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Chapter 69 – The Garden of Ashes
Last Updated:
2025-04-09 02:48:30
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Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 70 – The Shattered Lands Beckon
The map Damien unrolled crackled with age, its edges frayed like something clawed at them long ago. The faded ink revealed a region blanketed in darkness—no names, no landmarks, just a jagged shape surrounded by thorn-like symbols.“The Shattered Lands,” he said grimly, running a gloved hand across the parchment. “No one returns from there untouched.”Selene stared at the mark pulsing on her palm—the bond magic that had begun to shimmer black along its edges. The same darkness she’d seen in her vision… in them.The twin heir.The echo of her soul that shouldn’t exist.“I don’t want to be untouched,” she whispered. “I want the truth. All of it.”Damien’s gaze lingered on her, his usual smirk replaced with something unguarded. “Then you’re going to need more than truth. You’ll need power—more than either of us has ever touched.”Selene’s expression turned sharp. “Then we take it.”⸻The journey toward the Shattered Lands was a test of endurance, not just through terrain but through will
Last Updated : 2025-04-09Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 71 – Veins of Crimson Light
The sky shattered.Or at least, that’s what it felt like when the creature descended.The air fractured with soundless force, the ground cracked beneath its weightless form, and darkness poured from its wings like poisoned rain. Damien lunged forward, but the thing slammed him aside with a gust of wind, sending him sprawling across the ruined courtyard.Selene didn’t move. Couldn’t.The creature hovered inches above the ground, its massive wings folding inward like a cloak. Smoke coiled around it, shaping horns, claws, and a maw that pulsed with lightless hunger. It had no name—only instinct. And that instinct wanted her.“Selene,” Damien’s voice rasped through bloodied lips. “You have to run.”She didn’t.Instead, she walked forward.Every step ignited something dormant inside her. Not magic like she had known it. Not the inherited gift of the royal line. This was older. Wilder. Buried so deeply it burned through her skin as it rose—like light trying to force its way through a vessel
Last Updated : 2025-04-11Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 72 – The Door of Sacrifice
The moment Selene stepped through the crimson-lit door, the world around her shifted with a jolt that sucked the breath from her lungs. It wasn’t a fall, nor a walk—it was like being unmade and sewn back together in the same heartbeat.The glow vanished behind her as the door disappeared into the void, leaving only the sound of her own heartbeat echoing in her ears.She stood in a place that wasn’t a room, but not a dream either. The sky above her was a sweeping veil of black silk embroidered with crimson threads that pulsed like veins. Below her feet, the ground shimmered with fragments of memories—hers and others—shattered and scattered like broken glass.In the distance, a single obsidian pillar rose from the ground, crowned by a glowing, heart-shaped crystal suspended mid-air.And chained beneath it… was Damien.Her heart clenched.He was on his knees, shirtless, bloodied, the mark of their bond dimly glowing across his collarbone. Thick silver chains bound him—wrapped around his
Last Updated : 2025-04-12Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 73 – Veins of Fire and Frost
The ground trembled beneath their feet.Cracks webbed across the stone floor like veins, glowing faintly with molten light. Selene stood frozen—not from fear, but from the weight of what was coming. A sister once loved. A future once imagined. All of it shattered in one whispered threat.Aurelia raised her hand again, this time drawing a blade of blackened crystal from the air. It pulsed with corrupted magic—magic that had clearly fed on something dark and ancient. Her eyes, once soft like moonlight, now held the chill of the abyss.“Do you remember,” she whispered, “when we used to hide in the Winter Garden, pretending we were the last queens of the world?”Selene didn’t answer. Her pulse roared in her ears.“You were always the dreamer,” Aurelia continued, stepping closer, the tip of her blade trailing sparks across the marble. “I was the one who saw the world for what it was. And still, you became the one they adored. The one he chose.”Damien’s hand tightened around Selene’s wrist
Last Updated : 2025-04-15Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 74: “The Crownless Pact”
