Quinn’s POVThe estate felt different the next day. It was as though the walls themselves were holding their breath, waiting for something. I couldn’t shake the unease that clung to me like a second skin. Every shadow seemed to shift, every creak in the floorboards made me jump, and every time the wind howled outside, my heart would race.I knew something was coming. I could feel it deep in my bones. But what? What were we waiting for?I stepped out into the courtyard, my eyes scanning the horizon. The morning fog had lifted, but the chill of the air still hung heavy, even though the sun was rising. The cold seemed to seep into my very soul, and I wrapped my arms around myself to stave off the shiver running through me.Perrin was standing near the large oak tree, his back straight, his eyes narrowed as he looked out at the woods. He didn’t notice me approach, and I couldn’t bring myself to disturb him. He was always on edge now, always searching for something that wasn’t there, alway
Quinn pov Everything around me dissolved in slow motion.The air was choked with smoke, thick and bitter. The odor of burnt stayed to all things. Splinters of glass crunched under my boots as I lurched past the wreckage, my heart pounding, my expression a rictus of shock. All I’d fought to keep safe—gone. Walls sundered, memories scattered on the floor like wreckage. The silence was the killer. A heavy, suffocating silence.I couldn’t move at first. I just stood there in this flat-out freeze moment of this-cannot-be-happening. My breath hitched. I sucked pain into my chest with every breath. Debris fell all around me — pieces of the world that I used to think I could keep together. But then something shifted. Instinct took over.I ran.I didn’t know where. I only had to get out of the carnage, the terror that reached in my lungs. I was Luna, I was strong, I was calm. I didn’t have the luxury of falling apart. So, when I’d gotten far enough, when I couldn’t smell the smoke anymore,
QUINNI should’ve turned back.It hovered relentlessly and shrewdly about my mind like a stormbird. But it was too late. I was already here — too deep in the forest, too close to the edge of something I couldn’t reverse.The ruin at the edge of the clearing was massive, as though a memory had congealed. Ivy crept over its stones like veins, pulsing with a magic that only dimly remembered me. With a steady pace I advanced, each step slower than the next, my breath leaning neither shallow nor deep. The fire burned blue around me, floating without heat, without smoke—just an odd presence.The witches continued to peer at me from behind, but they didn’t pursue. This leg of the journey belonged to me.I crossed the threshold.Suddenly, the atmosphere grew dense. There was magic here, but it was history. Old, unspoken, buried. Theodore had taken me here once as a child, when we still referred to one another as friends, before our journeys diverged. Had we pushed our way through it the first
QUINNI didn’t move.“You need to go, Quinn.” His voice cracked. “I can’t do it if you’re around. The ruin—it reacts to us. To our history. And you’re too close.”“What’s happening?”Theodore gritted his teeth. “The curse. It’s activating. You activated it the minute you made contact with that above-ground pillar.”I reached for my blade. “Then help me break it.”But he shook his head. “If we fight, only one of us walks away. And I won’t kill you.”“I’m not scared to die,” I said. “But I’m not going to let you burn everything to the ground to protect yourself from it.”The ground trembled. The walls cracked. The glyphs bled red light.And then, as a bolt of lightning cutting through the dead of night, Theodore struck his palm against the glass.Room was hit by a shockwave.I fell back, my shoulder striking the stone. Pain flared. My vision blurred.And throughout, I heard him.“Run, Quinn. Please — for once in your life, listen to me.”But I didn’t run.I struggled to my feet tremblin
QUINNPerrin was leaned up against the far wall with his arms crossed and a tight expression on his face. His eyes locked with mine the moment I entered and we had a moment. His face was a storm — anger and fear and hurt, all of it wrapped up in a way I couldn’t interpret. He wanted to say something, was leaning forward to speak, but I did not give him an opportunity.“Where’s the message?” I asked, my voice hoarse.“Message?” Clear surprise from one of the council/: And we can do that?“The code,” I said, my tone a little more impatient than I’d intended. “The one Theodore sent me. There’s a message in it. I need it now.”Perrin's eyes would have melted, if only for a second. “You never told me about the message,” he said softly as he walked over to me. “You just left.”“I had no option,” I snapped, before I could stop myself.Perrin’s face tightened, but he did not answer. Instead, he gestured to the far side of the room where a servant stood with a scroll. I didn’t wait for permiss
QUINNI didn’t move.“You need to go, Quinn.” His voice cracked. “I can’t do it if you’re around. The ruin—it reacts to us. To our history. And you’re too close.”“What’s happening?”Theodore gritted his teeth. “The curse. It’s activating. You activated it the minute you made contact with that above-ground pillar.”I reached for my blade. “Then help me break it.”But he shook his head. “If we fight, only one of us walks away. And I won’t kill you.”“I’m not scared to die,” I said. “But I’m not going to let you burn everything to the ground to protect yourself from it.”The ground trembled. The walls cracked. The glyphs bled red light.And then, as a bolt of lightning cutting through the dead of night, Theodore struck his palm against the glass.Room was hit by a shockwave.I fell back, my shoulder striking the stone. Pain flared. My vision blurred.And throughout, I heard him.“Run, Quinn. Please — for once in your life, listen to me.”But I didn’t run.I struggled to my feet tremblin
