Chapter 53
It had been three days since I woke in the Fairy Kingdom, and not once had the ground felt solid beneath me.
Every corner of the palace pulsed with magic—old, powerful, and watchful. The walls hummed at my touch. The wind in the trees whispered names I couldn’t remember, and when I walked through the Moon Garden, I swore the flowers leaned toward me like they were greeting an old friend.
“Focus,” Queen Aeloria said, her voice as sharp as the crystal thrones we’d stood before.
I snapped back into the present, wiping my damp palms against the silken training robes they’d given me.
Before me stood the Mirror of Flame, a living artifact that revealed truth through fire. Only those with control could step through it unharmed. Everyone else saw their fears come alive—and sometimes, never made it back out.
The Circle of Elders stood behind me, silent.
“You must enter,” Aeloria said. “To master Ancient Magic, you must first confront the piece of Ravana that dwells in your shadow.”
I hesitated.
Not because I was afraid of Ravana—but because I wasn’t sure I was afraid enough.
Jaymie stirred inside me. “We’re with you. Always.”
Adrian, standing to the side of the chamber with Kinsey, gave me a nod of support. His hands were clenched, his wolf on edge. Kinsey’s expression was unreadable.
I stepped forward.
The mirror’s surface rippled like molten silver. My reflection blinked, then changed—gold eyes, black veins, twisted horns.
I stepped in.
The heat didn’t burn.
Not physically.
But my mind… my mind was swallowed whole.
The air turned red.
I stood in a battlefield—flames curling around bodies I recognized. My warriors. The orphans. Adrian. Kinsey. Even Diondre. All of them still, burned, broken.
“No…” I whispered.
From the smoke stepped a version of me, wearing armor I’d never seen. Blood dripping from her fingertips.
“Accept me,” she said. “I am the power you’re hiding from.”
“I’m not hiding,” I said.
“You are. You chain me with that bracelet. You tell yourself we’re dangerous. But I am you. I am your strength.”
“You’re the part that would kill to win.”
“Isn’t that what you want?” she snarled. “To win? Or would you rather everyone else die protecting your peace?”
“I’d rather learn how to protect without becoming what I’m fighting.”
The other me laughed. “Then you’ll lose.”
“No,” a voice said from behind her.
It was Sita.
Bathed in light, eyes burning gold.
“She chooses who she becomes. As I did.”
The darker version of me hissed—but then she began to fade.
Sita reached for my hand.
“Come home, Luna.”
I gasped as I emerged from the Mirror of Flame, knees buckling, but caught by Adrian just in time.
“You were in there for hours,” he said, holding me tight. “But you’re here.”
Aeloria nodded with approval. “You have passed. The true training begins tomorrow.”
But I wasn’t listening.
Because I felt it—truly felt it—for the first time.
Not dark.
Not broken.
But whole.
The Ancient Magic in me settled like a heartbeat.
And somewhere far away, I knew… Ravana felt it too.
And he was afraid.