Page 83 of Of Shadow and Moon

Nasarea leans over my shoulder, her breath warm against my ear as she peers at the glowing text. “What does it say?”

I don’t respond immediately; my eyes locked on the words as they burn into my thoughts. They don’t just sit on the page—they pulse, alive with meaning, etching themselves into my consciousness as though they’ve been waiting for me, specificallyme, to find them.

“It’s... a prophecy,” I murmur, the realization chilling me to my core.

Bornof shadow’s kiss and light’s embrace,

A child of the in between shall rise,

Her steps will echo through the halls of time,

A bringer of endings, a weaver of fates.

Where death lingers,she will call,

The silent rest undone at her will,

A hand stretched to the veil,

And the lifeless shall walk beneath her command.

The moon is her keeper,her strength a tide,

Waxing and waning, yet never broken.

Her light will blind the unworthy,

Her dark will consume the arrogant.

None shall standbefore her fury,

For she is the storm and the stillness,

The blade and the balm,

Her power boundless, her destiny unyielding.

But bewarethe path forged by her hand,

For where she treads, kingdoms will fall,

The balance shall falter, the line will blur.

Salvation or ruin—none can tell.

I read it aloud,my voice barely above a whisper. The words hang in the air, heavy and foreboding, their meaning just out of reach.

Nasarea stiffens beside me. “What does that mean?” she asks, her voice barely masking the edge of fear.

I shake my head, my fingers tracing the faded ink. “I don’t know,” I admit.

“A girl who can make death walk,” Nasarea murmurs, her eyes darting to mine.

“Selestina, that’s?—”

“Don’t.” I cut her off, my voice sharper than I intended. “We don’t know anything yet.”

But the words are already circling in my mind, intertwining with everything I’ve ever questioned about myself. The whispers that come with my power, the cold that clings to my skin when I reach for it, could it all be connected to this? Toher? Tome?

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