QUINNAnd in the middle, waiting as if he had never left, was Theodore.He wasn’t talking when he saw me.He didn’t smile, didn’t move. He neither moved nor spoke, those dark eyes pools of storms and shadows, his hands clasped behind his back as a king waiting for his queen to come back from war.I was a few paces away from him and I was as tight as a wound spring. “You knew I’d come.”“Of course I did.” His voice was quiet, calm. Dangerous.“What have you done, Theodore? My words were shaky, but I stood up. “The curse—what is it?”He gazed at me, and something leapt in his eyes. Pity? Regret? I couldn’t tell. He moved closer, slow and purposeful, and I didn’t retreat.“You have always been the key,” he said. “You just never wanted it to be true.”“The key to what?”“To breaking the cycle. To stopping what’s coming. To saving him.”He didn’t have to say Perrin’s name. I heard it anyway.“You’re folding him to you,” I whispered. "You risked his life to get me here. That’s not saving hi
QUINNAnd in the air was the shimmer of magic, old and ravenous. It pulled on my skin, slid under my nails, kissed my bones. Vibrating with life of its own, wild, unbroken, as though it had waited all this time for only me.I was in the middle of that. Two equally unwinnable options. The witches murmured softly behind me in words that spun and floated through the air like gossamer thread through linen. Theodore stood before me, watching, his expression unreadable. Beside him, Mother Sareth waited with eyes that were too old to be smile.My hand trembled at my side. Not with fear. With fury.I had been manipulated. Trapped. Trapped, like a Too real for you to escape. Theodore hadn’t brought me here for salvation. He’d never come to repair what we wrecked. He was trying to draw me back to him. Permanently. He was convinced that if he wrapped his request in religious language and connected it to the notion of sacrifice, I would go willingly.But I saw it now. All of it.And I didn’t want
Two years later…The sky was a soft blue, clear and calm, with only a few white clouds drifting above. The sun was warm, not too hot, just perfect for a day outside. The wind carried the scent of flowers and fresh grass. Everything felt peaceful. Safe. Alive.I sat on the front steps of our cottage, watching our son play in the garden. His laughter was like music. Every time he giggled, it filled my chest with warmth I never knew I could feel.He had my eyes but Quinn’s smile. That wide, bright smile that could light up an entire room. His hair was the same soft brown as mine, but his spirit? That was all Quinn. Brave. Curious. Kind.“Mama! Look!” he shouted, holding up a small yellow flower in his tiny hand. “I found a sun!”Quinn walked out of the house just in time to hear him. She smiled, her face glowing, and bent down to kiss the top of his head.“That’s a dandelion, baby,” she said gently.He looked up at her, puzzled. “It looks like the sun.”Quinn laughed, her eyes meeting mi
PERRIN.The sun had barely risen when Quinn and I arrived at the clearing. The air felt heavy, thick with the weight of what was coming. It was impossible to ignore the tension that hung between us, but there was no turning back now. The battle had been set in motion long before we even stepped foot in the Hollow.Theodore was waiting for us. I could feel it in the way the trees seemed to hold their breath, in the way the wind had gone still. The world around us felt like it was frozen in time, as if holding onto the last moments before everything changed.“We’re here,” Quinn said, her voice steady but low. She was ready, even though I could see the fear in her eyes. We both were. Ready, yet afraid. Afraid of what we might lose. Afraid of the unknown.I nodded, tightening my grip on her hand. “Let’s end this.”We moved forward, our footsteps soft on the ground. It felt like every step took us deeper into a world that no longer made sense—one where shadows crept around us, and danger w
PERRINThe Hollow had changed her. I saw it in the way she moved, in the way she looked at the world. The old Quinn was still there, but she had become something else. Something stronger. Something that made my heart both swell with pride and tighten with fear. The Hollow had given her power, but at a cost. A price only she truly understood.We walked side by side, the silence between us comfortable, yet heavy. I could tell Quinn was still processing everything. She didn’t talk much, and neither did I. But I knew her well enough to read the subtle signs. Her hands were clenched, the muscles in her jaw tight. She was holding something back—maybe it was the weight of the trials she’d just endured. Maybe it was the burden of the promise she had made to the First Luna.But I wasn’t going to ask her about it. Not yet. Not unless she was ready.As we stepped farther from the Hollow, the air felt different. Less oppressive, more open. The trees around us were taller now, more like the famili
