She held back her instinct to argue. Arguing with Zareth was like throwing water on magma. It only made the explosion worse.
“So what is it?” she asked. “This Hollow?”
“A void,” the Seer whispered. “Magic-eater. Soul-thief. It was sealed before your line ever drew breath.”
Zareth’s gaze sliced through her. “And now it rises again. My line must seal it—your line.”
“Alone?”
A cruel smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “Hardly. You’ll take a team. Recover the Heartblade fragments. And destroy the Hollow before it spreads.”
Seraphine swallowed hard. “Why me?”
“You are my heir,” he said simply. “And because your fire burns through fate itself. Whitefire can unmake what even time forgot.”
Her stomach flipped. She’d been trained her whole life to fight, to command, to lead. But this—this wasn’t war.
This was legacy.
Legacy always came with a price.
“Where do I start?” she asked.
Zareth turned his gaze toward the ancient map scorched into the floor. It depicted the Veil Dominion, outlined in ember lines and flickering sigils. He tapped a clawed finger on the southeastern quadrant. The Skyforged Ruins.
“You begin there. We lost contact with a scouting party two days ago.”
A flicker of unease passed through her. The Skyforged were cursed. Haunted. Even Torren avoided them.
“I want two of my own,” she said.
Zareth’s eyes narrowed. “You want conditions?”
“I want control. If I’m meant to face prophecy, I don’t do it half-blind.”
For a moment, silence reigned. Then, surprisingly, he nodded.
“Very well,” he said. “But if they fall, you keep moving. The Hollow will not wait for your grief.”
It never does,she thought.
Hours later, Seraphine stood in her chambers, peeling off layers of ceremonial armor. Gold-plated scales clattered onto the stone floor. Her body ached again. But this time, it wasn’t from sparring. It was from the weight of destiny.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Hair the color of embers braided tightly back. Skin bronze and marbled with the faint shimmer of draconic scales. Gold eyes, ringed with flickers of white flame.
Everyone saw the heir. The weapon. The prophecy-bearer.
No one saw the girl beneath it all.
Duty before everything.That was the creed. It had kept her alive—but alone.
Now she was being sent into haunted ruins, chasing after myths with nothing but fire and fate.
She exhaled sharply.
“Fuck.”
The curse slipped out, low and sharp. She hadn’t meant it. But it felt good. Real.