The storm broke just before dawn, casting jagged shadows across the ruins of the old cathedral where Elira now stood, her cloak soaked through, her heart thundering with the weight of truth. The rain didn’t cleanse—it drowned, heavy with ash and memory.She hadn’t spoken to Arian since the night he revealed himself. Not because she was angry—but because she was terrified of what she’d say if she did.Behind her, footsteps echoed across the marble floor, soft and certain.“You’re early,” Silas said, his voice lower than usual, hands tucked behind his back as though the secrets he carried might fall out otherwise.Elira didn’t turn to him. “There’s no time to be late anymore.”Silas came to stand beside her, both of them facing the shattered stained glass window where the first light of morning bled through in fractured color.“He would let himself burn for you,” Silas said quietly.“I know,” she replied.“And yet you’re standing here with me.”“I need you both,” she admitted, her voice
Last Updated : 2025-04-15Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 75: “Thorns Beneath the Throne”
The royal court gleamed with polished lies and gilded betrayal.Elira stood just beyond the golden archway of the Hall of Judicium, cloaked in muted crimson. Not the bold blood-red of victory, but a shade that whispered defiance under restraint. Her crown was absent. Her gaze, razor-sharp.The whispers started before she even crossed the threshold.“She returned?”“After vanishing into the shadows?”“She dares—”Yes. She dared.Every noble, every scholar, every member of the high houses present turned their gaze to her. But it was only one gaze she sought—and when it met hers, the room ceased to exist.Arian.His expression was unreadable. A fortress carved in silence. But his fingers curled tightly around the edge of the throne.“Elira Virellian,” the High Arbiter announced. “You were summoned under charges of desertion, political sabotage, and fraternizing with marked traitors. Do you deny these claims?”She stepped forward, voice steady, spine straight. “No.”Gasps. Ripples of outr
Last Updated : 2025-04-15Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 76: The Blood-Bound Oath
The storm that had raged outside Kael’s estate all night had now given way to a brooding silence, the kind that settled just before the air cracked with change. Inside the ancient halls, Elara stood frozen before the old relic chamber, her fingers brushing the edge of a sealed scroll—its wax stamped with the crest of House Vael. A symbol of war. A blood-bound oath made centuries ago… one that had just been reactivated.Dain stepped beside her, his jaw tense. “That scroll should never have been found,” he said, his voice low, eyes darting to the shadows creeping along the marble pillars. “You’ve awakened something that’s been dormant for a reason.”“It found me,” Elara countered, her voice trembling not with fear, but with the weight of knowledge. “And it’s not just a warning. It’s a command. A prophecy laced in vengeance.”Kael entered, cloaked in silence, his expression unreadable. For the first time since their bond deepened, he felt distant—as if torn between duty and desire. He to
Last Updated : 2025-04-18Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 77: Sisters Divided
Elara’s breath hitched in her throat as her gaze locked with the woman before her—an impossible reflection twisted by time and darkness. Her sister.Not a dream. Not a memory.Alive.And standing among the corpses of those who had tried to stop her.Kael moved slightly in front of Elara, but her fingers caught his arm. “No,” she whispered. “This is mine.”The woman smiled. “Still stubborn, little star. Always thinking you can control the chaos.”“You’re not her,” Elara said slowly, stepping forward. “My sister wouldn’t murder innocents just to get my attention.”“She’s dead,” the woman snapped. “You watched her die, remember? On that altar, sacrificed for your future. But I survived in the only way I could. I embraced the prophecy instead of running from it.”Kael’s blade hummed softly with restrained power, but Elara shook her head. “Why now? Why reveal yourself like this?”“Because the seal weakens,” her sister said, lifting a pale hand. Power pulsed in the air like a second heartbe
Last Updated : 2025-04-18
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Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 102: The Fire Crowned
