Chapter 147 Hundred and fifty
“Ryder… do you hear that?” Sienna whispered, her voice low, urgent, trembling in a way he hadn’t heard since the night she first wore the crown. Her fingers brushed the stones beneath her, steadying herself as a faint vibration rolled through the forest floor like a heartbeat she didn’t trust.
Ryder lifted his head sharply. “Yes.” His reply was stripped down, clipped, edged with a power he couldn’t control anymore. “They’re coming faster this time.”
A gust of wind spiraled through the trees, bending the branches like they were bowing to a force far greater than the storm overhead. Sienna pressed closer to the ruined archway as silver mist gathered along the ground, alive and hungry. The moon above flickered in and out like a dying flame, each pulse making her chest tighten.
“Stay behind me,” Ryder whispered.
“I’m not the same girl you could hide behind before,” she whispered back.
“I know,” he said, “that’s what terrifies me.”
Before she could answer, the sky split open.
A thunderous crack tore the air apart, and a beam of pure lunar fire struck the edge of the clearing. Trees evaporated into ash. The earth shook. A shockwave burst outward, throwing Sienna backward. Ryder caught her, his arms locking around her waist just before she hit the ground.
She gasped, her breath caught in the cage of his hold. “Ryder, ”
“I’ve got you,” he breathed, but there was something under his voice, something breaking.
The mist thickened, swirling in patterns too deliberate to be wind. The silver fog twisted into spirals that formed a pathway leading toward them. And then, out of that glowing fog, they stepped.
The celestial hunters.
Their shapes were wolf-like but wrong, too tall, too thin, spines stretching upward like ribs trying to escape their bodies. Their fur glowed with shifting constellations, and their eyes burned bright white without pupils. Every step they took crushed the air around them.
Sienna’s skin shivered with recognition. “Lunaris sent them herself.”
Ryder didn’t look away from the beasts. “She wants you cornered.”
A low howl rose from the celestial pack, a sound too beautiful and too horrifying to belong in any forest. The sound carved chills up Sienna’s arms, sinking into her bones.
Ryder shifted forward slightly, shielding her. “She wants you broken.”
Sienna glared at the advancing wolves. “She can try.”
The largest beast stepped forward. Its body was draped in a long mane of white flame, and its claws carved molten grooves in the earth. It lowered its head, sniffed the air, and a deep rumble rolled from its chest.
Sienna felt it before she understood it, the creature was speaking. Not in words, but in intent.
Chosen one. Return. Half goddess. Half mortal. Not meant to run.
Sienna’s pulse pounded. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
The celestial wolf raised its head slowly. Starlight dripped from its jaws.
Ryder stepped in front of her, letting the curse stretch through his limbs. A shadow rippled up his spine, forming dark tendrils that danced behind him like living smoke. “You want her,” he growled, “you go through me.”
The wolves answered with a collective hiss, the sound echoing like broken glass dragged across stone. The largest one lunged.
Ryder moved before Sienna could blink. He slammed into the beast with a force that shattered the ground beneath them. The shockwave rattled the trees. Sienna felt the vibration in her teeth, her lungs, the scars along her wrists.
“Ryder!” she called, running toward them, but two smaller celestial wolves blocked her path. Their eyes locked onto her. Their bodies crouched low.
She extended her arm, her pulse glowing through her skin. “Don’t.”
One wolf stepped toward her. Its presence burned the air. Sienna felt a pressure locking her chest, forcing her to take a knee.
“Sienna, move!” Ryder shouted from the other side of the clearing. His voice cracked, strained with effort.
She couldn’t answer. The wolves stalked forward, their jaws dripping with silver flame. The heat licked her face, but she didn’t look away. She couldn’t. Something inside her rose, something that wasn’t mortal.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Her vision sharpened.
The silver pulse beneath her skin exploded outward.
A shock of cold light erupted from her palms. The blast flung the two celestial wolves backward. They hit the rocks hard, skidding through the dirt, snarling with rage but stunned by the force of the strike.
Ryder froze mid-fight, eyes widening as he caught sight of her. “Sienna… what did you just, ”
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
But she felt it. The goddess’s blood inside her. The silver fire that wanted to be used. The part of her Lunaris wanted to claim.
The celestial leader lunged again.
This time Sienna met it head-on.
Her fingers curled into the creature’s flaming mane. Pain seared through her skin, but she held on. She threw her weight forward, twisting the beast off balance. Ryder followed instantly, slamming his clawed hand against its throat.
But the beast lashed out.
Its claw ripped across Ryder’s chest.
He staggered back, dropping to one knee. The wound glowed bright white, burning him from the inside. Sienna felt the pain through the bond like flame down her spine.
“Ryder!” she screamed.
He grabbed a handful of dirt, forcing himself upright through sheer agony. His eyes burned red, too red, too bright.
“Sienna… stay back.”
The celestial pack circled. The forest trembled. Above them, the moon pulsed again like a heartbeat from the sky.
Ryder inhaled sharply. The curse inside him twisted, coiling around his ribs like a serpent. He choked on the pain, barely holding onto his form.
Sienna ran to him anyway.
“I said stay back!” he shouted, but she didn’t stop.
“Stop telling me to step away from you when stepping away is killing us both!”
The celestial wolves hissed, slinking closer, their shadows merging with the fog.
Ryder grabbed her wrist. “If they touch you, ”
“If they touch me,” she whispered fiercely, “I’ll burn them myself.”
She turned toward the approaching wolves, her eyes glowing with a silver so bright it reflected back at the beasts. They froze, sensing something they hadn’t expected. Something beyond mortal or goddess.
Something evolving.
Ryder’s breath hitched. “Your power… Sienna, it’s changing.”
A celestial howl ripped through the air, shaking the ground. The beasts lowered themselves, preparing for one last strike.
Ryder tensed beside her. “They’re going to attack together.”
Sienna stepped forward. “Then let them.”
The leader lunged.
Ryder reached for her.
Sienna’s power erupted.
A column of silver fire shot into the sky, tearing through the clouds, swallowing the moonlight. The force threw every celestial wolf to the ground, pinning them with sheer divine weight. The forest trembled under the pressure.
Ryder shielded his eyes, but he could still see her silhouette through the blinding glow, Sienna standing tall, hair lifting in the wind, eyes lit with moonfire that didn’t belong to any mortal queen.
The celestial leader snarled, backing away, its star-filled eyes flickering with fear.
Fear of her.
Ryder whispered, barely breathing, “Sienna… what are you becoming?”
The light faded slowly.
The forest fell silent.
And as the final pulse of silver dimmed, a voice curled through the trees, soft, cold, ancient.
“My daughter awakens.”
Sienna’s blood froze.
She knew that voice.
She felt it in her bones.
Lunaris had arrived.
And she wasn’t hiding in the sky anymore.