Page 49 of Beyond the Treaty
“It was Kaelen.” I look up, meeting Azrael’s eyes, the truth burning in my chest. “They made him into a beast. They sacrificed him.”
Azrael’s expression darkens, something unreadable flashing behind his gaze. He already knew the Council was responsible for horrors untold, but this? This was worse.
Darius lets out a low curse. “Well, that’s horrifying. And let me guess, the Council want him?”
I nod. “They don’t just want him, Darius.” I gesture to the tome, still thrumming with latent power. “Theyneedhim.”
Before I could respond, the ground beneath us trembled. The wind howled suddenly, a sharp, unnatural gust that sent dust spiralling into the air. The molten veins pulse in rapid succession, and the runes on the book burn brighter.
Darius swore, gripping his weapon. “Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”
Azrael turns sharply, his body going rigid. “Something’s coming.”
I barely have time to react before a shadow detaches itself from the runes on the cave entrance. A figure cloaked in darkness, moving with unnatural speed, stepping into the dim light of the molten land.
For a breathless moment, the world seemed the hold still. Then the figure lifts its hood.
A man stood before us, his face gaunt and sharp, his eyes burning with something otherworldly. He was older than us, but not by much, his skin marked with faint, shimmering runes.
But it was his voice that made my blood run cold.
“You should not have come here.”
The power radiating from him was wrong, ancient and unnatural, laced with the same dark energy I had seen in the vision.
Azrael steps forward, sword raised. “Who are you?”
The man tilts his head slightly, his gaze flicking toward the tome. Then, slowly, his lips curl into a sharp, knowing smile.
“A messenger,”he murmured.“And a warning.”
The wind howled louder, and the molten veins in the ground
cracked.
Everythingexplodedinto chaos.
CHAPTER 29
The explosion of magic sent me staggering backwards. A deafening crack split the air as molten veins ruptured, sending fire and ash spiralling into the sky. The crimson tome pulsed wildly on the stone slab, its energy surging like a storm barely contained.
Azrael moved instantly, stepping in front of me with his sword raised in a defensive stance. Darius had his weapon drawn, but his usual bravado had vanished, his expression was taut with wariness.
The man, the messenger, stood unfazed, observing us with an unsettling calm.
“You ought not to have come here,” he reiterated, his voice smooth as glass, yet tinged with something ancient, something unfeeling.
Azrael did not lower his blade. “Who sent you?”
The man’s lips curled into a faint smirk. “The same ones who sent him.” His gaze flickered towards the crimson tome, then back to me. “You’ve seen it now, haven’t you? The truth the council buried. The weapon they forged.”
Kaelen.
I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to stay steady. “We knowwhat they did. We know they turned him into something unnatural.”
The man chuckled softly, devoid of humour. “Oh, child, you
know nothing.”
