Chapter 132 Hundred and thirty seven
“Move!” Sienna shouted, her voice cracking through the roar of collapsing stone as she dragged a wounded sentinel away from a burning archway.
He groaned, clutching his ribs. “They breached the lower wall, Renna’s witches, something’s wrong with the flames, my Queen. They don’t die.”
“They will,” she snapped, even as heat blistered the air around them. “Just keep breathing.”
Behind her, the Citadel groaned like a living creature in pain. Walls that had stood for centuries bowed inward. The tiles beneath her boots split from the pressure of warring powers colliding like storms. Smoke curled through the hallways, thick enough to coat her tongue in bitterness. Every breath tasted of ash and betrayal.
“Where’s the next unit?” she demanded.
“Dead… or scattered,” the sentinel choked. “They came with shadows. Not wolves. Not even men. Things Renna called from the archives. We weren’t ready.”
“We never are when she’s involved.” Sienna hauled him to the stairwell. “Go. Join the medical line. Keep fighting.”
He staggered down the steps, leaving her alone in the smoke-dark corridor.
A low tremble slid through the floor.
Then another.
Then, an explosion ripped through the lower chambers, sending a violent shockwave up the spine of the fortress. Stones erupted from the wall like torn bone. Sienna shielded her head, bracing as fire shot down the hallway like a serpent unleashed.
She didn’t run.
She reached for her power, felt it coil inside her palms, electric and sharp, the echo of Lunaris humming beneath her skin. Her energy split the oncoming flame in two, forcing it to hiss past her on either side.
“Sienna!” a voice coughed behind her. “We need you at the front, now!”
Captain Mara sprinted toward her, armor half-melted, hair soaked in sweat and smoke. Behind her, three soldiers limped forward, dragging an unconscious witch between them.
“What happened?” Sienna asked.
Mara swallowed hard. “Zane’s forces hit the east barracks with fire sigils. Renna’s hexing the blast radius herself, so the flames follow the living. The entire lower city is burning. We’re losing ground faster than we can count.”
Sienna stepped closer. “And the civilians?”
Mara hesitated, and that hesitation was the answer.
Sienna’s jaw tightened. “Where’s the Council?”
“Hiding,” Mara said bitterly. “They sealed the Moon Chamber and refused to come out. They want you to surrender. They think the rebellion will end if you step down.”
Sienna let out a cold laugh. “Zane wouldn’t stop even if I vanished from the earth.”
Mara nodded. “I know. That’s why we need you on the front line.”
A tremor shook the entire Citadel again. This time the floor beneath them cracked, splitting open like the earth itself was rejecting the war consuming it. Smoke burst upward, followed by a deafening wail that wasn’t human.
“What now?” Sienna whispered.
A howl echoed across the sky.
Not wolf.
Not spirit.
Something in between.
Mara’s face drained of color. “Renna summoned the Obsidian Pack.”
Sienna froze. “That’s impossible. The Obsidian wolves are extinct.”
“Apparently not tonight.”
Another howl answered. Then another. Then twenty.
Sienna inhaled sharply, the air vibrating in her chest. “How many?”
“An entire legion.”
Sienna didn’t waste time. She strode toward the balcony overlooking the burning city. Flames devoured roofs like starving beasts. Smoke rose in spirals. The once-glorious Citadel, her home, her kingdom, her burden, glowed red beneath a moon now half-shrouded by ash.
She whispered, “Ryder… where are you?”
Mara stiffened beside her. “If he’s alive, he’ll come.”
Sienna knew better. He was alive. She felt it like a pulse beneath her ribs. But he wouldn’t come. He was keeping his distance because of the curse, and because he feared killing her more than he feared death.
But the battlefield didn’t care about curses.
The walls suddenly shook with a pounding blow. A beast slammed into the outer gate, snarling, its massive frame outlined by fire. It looked like a wolf sculpted from shadow and molten stone. Its eyes glowed a savage, unnatural red.
“Mara,” Sienna whispered, “tell me that’s not, ”
“It is,” Mara breathed. “Obsidian.”
The creature roared, muscles bulging, claws slicing into the steel gate like it was soft leather. Behind it, dozens more emerged from the smoke, huge, armored wolves draped in dark sigils.
“Sienna,” Mara said quietly, “we can’t hold this.”
“We have to.” Sienna pressed her hand to the balcony rail. “We don’t run from our own home.”
“Sienna, ”
“We fight.”
The Obsidian Alpha slammed the gate again, and this time the steel buckled inward.
Sienna spun toward the soldiers. “Get archers above the west wall. Witchline on the towers. And bring me every healer who can still stand.”
Mara blinked. “Healers?”
“Yes,” Sienna said. “We’re going to channel them.”
Mara stared. “Sienna… that could kill you.”
“Everything tonight could kill me.”
The gate screeched under the pressure of the beasts.
Sienna lifted her chin. “Move.”
Mara sprinted off.
Sienna placed both hands on the stone railing, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. Power flowed through her like a rising tide. Her veins thrummed, warm and heavy. She could feel the heartbeat of the moon, the pulse of the land, the ache of every wounded soul in her city.
The Obsidian Alpha slammed the gate again.
Sienna opened her eyes.
Energy glowed at her fingertips, bright and dangerous.
“You want a queen?” she whispered. “Then you’ll have one.”
The gate snapped.
Obsidian wolves poured in, tearing through the courtyard.
Sienna stepped forward,
, and a blur of motion cut through the flames.
Something fast.
Something furious.
Something she knew.
“Ryder?” she breathed.
A figure moved between the wolves like shadow and lightning, blades flashing, power erupting from him with violent precision. Wolves turned to ash in his wake. His mask cracked in the firelight, revealing the jaw she knew too well, the fury she recognized in every line of his stance.
He didn’t look at her.
Not yet.
But he was cutting a path straight to her.
“Sienna!” Mara screamed from below. “It’s him, he’s, ”
“I know.”
The Obsidian Alpha lunged toward Sienna.
Ryder tore through the flames, grabbed the beast mid-air, and slammed it into the wall with a force that shook the fortress.
He stood between Sienna and the monster, shoulders rising and falling, breath wild, eyes glowing like something ancient had awakened.
“Ryder, ” she whispered.
He finally looked up.
His voice was a low, painful rasp. “Get behind me.”
Before she could answer,
The ground split beneath them.
A surge of dark energy erupted from the courtyard, swallowing the gate, wolves, stone, and fire in a single violent tremor.
Sienna stumbled backward, catching herself on the railing.
“Sienna!” Ryder lunged for her.
The world cracked open.
And something vast and ancient rose from below the Citadel, darker than shadow, older than war, drawn by blood and destiny.
Sienna reached for Ryder’s hand,
, but a force between them shoved them apart as the darkness climbed upward.
Smoke billowed.
Magic screamed.
And an enormous figure of living night broke the surface of the courtyard, eyes burning with recognition,
looking directly at Sienna.