The world screamed as flame devoured the air.Elara stumbled forward, Kael’s hand ripping away from hers as the inferno swallowed the frost-bound path behind them. The shrine collapsed into cinders and ash, sealing their choice with finality. The vision of peace, of quiet love—gone, like a mirage scorched under a merciless sun.She barely had time to process it before the ground shifted beneath her feet.They were no longer in the ruins.They stood at the edge of a battlefield.Above them, the sky churned a deep red, clouds forming strange sigils—magic twisting like serpents in the atmosphere. The old capital loomed in the distance, no longer crumbling, but fortified, alive, and bristling with war. Banners she didn’t recognize fluttered from towers. Symbols of her House merged with marks of ancient fire gods.“What… what is this?” she whispered.Kael turned toward her, his expression unreadable. “This is your reign.”Soldiers in obsidian armor knelt as she passed. Flames crowned her h
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 101: Beneath the Black Veil
The darkness wasn’t empty.It was alive—breathing, whispering, pulsing with a sentience that clawed at Elara’s mind the moment the light vanished. Shadows didn’t just fall around them—they devoured, unraveling the very fabric of the chamber until the three of them stood in a void that didn’t exist moments ago.Dain’s sword pulsed faintly, barely illuminating his sharp features as he stepped closer to Elara, his voice low. “This isn’t the creature. This is older. This is him.”Kael didn’t need an introduction. His hand gripped Elara’s wrist, grounding her. “We broke the seal. That voice—it wasn’t lying. This was buried beneath the seals themselves. Something worse than all of them combined.”Elara nodded, the echo of that last voice still lingering in her skull like a bruise.A slow, guttural sound rolled through the black—neither growl nor whisper but something ancient, a vibration of dread. Then, in the distance, a single light blinked to life. Faint. Crimson. Like the last heartbeat
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 100: The Tenth Seal Breaks
A hush fell over the hall—one so complete it felt unnatural. The chandeliers above flickered as if sensing the tension brewing in the air. At the center of it all stood Elara, motionless. Her breath trembled, but her eyes were fixed—locked onto the figure walking toward her through the crowd.Dain.But he wasn’t alone.Flanking him were two high-ranking members of the Inner Circle, both cloaked in crimson. Their presence meant only one thing: the Council had acted. And their decision would be irreversible.Kael stood on the opposite side of the room, near the marble staircase, a hand resting casually on the hilt of his blade. His eyes never left Dain. There was a war behind that stillness—an unreadable storm behind his icy expression.Elara could feel the pull between them, not just of fate—but of fire and chaos, of oaths made in shadows and truths left to rot.Dain reached her first. He didn’t speak at first. His eyes swept over her face like he was committing it to memory. And maybe
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 99: The Vault of Silence
Elara’s boots hit the cracked stone of the underground passage with purpose. Every step echoed like a war drum, a grim beat driving them deeper beneath the capital.The air was cold and heavy, thick with centuries-old dust and the metallic tang of suppressed magic. Only the flicker of enchanted torches lit their path.Dain walked ahead, blade drawn. Kael followed closely behind Elara, still unarmed by her order, though the tension in his shoulders told her he was ready to fight—just not against them.“According to the scroll,” Kael murmured, “the entrance to the Binding Circle is behind the Vault of Silence. It’s protected by three seals—each bound to a bloodline.”“Let me guess,” Dain muttered. “You’re one of them.”Kael didn’t answer. Instead, he stopped in front of a towering stone door, etched with symbols so old even Elara’s royal schooling couldn’t decipher them.The Vault pulsed, faintly alive.Elara stepped forward. “And the others?”Kael glanced at her, then at Dain. “You. Bo
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 98: the Crown’s Shadow
Kael stood on the ridge above the rebel encampment, wind pulling at his cloak as the soldiers behind him waited for his command. The battalion was restless, nervous even. They’d heard the rumors—of Elara’s army growing, of Dain’s ruthless tactics, and of magic long thought dormant stirring under her name.He should have been preparing for war. But Kael couldn’t stop hearing her voice from two nights ago—sharp, desperate, defiant.“You’re either with us… or in our way.”She didn’t understand. Not yet.A lieutenant approached, bowing low. “Orders, Commander?”Kael didn’t respond right away. Instead, his eyes scanned the terrain—every familiar rise and dip a reminder of the world they used to dream about together. He hadn’t come to destroy her.He’d come to save her.“Send the forward scouts around the southern flank,” Kael said. “But keep our forces here. We’re not attacking.”The lieutenant blinked. “Sir?”“I said we’re not attacking.”“But… the council—”“To hell with the council.” Ka
