The pain pulsed beneath Aeloria's skin, a burning-cold sensation that felt like liquid fire and ice racing through her veins. The sigils glowed so brightly that the valley was bathed in their light, shadows bending away as if afraid to touch her.
She clenched her teeth, trying to breathe, trying to speak—trying not to scream again.
The vampire was the first to move.
He removed his cloak in one graceful motion and swept it around her shoulders, shielding her from the evening wind that suddenly felt too sharp. "Easy," he murmured, his voice unexpectedly gentle. "The awakening is… intense."
The dragon lord snorted, arms crossed, heat radiating off him in waves that warmed the frost forming on the grass. "Intense? That is the understatement of a millennium." His eyes flicked to Aeloria, their molten gold softening only slightly. "Mortals have gone mad from less."
Aeloria lifted her head, tears streaking her cheeks—not from fear but from the raw, searing energy coursing through her. "I'm not— I'm not mortal?"
The Beastborn alpha stepped closer, his heavy steps barely muffled by the earth. "Partly," he said. "But never fully." He knelt beside her, surprisingly cautious for someone with a predator's build. "You were hidden. Your true bloodline sealed. Until now."
"Hidden from what?" she whispered.
All three men exchanged a look—one full of history, politics, and secrets she had never been allowed to see.
The vampire answered first.
"Hidden from us."His crimson eyes locked with hers. "From the courts. From the prophecy. From those who would use you."
The dragon let out a low growl. "From those who would destroy you."
"And from yourself," the Beastborn added quietly.
Aeloria pulled her hand back, covering the sigil even though the light leaked through her fingers. "I don't understand any of this. I'm a herbalist. I lived my whole life here. I—"
The vampire lifted a brow. "Here? In this forgotten valley? With that… talent of yours?" His gaze slid to the garden. Tiny shoots had sprouted through the dirt—plants that hadn't been there minutes ago. Her magic had responded to her fear.
She followed his eyes and gasped.
"That wasn't me. I didn't—"
The dragon stepped forward, his presence overwhelming—heat, scent of smoke, power woven into muscle. "Magic doesn't lie, little star." He tilted her chin upward with a single finger, the motion both gentle and unbearably intimate. "You're awakening."
Aeloria's heartbeat thudded painfully in her chest. She tried to stand, but her legs trembled beneath her.
The Beastborn Alpha stood behind her in one smooth motion, strong arms supporting her waist. She felt the rumble of his chest as he spoke.
"We should not stay here."
The vampire's expression sharpened instantly. "Agreed. The moment her Mark ignited, every creature with a shred of ancient blood felt it. The hunters will be coming."
Aeloria's stomach twisted. "Hunters?"
"Assassins," the dragon corrected. "Those loyal to the factions who fear what you represent. Powers that do not want the balance to shift."
The Beastborn's voice was a low growl. "Her scent will carry far tonight."
Aeloria inhaled sharply. "My… scent?"
The dragon smirked. "Don't worry, little star. You smell divine."
She flushed so deeply she felt it in her bones.
The vampire shot the dragon a dark glare. "You're frightening her."
"I'm being honest."
"That is rarely comforting."
Before they could argue further, the winds shifted.
A new smell rode the air—sharp, metallic, wrong. Aeloria's skin prickled. The Beastborn's head snapped toward the treeline. The vampire stilled completely, like a statue ready to strike. The dragon's tattoos flared with golden heat.
Silence held for a breath.
Then—
A whistle split the air.
The vampire blurred—one instant beside her, the next blocking the path of a silver bolt screaming toward her heart. His hand snapped up, catching it inches from his chest. The metal sizzled against his skin.
Aeloria gasped.That bolt would have killed her instantly.
More whistles followed—like a deadly rainstorm.
The dragon grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him, his body erupting in heat. Flames swirled around his arms, incinerating the incoming projectiles before they reached her.
The Beastborn shifted, bones cracking, fur rippling along his arms as his form grew more monstrous—half-man, half-wolf, all fury. He snarled, the sound echoing across the valley like thunder, and leapt toward the treeline.
"Aeloria!" the vampire barked. "Stay behind us!"
Another volley of silver bolts shot from the shadows.
The vampire blurred again, deflecting them with inhuman speed.The dragon breathed a stream of fire that lit the night like dawn.The Beastborn tore through the attackers with a feral efficiency that made Aeloria's pulse stutter.
But the attackers kept coming—cloaked figures with glowing masks, moving in unnerving silence.
The dragon cursed. "They sent the Silent Order."
The vampire's jaw tightened. "They should not exist. They were disbanded centuries ago."
"Clearly not," the Beastborn snarled, ripping one from the shadows.
Aeloria pressed herself against a stone wall, shaking.
Her garden—her peaceful home—had become a battlefield.
One of the Silent Order emerged from the darkness, sprinting toward her faster than humanly possible. A blade flashed—silver and obsidian.
She tried to move, but she was frozen.
The assassin lunged—
And Aeloria screamed.
But the scream never left her throat.
An explosion blasted outward from her chest, a shockwave of raw energy rippling through the valley. The ground cracked beneath her feet. Every lantern shattered. The assassin was thrown backward like a rag doll, crashing into a tree with a sickening crunch.
Aeloria stared at her hands—glowing with the same colors as the Mark.
"What… did I just do?"
The vampire, dragon, and Beastborn all turned toward her—expressions shifting from battle-readiness to stunned awe.
The vampire stepped closer, voice low and reverent."You awakened more power than any of us imagined."
The dragon's lips curved into a slow, wicked smile."Oh, this is going to change everything."
The Beastborn's chest rose and fell with heavy breaths."We need to get her out of here. Now."
Aeloria swallowed hard, her heart racing.
Her quiet life was gone.Her secrets were burning through the dark.And she was standing between three powers who claimed her fate.
The Mark glowed brighter, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Something deep inside her whispered a truth she wasn't ready to believe:
The world had been waiting for her.And now the world was coming.