### **The Fire in Her Veins**
Eira's blood was not her own.
She felt it the moment the last of the Heart's crystal dissolved into her skin—a foreign pulse slithering through her veins, whispering in a language older than time.
***"Mine,"*** it purred.
The ruins of Vaelis trembled as the first vyrth clawed its way from the rubble, its scaled body unfolding like a nightmare given flesh.
Kaelan's grip on her arm was iron. "We need to go. *Now.*"
Eira couldn't move. The Heart's power coiled around her bones, sweet and suffocating.
***"Kill the Shadowmancer,"*** it urged. ***"He will betray you."***
She wrenched away from Kaelan, her voice not entirely her own. "It's *talking* to me."
Above them, the sky darkened—not with clouds, but with *wings*. Dozens of Forgotten, drawn to the Heart's awakening.
The nearest vyrth lunged.
Eira moved without thinking.
Silver fire erupted from her palms, not the wild bursts from before, but a blade of pure starlight. It sheared through the creature's neck in one clean stroke.
Black ichor sprayed the stones.
The other vyrth *hissed*, circling.
Kaelan stared at her, his golden eyes wide. "Eira—"
***"Liar,"*** the Heart whispered through her teeth. ***"Traitor."***
Her magic flared again—
A horn cut through the chaos.
---
### **The King's Gambit**
The Hunters arrived like a storm.
Dozens poured from the tree line, their black armor etched with the Shadow King's sigil. At their head rode a figure clad in obsidian plate, his face hidden behind a helm shaped like a screaming skull.
The Shadow King.
Kaelan went rigid. "No."
The king dismounted, his boots crushing dead leaves as he approached. The vyrth recoiled—not in fear, but *recognition*.
**"You stole from me, little star,"** he said, his voice echoing unnaturally. **"Now I take back what's mine."**
He raised a hand.
Kaelan *screamed*.
Shadows tore from his skin, spiraling toward the king like smoke to a flame. Eira lunged for him, but the Heart's power in her veins *rebelled*, rooting her in place.
***"Let him burn,"*** it crooned.
Kaelan collapsed as the last of his shadows were ripped away, his body convulsing. The king absorbed them, his armor glowing with stolen power.
**"You see, Starlight?"** The king's helm cracked open, revealing a face that was—
*Young.*
Too young. Too much like Kaelan's.
**"I am not the villain here,"** he said softly. **"I am the cage."**
Then he turned his hollow gaze to the vyrth.
**"And you just set them free."**
---
### **The Unmasking**
The king removed his helm.
Eira's breath caught.
He had Kaelan's sharp cheekbones, the same gold-flecked eyes—but where Kaelan's gaze burned, the king's was *empty*.
"You're—"
**"His brother,"** the king finished. **"Veyl."**
Kaelan groaned, struggling to his knees. "Liar."
**"Is it a lie?"** Veyl tilted his head. **"You swore to serve me. To bring me the Starlight heir. And yet—"** He gestured to Eira. **"Here she stands, armed with the one thing that can unmake us all."**
Eira's mind reeled. *Kaelan's brother was the Shadow King.*
And he'd known.
The Heart in her veins *laughed*.
***"Now you see,"*** it whispered. ***"Now you choose."l extended a hand. **"Give me the Heart, Eira. Let me lock the Forgotten away again before they remember *exactly* what they are."**
Above them, the winged vyrth dove.
Kaelan met her eyes across the battlefield, his expression raw. "Don't."
The Heart snarled:
***"Kill them both."***
Eira closed her eyes—
And *pushed*.
---
### **The Breaking**
The explosion of starlight lit up the sky.
Eira didn't target the vyrth. Didn't strike at Veyl.
She tore the Heart *out of herself*.
The pain was unimaginable. Silver fire poured from her mouth, her eyes, her mark splitting open like a wound. The Heart's crystal reformed in the air between her hands, screaming—
**"NO!"**
—and *shattered*.
The blast threw everyone back. Eira hit the ground hard, her vision swimming.
The vyrth howled, their bodies flickering between scales and something *else*—shifting, melting, like shadows in the light.
Veyl staggered upright, his face ashen. **"What have you done?"**
Eira coughed blood. "What you couldn't."
The Heart was gone.
And with it, the chains holding the Forgotten's true forms at bay.
---
### **Teaser for Chapter Seven: The Forgotten War**
*The Heart's destruction woke something ancient.*
*Something even the Shadow King feared.*
*And it recognized Eira.*
"Welcome home,"it whispered.*