Ember's POV
"You want to cross the Veil?" Lyra stares at me like I've lost my mind. "Ember, that's suicide. No one survives crossing between realms."
I spread the scroll across my bedroom floor. The symbols glow brighter now, responding to my blood. "My mother did it. She's alive, Lyra. I saw her in the vision."
"You saw a vision after hitting your head during a breakdown," Lyra argues, but her voice is gentle. "Your mother died when you were five. Everyone knows that."
"Everyone lies." I trace the symbols with my finger. They're instructions—a ritual for crossing the Veil. "Father said she died. Father also said I'd be heiress. Father said he loved me."
Lyra flinches. "Fair point."
The scroll shows me everything I need. A crossing point at the old Veil marker outside the city. Specific words in an ancient language that somehow I can read now. And a warning written in red: "The poison must burn out first, or the crossing will kill you."
Poison?
I read it again. "Magic suppression poison, administered over years, will burn away during the crossing. Pain will be severe. Survival is not guaranteed."
My hands start shaking. "They poisoned me. My own family poisoned me."
"What?" Lyra grabs the scroll. "That's why your magic has been weak! Ember, if this is true—"
"It's true." Everything makes sense now. The headaches. The exhaustion. My fire magic getting weaker every month. They were killing me slowly, keeping me weak and easy to control.
Rage burns in my chest, hotter than any fire I've ever summoned.
"We need supplies," I say, standing up. "Crystals for the ritual. Your car. And about three hours before anyone notices I'm gone."
Lyra looks at the scroll, then at me. "You're really doing this."
"I have to." I meet her eyes. "My mother is alive and trapped in another world. I have a soulmate who's dying. And apparently, I'm supposed to save both our realms from destruction. So yeah, I'm doing this."
"You always were stubborn." Lyra pulls out her phone. "I'll get the car. You gather what you need. We leave in twenty minutes."
While Lyra sneaks to the garage, I stuff a bag with the scroll, Mother's letters, and a change of clothes. I almost leave the necklace Marcus gave me for our engagement, but at the last second, I grab it. I'll sell it in the new world if I need money.
A soft knock makes me freeze.
"Ember?" Celeste's voice comes through the door. "Can we talk?"
Fury floods through me. "Go away."
"Please. I need to explain—"
"Explain what?" I yank open the door. "Explain how you stole my inheritance? Or how you've been sleeping with my fiancé for two years?"
Celeste has the nerve to look hurt. "It wasn't like that. Marcus and I... we fell in love. It just happened."
"Nothing just happens, Celeste. You planned this." I step closer, and she backs up. "Tell me the truth. How long has Father been poisoning me?"
Her face goes pale. "I don't know what you're—"
"Don't lie!" Fire sparks in my palms—weak and pathetic, but there. "I found Mother's scroll. I know about the poison. I know about everything."
Celeste's mask slips for just a second, and I see something ugly underneath. Something that looks almost like... satisfaction.
"You were always going to fail," she says quietly. "Father knew it. Marcus knew it. Everyone knew it except you."
The words hit harder than a punch.
"Why?" I whisper. "I was your sister. I never hurt you."
"You existed," Celeste hisses. "Perfect Ember. Powerful Ember. First-born Ember who got everything just because she was born first. Do you know what it's like living in your shadow?"
"I'm not living in anyone's shadow anymore." I grab my bag. "Enjoy the inheritance, Celeste. I hope it was worth it."
I push past her and run down the hallway. Behind me, I hear her yell, "Guards! She's escaping!"
Great. Now I'm a prisoner in my own home.
I take the servant stairs two at a time. Lyra is waiting at the side entrance with her car running. I dive into the passenger seat.
"Drive!"
Lyra hits the gas. Behind us, I see guards pouring out of the house. Father appears at the main entrance, his face twisted with rage.
"They're following us!" Lyra says, checking the mirror.
"Faster!"
We speed through the estate gates just as they start to close. The guards' cars chase us through the dark streets, their sirens wailing.
"Where's the Veil marker?" Lyra shouts over the noise.
"Old Forest Road. About ten minutes from here." I clutch the scroll. "We can make it."
"They're gaining!"
I turn around and summon every bit of fire magic I have left. It's weak, but it's enough. I blast the road behind us, creating a wall of flames. The guard cars screech to a stop.
"That won't hold them long," Lyra says.
"It doesn't have to." I point ahead. "There! The marker!"
An ancient stone pillar rises from the forest edge, covered in the same symbols as the scroll. The Veil marker. The crossing point between worlds.
Lyra parks, and we both jump out. I can hear the guards' sirens getting closer.
"The ritual," I say, spreading the scroll on the ground. "I need to draw the symbols in a circle around the marker."
"With what?"
I pull out a knife and cut my palm. "Blood. It has to be blood."
"Ember—"
"No time!" I start drawing, my blood glowing as it touches the ground. The symbols connect, forming a perfect circle. Power hums in the air.
Car lights appear through the trees. The guards found us.
"Hurry!" Lyra shouts.
I finish the last symbol and step into the circle. The scroll shows me the words I need to say—words in a language that shouldn't exist but flows from my mouth like I was born speaking it.
"Ember Ravencrest, stop!" Father's voice booms as he steps out of his car. "You have no idea what you're doing!"
"I know exactly what I'm doing." I raise my bleeding hand to the sky. "I'm taking back my power. I'm finding my mother. And I'm getting as far away from you as possible."
"That scroll is dangerous!" Father's face is desperate now. "If you cross the Veil, you'll start a war between realms! Millions will die!"
I hesitate. Is he telling the truth? Or is this another lie?
The scroll pulses in my hand, warm and insistent. In my mind, I see the silver-eyed man from my vision. I hear his voice: "Find me. Please. I've been waiting so long."
Kaelan. His name is Kaelan.
And he's dying.
"I'm sorry," I tell Father, though I'm not sure I mean it. "But I'm done being your victim."
I speak the final words of the ritual.
The world explodes in light and pain. I feel my body being torn apart, cell by cell. The poison burns out of my blood like liquid fire. I'm screaming, but I can't hear the sound.
Through the agony, I see Lyra's face. I see Father reaching for me, shouting something I can't hear. I see Celeste behind him, and for just a second, I swear she's smiling.
Then everything goes black.
When I open my eyes, I'm falling through darkness.
No—not darkness. The space between worlds.
Above me, I see the Ember Court fading away. Below me, I see a new world rising up—a realm of shadows and starlight and ancient magic.
The Dark Realm.
And standing at the bottom, looking up at me with silver eyes that pierce through dimensions, is a man who takes my breath away.
Kaelan.
My soulmate.
My salvation.
Or my doom.
I crash into his arms, and the last thing I hear before I pass out is his voice, rough with centuries of loneliness and desperate hope:
"You came. After three hundred years... you finally came."