Queen Lorelei POV
The stench of rot, blood, and ancient sorcery clung to my skin like perfume. My dungeon, my sanctuary of screams and secrets, was alive tonight. The black stone walls wept like grieving widows, and the torches hissed with green fire, casting shadows that danced like ghosts begging to be remembered.
I stood barefoot at the edge of my masterpiece, a perfect circle of bones arranged by the Bone Seer herself. Every rib, femur, and jawbone was hand picked from cursed corpses. The floor was soaked with virgin blood. Three of them, dangling like livestock in the corner, bled dry. Their souls still screamed.
"A waste," Kristoff muttered beside me, licking heart's blood from the golden blade like a starving dog.
I rolled my eyes. "You'll have more whores to ruin once the goddess bitch is caged and crying at our feet."
His grin was feral. Filthy. And it matched the dagger in his hand.
The Bone Seer emerged from the shadows then, gods, she was disgusting. Shrunk down to wrinkles and whispers, her milky eyes stared at nothing and everything at once. She held phoenix feathers in one hand and a heart in the other...still fucking beating.
"The cursed fae's last breath lingers in this," she croaked, like a curse made flesh. "Born with rot in its soul. Perfect for baiting divinity."
She slammed the heart down into the center of the bone circle. Runes etched in blood and ash pulsed to life. The walls groaned. The veil between worlds twitched.
And the screaming started..not from here.
From there.
The Other Side.
Gods, it was delicious.
I watched with wild, gleaming eyes as the spell ignited...red, gold, then void black. The kind of black that eats the light. The kind that even shadows fear.
Then...her.
For a glorious second, she appeared.
Rhiannan.
That bitch goddess of moon and rage, flickering in our trap like a moth about to burn. Her mouth was open in a scream I couldn't hear, and I didn't need to. I could feel it. The pain. The power.
My fingers twitched. My blood sang.
Kristoff howled with delight. "We've got the bitch now!"
I laughed, bright and cracked. "Bring me her fucking tongue! I'll wear it around my throat."
But then the Bone Seer's face changed.
That wrinkled horror stopped smiling.
The image flickered.
Wavered.
And vanished.
The runes dimmed.
The bones cracked.
Everything stilled.
"What the fuck?!" I stepped into the circle, bare feet slapping against blood soaked stone. "She was right fucking there!"
Kristoff roared like a rabid beast and lunged for the Bone Seer, slamming her against the wall. "You said she was ready! You said she was coming!"
The hag didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on the circle, wide and stunned.
Because even she knew, we'd just fucked up.
Something...or someone...had stolen our prize.
And I knew exactly who.
Nythera POV
I felt it before I saw it.
A claw, gnarled and filthy, tearing through realms, ripping a hole in the Veil with blood and bone, ancient magic soaked in rot and rage. It reached for her. For my daughter.
And it was working.
The threads of fate unravelled around my fingers like silken fire as I stood at the edge of the Divine Veil, my wings trembling with fury. I could see it, clearer than any vision, louder than any prayer.
A blood drenched circle.
A cursed fae's still beating heart.
Phoenix feathers burned to ash.
The screams of the innocent echoed up from the mortal plane like a dirge, and I knew what the Bone Seer had done. What that venomous siren bitch Lorelei was trying to steal.
Rhiannan.
My daughter.
"No," I whispered, my voice thick with thunder. It cracked the heavens. "Not again. Not my child."
My wings flared wide, blazing with celestial fire. All of the Divine Court turned in fear as I stepped forward.
My Guardians stirred.
Serelion dropped to one knee, offering me his blade, etched in justice, pulsing with holy light.
Veyra wrapped me in soul thread, her voice a lullaby of protection woven into time itself.
Orin struck his staff into the foundation of realms, anchoring my spirit, grounding my fury to the world of flesh and blood.
They surrounded me in a star forged circle, ancient and reverent, their power braided into mine.
And I made my choice.
"I will pay the price," I declared, my eyes burning with dying suns. "Take it all. My gifts. My voice. My flame. My sight. Take everything. Just let me save her."
The cosmos heard me.
Magic ignited in my veins, searing gold, holy and merciless. I lifted my hands to the Veil. The air shattered like glass beneath a hammer.
And then, I pushed.
The pull of the Bone Circle fought me like a tidal wave made of nightmares. My palms bled divine ichor, molten and gold, as I screamed into the spell, forcing it to bend.
And for one terrible, beautiful moment, I saw her.
Rhiannan. My moonchild.
Caught mid scream. Her body flickering between realms, dragged by the jaws of death and prophecy.
"No!" I roared, the stars trembling at my rage. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE HER."
I reached through the veil like a goddess possessed and ripped her free.
I snapped the thread. Burned it. Severed it with every ounce of power I had left.
And then I threw her, across the Veil, past the cursed circle, past the clawing magic of that wretched Queen.
I sent her where she needed to go.
Straight into the mirror realm.
Right into his arms.
The vampire king, fate marked and soul bound. The one who had waited lifetimes for her. The one who would never let her fall.
The moment she landed, I collapsed.
My knees hit the divine floor. My wings curled into embers. My light flickered and faded. The Veil hissed closed behind me, sealing her away from their spell.
Safe.
I think I gasped. I don't remember. My bones burned. My soul dimmed. I felt myself unraveling.
"You've done it," Serelion whispered, voice shaking.
"But at what cost?" Veyra asked, brushing stardust from my brow.
I couldn't answer.
My voice was gone. My fire spent. I could no longer stand.
The Watchers would come soon.
They would demand justice for what I'd broken. For the divine law I had shattered.
But I did not care.
Because in the last breath of power I had, I saw her.
Rhiannan. Alive. Whole. Trembling in his arms.
His gaze stunned. Her heart still hers.
She was not alone.
Not this time.
Not ever again.
My body crystallized into stasis, locked in silence, wings folded like broken glass. I would sleep now...until the stars themselves could wake me.
But even as darkness took me, one truth roared louder than all the heavens combined:
A mother will always save her child. Even if it costs her everything.