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 97: The Veiled Rebellion
The underground echoed with whispered plans and distant footsteps. In the heart of the old ruins beneath the capital—abandoned, forgotten, and riddled with decay—voices gathered in secret.“The throne is fractured,” a cloaked figure murmured. “Now is the time.”Candles flickered across weathered stone, casting eerie shadows over their faces. There were no names spoken here—only oaths and shared hatred. And at the center of it all, seated on a crumbling dais where the old kings were once crowned, was a woman cloaked in midnight blue.Elara.But not the version Kael had walked away from days ago.This Elara was sharp-edged, her eyes cold as glass. She had taken Selene’s loss and carved it into armor. The High Council had tried to claim the aftermath as their victory, but Elara had buried their influence with a single whispered rumor:“Selene died because of them.”And the city believed it.“What of Kael and Dain?” one rebel asked.“They gather power in the North,” Elara replied coolly.
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 96: Shattered Thrones and Silent Promises
Smoke curled through the shattered remnants of the Ruins, carrying the scent of scorched stone and ancient magic burned to its final breath. Selene stood amidst the wreckage, her sword lowered, her chest heaving from exhaustion. Kael and Dain flanked her, each bearing the bruises and bloodied scrapes of battle, but alive—still standing.Elara’s form lay crumpled beneath a collapsed archway, the darkness she once wielded now flickering like dying embers around her body. Her crown—a circlet of shadowed silver—had rolled from her head and lay forgotten at Selene’s feet.“She’s still breathing,” Dain muttered, voice hard as steel but laced with uncertainty.Selene glanced down, her heart a battlefield of emotions. “Let her live,” she said quietly, earning Kael’s sharp gaze. “Killing her now would make us no different.”Kael looked as if he wanted to argue, but stopped. Instead, he stepped back, his eyes drifting toward the fading magical storm above. “Then let her fade with what’s left of
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 95: The Final Stand
The night was thick with tension. The moon hung low in the sky, casting a cold silver light over the fractured world below. Selene stood on the balcony of the royal palace, her gaze fixed on the horizon where the last remnants of the storm clouded the skyline. She could feel the weight of her decision pressing against her chest, as heavy as the weight of her crown. Every breath she took seemed to reverberate in the hollow air, filling her with the urgency of the moment.Kael had left hours ago, assembling the last of their forces. The kingdom had been thrown into disarray, its streets filled with whispers of an incoming threat they could not fully understand. Elara had grown more powerful, her magic pulsing with a dark intensity that shook the very foundations of their world.“We need to be ready,” she murmured to herself, stepping away from the balcony and into the dimly lit hall. Every corner of the palace felt foreign now, as if the walls themselves held secrets she was just beginn
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 94: Shadows Unbound
The monstrous creature let out a bone-chilling roar, shaking the very foundations of the ground beneath them. Its glowing molten eyes locked onto Selene, its massive body rippling with a terrifying power. For a moment, time seemed to freeze, as if the world itself held its breath.Selene’s heart raced, the adrenaline coursing through her veins like fire. Kael’s grip on her arm tightened, pulling her closer. He was ready, poised to fight, but there was a dangerous edge in his eyes—the kind that came from knowing they were outmatched.“Stay close to me,” Kael muttered, his voice low and steady. “We can’t let it separate us.”She nodded, though her breath caught in her throat. They had faced many battles together, but this—this was different. The creature was no mere beast; it was a force of nature, a guardian summoned by dark powers, and it would take everything they had to survive.The creature lunged again, its claws slashing through the air with terrifying speed. Kael darted forward,
