Dawn bled across the forest as Raine stood at the edge of the Vale, the wind pulling at her cloak.
Twelve warriors flanked her.
Xavier stood just behind, silent but watchful. He wouldn't interfere—unless she fell. And she wouldn't.
Nyra had given her this. Now she had to own it.
"The target?" Raine asked Ezekiel.
"A Council hound. Fast. Silent. It's been tracking our scouts. If we don't hunt it now, it'll report our position."
Raine's jaw clenched. "Then we end it."
She led them through the Deepwood—where the trees leaned like eavesdropping ghosts and the earth pulsed with forgotten magic.
Her senses sharpened with every step. Her mother's blood stirred.
The Unbroken moved as one, obeying her hand signals and silence.
Raine crouched, sniffed the air.
Bloodroot. Steel. Wet fur.
"Circle formation," she whispered.
Xavier arched a brow. "You're baiting it."
She nodded. "Let it come to me."
It struck like lightning—a blur of muscle and bone, cloaked in shadow magic. The Council hound lunged from the trees, jaws wide.
Raine rolled aside, slashing at it with the blade Nyra had returned to her.
Sparks.
Snarls.
Then chaos.
The beast was fast—faster than anything she'd fought. It struck Ezekiel down with a swipe, then vanished again.
Raine growled. She touched the mark on her arm—and the flame answered.
She closed her eyes. Saw heat trails. Felt the pulse of the beast's heartbeat in the dark.
There.
She spun—and threw a ball of silver fire.
The hound screamed.
It stumbled, exposing itself.
"NOW!" she shouted.
The pack descended.
It was over in moments.
The hound lay broken, its body steaming with cursed magic.
But as it died, it whispered something in a voice that wasn't its own.
"She is waking. You're too late."
Raine stepped back, chills crawling up her spine.
"Who's she?" Xavier asked.
No one answered.
Back at the Vale, the Unbroken howled for her.
A victory howl.
Even Nyra bowed her head slightly.
"You don't just carry your mother's blood," she said. "You carry her fire."
Raine stood taller.
She was no longer just the Sovereign's daughter.
She was becoming her own legend.