Smoke clung to her memory like cobwebs. Aelira couldn't breathe.
She stumbled through the winding paths of the enchanted forest, her limbs shaking as if the fire had returned to consume her all over again. But this wasn't a dream. The smell of scorched pine and burned roots was real. Something—someone—had tampered with the warding spells protecting the grove.
Kaeln's voice still echoed in her mind:
"If you go back to Bloodroot House, you may never walk out again."
She had to go anyway.
Nessa was still inside. And so was the truth.
Aelira gripped her satchel, where the spell-scroll Vyra had given her earlier was half-burned, its glyphs seared beyond recognition after the magical surge that nearly tore her apart last night.
The magic in her blood was no longer hiding. It surged like a current under her skin—hot, raw, awakening.
---
The Bloodroot gate loomed ahead, guarded by sentries cloaked in grey and silver. Aelira ducked behind a stone outcrop, her breath shallow.
A strange, rhythmic sound filtered through the trees. Not bells. Not drums. Chanting.
She inched forward, heart in her throat. Beyond the stone arch, the courtyard of Bloodroot was ablaze with flickering violet light. Dozens of witches were gathered in a half-circle, robes sweeping across the stones. In the center of it all stood Vyra—and before her, bound to a low pillar, was Nessa.
Aelira's blood froze.
"What are you doing?" she whispered, too far away for anyone to hear. But her magic heard her. It twisted in her veins, urging her to act.
Vyra raised a ceremonial blade, the chant rising with her voice. "For blood betrayed, for oaths undone, may the first be tested."
"No," Aelira breathed.
Her mark flared under her skin. She stepped forward—
—and Kaeln's hand clamped around her wrist, dragging her back into the shadows.
"Don't," he hissed. "Not yet."
"They'll kill her!" Aelira snapped, trying to shake him off.
"They won't," he said grimly. "They're marking her. Testing her. Vyra thinks she's close to you."
Aelira's breath caught. "Then it's my fault."
"No," Kaeln said, eyes dark. "It's hers."
---
Back in the circle, Vyra sliced a thin line across Nessa's palm and whispered into the blood. The mark glowed faintly, then vanished. Nessa crumpled, unconscious but alive.
Aelira watched in horror. Vyra turned toward the gathered witches.
"She is not the one."
A murmur passed through the crowd.
"But the one is among us," Vyra said, her eyes sweeping the shadows—as if she knew.
Kaeln pulled Aelira deeper into the forest, even as her heart screamed to run into the light, to protect her friend, to end the lies.
"We don't have time," he whispered. "You need to see what she's hiding."
Aelira looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"There's something hidden in the catacombs beneath the temple. Something about your death. About Saelwyn's power."
---
They reached the hidden tunnel by moonlight. Aelira had only heard rumors of these passages—used long ago to escape purges and failed summoning rituals.
Kaeln lit a torch, and shadows danced across the mossy walls. The tunnel sloped downward into damp stone and silence.
Aelira's heart pounded as they reached a rusted iron door. Carved into its surface was the same mark that burned on her skin.
Kaeln pressed a hand to it, and the door creaked open with a groan that sounded like a dying scream.
Inside was a circular chamber. Dust choked the air. Shelves lined the walls, filled with rotting scrolls and old bones. But at the center stood a pedestal—and on it, a book wrapped in blood-red cloth.
Aelira stepped forward. The mark on her palm glowed as her hand hovered above it.
"Is this…?" she whispered.
Kaeln nodded. "Saelwyn's Grimoire."
---
The moment her fingers touched the cloth, something surged through her—memory, not her own, yet hers all the same.
Fire. Screams. Her own voice chanting forbidden spells to protect a child. The child's face—Nessa's.
Aelira gasped and dropped the book. It hit the stone with a thud.
"She saved her," Aelira whispered. "Nessa was there, in her first life. Saelwyn saved her once. That's why she's here now."
Kaeln's face paled. "Then Vyra must know. That's why she's watching her."
"She's not just watching," Aelira said. "She's testing."
And then the torchlight flickered.
A shadow moved across the entrance.
A voice, cold and calm, echoed through the stone.
"You were warned not to remember."
Vyra stepped out of the darkness, her gold eyes glowing, and behind her—five witches in ceremonial armor.
Aelira stepped in front of the Grimoire. "You lied to all of us."
Vyra smiled. "I built this coven from the ashes of your foolishness."
Aelira's voice trembled with fury. "You burned me."
Vyra raised her hand, power crackling at her fingertips. "And I will burn you again."