Chapter 178 Dante
I didn’t like the way she was looking at the room.
Not at us.
Through us.
Her pupils were blown wide, unfocused and too focused at the same time, like she was tracking something none of us could see—and from the way her breathing kept hitching, it wasn’t something pleasant.
I tightened my grip on her hand. “Talk to me,” I said, softer than I felt. “What are you seeing?”
Her eyes flicked toward me, then past me again, like even trying to look at me took effort.
“It’s… loud,” she whispered.
Loud. That didn’t make sense.
“What is loud?” I pressed.
She winced, squeezing her eyes shut for a second before forcing them open again. “Everything. The light, the threads, the—” her voice broke slightly, “—they’re wrong, Dante.”
That word again. Wrong.
I looked up. “Lukas,” I said, my tone losing patience fast. “Explain.”
“What she’s seeing,” Lukas said slowly, “is the structure of magic itself.”
Lucian huffed under his breath. “Of course she is. Because a normal Tuesday wasn’t dramatic enough.”
“Focus,” I snapped.
Lukas continued, unbothered. “Magic doesn’t just exist in bursts or spells. It flows. Through land, through people, through the air. It connects everything. Those ‘threads’ she’s describing…” his gaze flicked to Seraphine, “are the pathways.”
I frowned. “Pathways for what?”
“Energy. Life. Power. Balance.”
Amara made a face. “Okay, cool, so she’s basically looking at the world’s nervous system. No pressure.”
Seraphine let out a weak, shaky breath, her free hand coming up to rub at her temple. “Some of them are fine,” she murmured. “Most of them are fine… but others…” she swallowed hard, “they’re not. They’re dark. Like they’re rotting from the inside.”
That word again.
Rotting.
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Lukas didn’t sugarcoat it.
“It means something is feeding.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Ugly.
“Feeding?” Lucian repeated.
“Yes,” Lukas said. “If the threads are darkening, breaking, or decaying, then something is pulling energy out of them. Draining it. Corrupting it in the process.”
Amara blinked. “So like… magical mold?”
Lucian snorted. “That’s disgusting.”
“I’m serious,” she shot back. “That’s exactly what it sounds like. Magical black mold. We’re all going to die of supernatural lung damage.”
“Not helping,” I muttered.
Lukas ignored them. “This isn’t isolated,” he continued. “If she can see it here, that means it’s already spread beyond Shadow territory.”
My jaw tightened. “How bad?” I asked.
He looked at me. “Worst case?” he said. “If whatever is causing this continues unchecked, it won’t just weaken magic.”
A pause.
“It will collapse it.”
My grip on her hand tightened instinctively. “Define collapse.”
“No magic,” Lukas said. “No balance. No structure holding the world together the way it currently functions.”
Lucian straightened. “You’re saying—”
“I’m saying,” Lukas cut in, “that if those threads break completely, everything tied to them starts failing.”
Amara’s voice dropped slightly. “Dragonborn…”
“Would weaken,” Lukas confirmed. “Possibly die if their bonds destabilize.”
Lucian’s jaw clenched. “Humans?”
Lukas didn’t hesitate. “Extinction is a possibility.”
I looked down at Seraphine.
Her eyes were barely open now, lashes heavy, her breathing uneven like just existing in this state was exhausting her.
“Hey,” I said quietly, brushing my thumb across her knuckles. “Stay with me.”
“I am,” she whispered, though her voice sounded far away. “It just… hurts.”
“How bad?”
She let out a shaky breath. “Like staring at the sun… but it’s everywhere.”
Fuck.
I glanced up again, my patience snapping back into place, sharper now.
“So what do we do?” I demanded.
Lukas nodded once.
“The next step is confirmation.”
“Of what?” Lucian asked.
“Source,” Lukas said. “If the corruption is strongest in Shadow territory, then the wards surrounding it should reflect that.”
I frowned. “Meaning she can see it there too.”
“Yes.”
Seraphine shifted slightly, her brow furrowing. “I already know it’s there,” she murmured weakly. “It’s… pulling everything inward.”
We all went still.
“Pulling?” Lucian asked.
She nodded faintly. “Like… everything is bending toward it. Feeding it.”
Lukas’s expression darkened.
“That confirms it.”
Amara crossed her arms. “Cool. Love that. Hate everything about that.”
I looked at Lukas. “So we go there.”
“Yes,” he said, “but carefully.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Define carefully.”
“No touching the ward,” Lukas said immediately. “No testing it. No pushing against it.”
Lucian frowned. “Why?”
“Because if what we’re dealing with is as old and aware as we think it is,” Lukas said, “then interacting with the ward could alert it.”
A pause.
“And if it’s already feeding on the threads?”
Another pause.
“It may be able to trace that interaction back to her.”
My stomach dropped. “No,” I said instantly. “That’s not happening.”
“She doesn’t touch it,” Lukas agreed. “She observes. That’s it.”
Seraphine shifted again, her grip tightening weakly in mine. “I can… see it without touching it,” she murmured. “I think.”
“You’re not doing anything if it hurts you like this,” I said immediately.
Her lips twitched slightly. “Too late for that.”
“Not funny.”
“A little funny,” Amara muttered under her breath.
Lucian snorted. “I mean, if we’re all about to die, we might as well laugh about it.”
“Speak for yourself,” I shot back. “I’m not dying.”
Amara glanced at me. “That’s the spirit. Delusion looks good on you.”
I ignored her. Focused back on Seraphine. Her eyes had closed again, her breathing shallow but steady, her body still too warm under my touch.
“You’re not pushing yourself,” I said quietly.
“I don’t have to push,” she whispered. “It’s already there.”
That didn’t make me feel better. Not even a little.
Lukas stepped back slightly, his gaze moving between all of us. “Then we move quickly,” he said. “We gather what we can from a distance. We confirm the nature of the corruption. And then—”
“We figure out how to stop it,” Lucian finished.
I shook my head slightly, my eyes dropping back to her. “No,” I said quietly.
They all looked at me.
“We don’t figure it out,” I corrected. My grip tightened around her hand. “We end it.”