervenes. Before she forgets who she belongs to."
"And if it's too late?"
I stared into the fire. A vision flickered there, silver hair tangled in blood and heat, a throne of ash, a war that hadn't yet begun.
"Then we burn the world she ran to."
Selene's POV
"I'm not supposed to be here."
The words slipped out of me before I could stop them. They echoed in the dark, curling back around like whispers I hadn't meant to hear.
I sat on the edge of the stone slab, legs tucked beneath me, hands resting on my thighs. The silver burns had dulled into angry welts. But they still pulsed with each beat of my heart.
This wasn't just any cell.
No chains. No light. No sounds of the other prisoners. Just the thick, humming silence of a place no one talked about. Even the guards hadn't looked me in the eye when they shut the door.
And that girl…
I rubbed my arms.
She looked like me. But hollow. Dull. A shadow in a place where I shouldn't have been able to see anything.
Before I could spiral further, the door creaked.
"You look comfortable."
I didn't move.
"Strange choice of words," I muttered. "Considering you threw me in here like a cursed relic."
Kaiden stepped into the dim archway, arms folded, face unreadable. He wasn't dressed in war leathers. Just a black shirt, sleeves rolled to his forearms, and dark pants. Simple. Quiet. Dangerous.
"Didn't know where else to keep a walking weapon," he replied.
I shot him a look. "So, you believe I'm a weapon now? Or is that just what your little council friends are whispering in your ears?"
He didn't answer right away. He just walked further into the cell, not bothering to ask permission. His presence filled the space like smoke, slow, choking, inescapable.
"I didn't come here to argue."
"Good," I snapped. "Because I'm not in the mood to entertain the warlord who cuffed me, stripped me, then threw me into a crypt like a cursed book."
He stopped a few feet away. His eyes barely softened.
"You're not a prisoner," he said.
"Oh, my mistake," I said dryly, holding up my bandaged wrists. "Should I be grateful for the decor?"
Kaiden's jaw flexed. "You think I wanted to hurt you?"
"Wanting isn't the problem," I said. "You did. You do."
His silence said more than words.
I stood, ignoring the way my knees protested. "What do you want, Kaiden?"
"I saw you again," he said, voice low.
I blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Not here. In my head. In my blood. You died. I saw you die again, and I…" he stopped, dragging a hand down his face. "It doesn't make sense."
I stared at him.
"You're saying… you've seen me die? More than once?"
He nodded slowly. "Not you. But yes. It was you, and it wasn't. Same face. Same eyes. Same bond."
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
For once, I had no words.
"Who are you really, Selene?" he asked. "Because you're not just Witchborn. You're not just… mine."
I stepped back, the air suddenly too thin. "You shouldn't be here."
"I know."
"Then leave."
He turned, but hesitated at the door.
"The council's here," he said without facing me. "And they know what you are."
I felt my stomach twist. "What a
m I?"
He looked back over his shoulder.
"Sacred."
Then he left.
And the door slammed shut, leaving me with a thousand new questions, and the echo of my own rising fear.