PERRINThe night felt colder than usual. The stars were hidden behind thick clouds, and the wind was biting as it swept through the trees. I stood at the edge of the Hollow, waiting for Quinn. The quiet was unsettling. There were no sounds of animals, no rustle of leaves in the wind, just silence. I felt it, the weight of the moment pressing down on me. What had she seen in there? What had she done?I ran my fingers through my hair, pacing back and forth. The last few days had been a blur—days of planning, of wondering if we were ready. But now, everything felt different. The air had changed. And Quinn... she had changed. I could feel it in the way she moved, in the way she looked at me. She was carrying something now. Something heavier than the world itself.The veil rippled, and then I saw her. She stepped through slowly, like the world had shifted beneath her feet. Her eyes were different—clearer, more focused—but there was something else in them too. Something deeper.“Quinn,” I s
QUINNThe forest felt different now. After what the Keeper told me, I could feel it. The air was tighter. The silence heavier. Every step I took through the Hollow felt watched, even though I saw no eyes. I kept my hand on my belly, grounding myself with every breath. He was still. Quiet. Listening, maybe. Or sleeping. I couldn’t tell anymore. But I could feel him there, wrapped inside me like the last light in a dark world.I kept walking.There was a place the Keeper told me to go next. She didn’t explain much, only that it was deep in the Hollow. She called it the Pool of Remembering. Said it would show me what I needed, not what I wanted. That didn’t comfort me. But I didn’t come here for comfort. I came to understand what was coming and how to stop it.The trees grew closer together as I walked, their roots twisting like claws over the ground. I had to step carefully. A wrong move could trap my foot or break my balance. Still, I moved forward. The shadows grew thicker, but the de
QUINNThe days in the Hollow passed like a dream. I couldn’t tell how much time had gone by. The sun and moon moved above me, but the way they shifted in the sky didn’t feel normal. Time here was strange. It stretched and folded in on itself. Sometimes I would wake and think it was the same day, only to realize the trees had moved, or the air had changed.I stayed inside the stone circle most of the time. It was the safest place. The Keeper said the stones still held the oldest magic, and while they couldn’t stop everything, they could slow things down. Especially the thing that was looking for me.The baby had grown stronger. I could feel him more now. Not just his kicks or movements, but his presence. Sometimes when I sat still, I felt his energy wrapping around mine, like he was holding me back. Like he was trying to comfort me.And sometimes, he would send me feelings. Flashes of fear, curiosity, or warmth. I didn’t know how, but we were connected in ways I didn’t understand. Mayb
QuinnThe moment we returned to the camp near the Hollow, everything felt different.Perrin didn’t speak at first. His eyes kept scanning the trees like he expected something to jump out. I sat on a flat rock near the fire, watching the smoke rise into the dark sky. The stars looked sharper tonight. Like they were watching.“Do you feel it too?” I asked.He didn’t answer. Instead, he took a slow step toward me, his eyes full of questions he didn’t know how to ask. Finally, he knelt in front of me and reached for my hands.“You crossed the veil,” he said.“I know.”“You shouldn’t have been able to.”“I know that too.”He looked away, his jaw tightening. “Something happened to you in the Hollow. Something more than a vision.”“I saw myself. A darker version of me. And I saw him… our son. Older. Strong. Dangerous.”Perrin’s head jerked back slightly. “Dangerous?”“He had power I can’t explain. He didn’t use it to hurt—not yet—but it was there, waiting.”He sat beside me, elbows on his kn
QUINNThe Hollow was quiet again.But it wasn’t the kind of quiet that calms you. It was the type that made your skin crawl. Like the world was holding its breath, waiting for something to break.I walked deeper into the woods, away from the circle, away from Perrin’s distant eyes. My feet moved on their own. The air was cooler, heavier. The trees whispered. I couldn’t understand the words, but I knew they were speaking to me.They were warning me.I stopped in front of a stream, its waters still and dark like a mirror. I crouched and dipped my fingers into it. It was ice-cold, but it sent warmth up my arm—a strange, pulsing energy that made my stomach twist.He kicked again. Harder this time.“I feel you,” I whispered. “I know you’re watching too.”A shape moved behind me. I stood quickly, heart pounding, but there was nothing there. Just the trees. Just the wind.No.Something was there. I felt it before I saw it. A pull, strong and steady, dragging my attention east.I followed it.
QUINNThe night air was cold as I stood outside the castle walls. The wind was sharper than usual, brushing against my skin like a warning. My bag was light, but my heart felt heavy. I didn’t look back. If I did, I wasn’t sure I could walk away.Perrin stood just a few feet behind me. His arms were crossed, but his face gave him away. He looked like he was trying to be strong, but inside he was falling apart.“I have to go,” I whispered.He didn’t speak at first. The silence between us stretched so far it felt like another world. Then finally, he stepped forward and took my hands in his.“I should be with you,” he said. “You’re carrying our child.”“I know.” I squeezed his fingers. “But this place… The Hollow… only I can get through. The old blood recognizes Luna. You’re strong, but you’re not Luna-born.”His jaw tensed. “Then let me wait at the edge. Let me be close.”I nodded. “You can come that far. But after that, I go alone.”His arms wrapped around me so tightly I almost broke.