Chapter 155 Hundred and fifty eight

Chapter 155 Hundred and fifty eight

“Don’t move,” Sienna whispered, though her voice trembled. “Ryder… something’s wrong with the sky.”

He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. His eyes were fixed upward, shoulders rigid, as if his entire body recognized the presence before his mind caught up. The wind shifted first, sharp, metallic, humming like a blade drawn too slowly. Then the air thickened, dense as honey, vibrating with an ancient pulse neither of them could outrun.

“Sienna,” Ryder murmured, his voice low, rough, almost broken. “Stay behind me.”

“Like that would help,” she shot back, but she stepped closer instead of retreating.

Light burst above them, violent, blinding, a rip through the heavens itself. Not moonlight. Not starlight. Something older. Something that tasted like judgment. Ryder’s breath left him in a harsh gasp as the air folded inward and then exploded outward in a ring of silver fire.

Lunaris descended through it.

Her form wasn’t a woman and wasn’t a wolf, it shifted between both, made of shadow and starlight, her hair floating, her eyes hollow silver wells that saw every sin, every lie, every heartbeat. The trees bent under the weight of her arrival. The earth cracked. Power rippled outward in waves that forced Sienna to dig her claws into the dirt just to stay standing.

Ryder fell to one knee, teeth clenched, breath strangled in his chest.

“No,” Sienna whispered, reaching for him.

He grabbed her wrist before she touched him. “Don’t,” he rasped. “She’s here for me.”

Lunaris landed without sound, the grass beneath her turning white under her bare feet. She didn’t look at Sienna, not yet. Her gaze locked onto Ryder, and he stiffened like a soldier awaiting execution.

“So stubborn,” Lunaris said, her voice layered, echoing with a thousand tones, soft and terrible all at once. “You cling to a life that is not yours. To love that was never meant to be yours.”

Ryder forced himself to his feet, barely steady but still defiant. “I chose her,” he said. “No curse changes that.”

Lunaris tilted her head, studying him like a mother admiring a child right before she breaks their favorite toy. “You chose her,” she repeated, tasting the words. “And now you will pay the price.”

Sienna stepped forward. “If you touch him, ”

Lunaris didn’t even turn. She lifted two fingers.

Sienna crashed to her knees as crushing weight slammed her into the earth. Her breath punched out of her. Her bones vibrated painfully.

Ryder roared, the sound tearing raw from his chest. “Stop! Don’t touch her!”

Lunaris’ expression didn’t change, but her hand shifted slightly. Sienna was released, but the warning was unmistakable.

“Do not speak to me as if you have the right,” Lunaris said softly. “Love is a mortal indulgence. You,” her eyes flicked to Ryder, “were born of shadow. Molded from betrayal. Each lifetime you carry the same flaw, desire.”

Ryder’s jaw tightened. “Then take me. Leave her.”

Sienna scrambled up, fury burning through the fear. “No! I’m the one you want, aren’t I? Your chosen vessel? Take your anger out on me instead of, ”

Lunaris turned to her, and Sienna fell silent instantly.

“Child,” Lunaris whispered. “You misunderstand. This is not anger.”

The goddess raised her hand.

The world went white.

Ryder screamed before the light even touched him. His body jerked backward, suspended in midair, limbs spread as if invisible chains held him there. A column of shadow, pure black, swirling with silver veins, shot from Lunaris’ palm and pierced Ryder’s chest.

Sienna lunged for him. “Let him go!”

“You cannot save him,” Lunaris said. “But you will watch.”

The shadow mark spread across Ryder’s skin like ink dropped in water, spiderwebbing over his chest, up his throat, down his arms. He arched, gasping, choking on pain that ripped through muscle and bone.

“Ryder!” Sienna shouted, her voice breaking.

He heard her. Even through agony, he turned his face toward her. “Sienna… don’t…”

Lunaris lowered her hand, and Ryder collapsed to the ground, trembling violently. The mark burned on his skin, an ancient sigil, half shadow, half fading moon.

“What did you do to him?” Sienna demanded, pulling Ryder into her arms.

Lunaris stepped closer, and the temperature dropped instantly. Frost crawled over the grass. Sienna’s breath fogged in front of her.

“He will fade,” Lunaris said calmly. “When the moon is full, his body will cease to hold the form he clings to. His soul will be reclaimed.”

Sienna froze. “Reclaimed? By who?”

“By what he is,” Lunaris said, eyes narrowing. “By the realm that birthed him. Shadows are not meant to walk in flesh.”

Ryder coughed, pushing weakly against Sienna’s hold. “Don’t… listen… run…”

Sienna tightened her grip. “I’m not leaving you.”

Lunaris’ gaze softened, but not with kindness, more like pity. “Your defiance is admirable. But useless. You cannot change what you are. You cannot change what he is.”

Sienna stood slowly, keeping Ryder shielded behind her. “Then mark me too.”

Ryder’s head snapped up. “Sienna, no!”

Lunaris raised a brow. “You would bear shadow? Knowing it could devour you?”

“Knowing I won’t let him face this alone,” Sienna said.

Lunaris studied her for a long moment, and the wind stilled, as if the world itself were listening.

“You wish to be bound to his fate?” the goddess asked.

“I already am.”

Lunaris smiled, a sad, knowing smile that made Sienna’s skin crawl. “Very well.”

She extended her hand.

Silver light shot forward, striking Sienna in the wrist. Sienna gasped and clutched her arm. Heat seared through her flesh, carving a crescent-shaped mark beneath her skin. The glow pulsed like a heartbeat, sinking deeper, binding itself to her spirit.

Ryder pushed himself upright, horror etched across his face. “Why would you do that?”

Sienna knelt beside him, touching his cheek. “Because you’re not fading alone.”

He grabbed her hand, desperate. “This isn’t bravery, Sienna. This curse, it kills everything it touches. You’re risking, ”

“I’m choosing you,” she said softly.

Lunaris drifted back from them, her expression unreadable. “You do not understand what you have asked for. Your bond was already forbidden. Now it is sealed.”

“Then unseal it,” Sienna snapped.

Lunaris shook her head. “You cannot undo what has been carved by divine will. But perhaps… you may survive long enough to understand why it must be done.”

The goddess lifted her hand again. The sky rippled.

A second blast of light surged outward, wrapping around both of them, Ryder’s shadow mark glowing, Sienna’s crescent burning bright.

“Listen well,” Lunaris said, her voice echoing through the trees, through their bones. “When the full moon rises, he will fade. And you, ” her gaze cut into Sienna, “will watch.”

Sienna staggered forward. “I won’t.”

Lunaris drifted upward, wings unfolding in a storm of light.

“You will,” she whispered. “Because love blinds even the strongest queens.”

Ryder forced himself onto one knee, snarling through the pain. “If you harm her, ”

“Harm?” Lunaris laughed softly. “You harm each other simply by surviving.”

The air shook. Shadows twisted around her feet. The light gathered around her form, growing brighter and brighter until Sienna had to shield her eyes.

“What do you want from us?” Sienna shouted.

Lunaris answered with a single, cold truth:

“For destiny to be fulfilled.”

With that, she vanished, exploding into starlight and darkness that rained over the forest like falling ash.

Silence returned slowly.

Ryder collapsed entirely, choking on air, fighting to keep consciousness. Sienna gathered him in her arms, tears streaking down her face as the shadow mark pulsed beneath her fingertips.

“Ryder… stay with me,” she whispered.

He lifted a trembling hand, brushing her cheek. “I’ll try.”

But even as he said it, she felt him flicker, his presence thinning like smoke in wind.

And above them, the moon rose a little higher. The first warning.