Page 149 of Mantle

Kai roared and I threw out my arm to block his path, but then a blast of blinding white light tore into the chamber, coming from the earth above the crypt dwelling.

It decimated the roof and everything above.

I fought to blink through it, and what I saw had me fucking shocked to my core.

There twenty True Celestials were hovering, wings outstretched, each of them in full battle garb.

“That’s my cue,” Corvin said, thrusting his hand up toward them.

One of them swept down, scooped him up in the blink of an eye, and then they were tearing away into the sky.

Motherfucker.

We were out of time.

31

~Ariana~

I drove the blade of the Wrath of Hades into the consecrated ground, in a sacred spot deep within Meforian Forest, right beside the hidden Celestial stone we would use as a conduit for the Severance spell. Celestial Eclipse Peonies surrounded it.

Just like that night I’d first shown it to the boys, as I brushed my fingers over the stone, silver glyphs shone across its surface and activated the Celestial Script.

Val’shuraen el’Martel. Fael’thi ka’reth nael. Shaddai ven eltharan.

“Here fell Cornelius of the Celestial Flame. The stars grieved, the forest remembered, and the bloom rose from ash,”I murmured aloud.

The Hidden Stone was enchanted, sanctified by a Fallen.

Ketheron was right beside me studying it intently, taking in the split sun and moon carved above a peony entwined with flame marks.

He pressed his hand over the carvings and they glowed a bright white.

“The spell will be strong with this,” he spoke.

“It will, yes.” I looked out at Grandfather, Mom, and Dad standing back a little, trying to give us room. They’d been doing well with it so far, but I could see my mom was on edge.

I looked to Nyx who was standing with them and he shook his head, warning me that she was about to break from backing off.

Sure enough, she pulled from them and strode up to me.

I turned as my mom came to me.

“We’re ready for this. Don’t worry.”

“I know you are.” She smiled. “You’re protecting the supernatural world from the madness of the Celestial Planeandalso ending a cycle of generational trauma that’s held our family—and Vorzyr’s—in a death grip for far too long.” She hugged me to her. “So we’re not just proud of you, wethankyou, darling.”

I blinked away the emotion that her words had wrought as we eased back.

Ketheron came up on my left side and growled at my mom. “Stop. You’re hurting her.”

I stroked his arm. “I’m not hurt. These are happy tears.”

“Happy tears? How…”

“I’ll explain it to you once we’re done here.”

Nyx came to his other side. “We’ll explain a lot of stuff to you, don’t worry. You’re not alone to figure everything out now.”

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