Seraphine’s hand went instantly to her blade. “Vaela. You followed us.”
“No,” Vaela purred. “Ianticipatedyou.”
She tapped the edge of her boot against the carved stone.
“You should’ve been more careful with those map fragments, cousin. Sablewing ink leaves a trace if you know what to look for.”
Cassian stepped in front of Seraphine, his own blade half-drawn.
“We don’t have time for this.”
“Oh, I think you do,” Vaela said, eyes glinting with cruel delight. “You’re trespassing on Drakar excavation grounds. Which makes you enemies of the state.”
Seraphine took a step forward, whitefire coiling beneath her skin. “Try and stop us.”
Vaela’s smile sharpened.
The ground beneath their feet began to crack.
TWENTY-THREE
SERAPHINE
Sulfur hissed up through the stone, thick and choking. The air shimmered with heat and hatred.
Vaela’s smile was too sharp, too calm.
Seraphine had had enough.
“You want a fight?” she said, voice low and burning. “Then stop hiding behind politics.”
Vaela cocked her head. “You’d risk a ritual challenge? Here? No witnesses, no Court?—”
“I don’t need an audience,” Seraphine snapped, stepping closer, challenging her. “I need you to shut the fuck up.”
Cassian didn’t move, but she felt him tense behind her. A warning in every line of his body. He didn’t like it. Neither did she. But this wasn’t about comfort.
This was about fire. Blood. Legacy.
Vaela tilted her head, lips curving. “So be it.”
She shed her silk cloak in one smooth motion, revealing obsidian armor that hugged her like second skin. Her claws extended with a soft hiss. Her pupils slit.
Seraphine reached for her glaive. But the fire under her skin did not wait.mWhite-hot. Ancient. Furious.
The air sparked.
They circled each other in the ring of fractured stone, molten rivers pulsing around them. The duel didn’t need words—it was written in their veins.
Vaela struck first, claws outstretched.
Seraphine dodged, barely, and spun, her glaive whistling through the air. Vaela ducked low and came up with a burst of shadow magic, aiming for Seraphine’s throat.
She blocked with the flat of her blade, flame exploding from the contact.
“Getting slow, cousin,” Vaela sneered, smoke rising from her scorched armor.
“Getting bored,” Seraphine growled.
