Page 66 of Blood Marked

Kael stepped outside the narrow cave mouth they had laid in to get out of the elements, the cool forest air washing overhis bare skin. The trees whispered above like they were telling secrets in a language he almost understood.

He stared up at the sky.

Stars burned behind a shifting haze. A falcon cried in the distance.

Kael frowned.

That wasn’t normal this deep in Veilwood.

Another cry—closer this time. Sharp. Urgent.

And then he saw it.

A falcon dipped low through the trees, feathers glinting dark bronze in the moonlight. A silver band wrapped around its leg.

Nyra.

The falcon banked once, circled, then dropped a small capsule into his hand before vanishing into the trees like a phantom.

Kael cracked it open with trembling fingers. Inside was a scroll no larger than his palm, wound tight with Nyra’s seal pressed into wax at the edge.

He read the message once. Then again. And a third time, as dread coiled slow and thick in his gut.

The Rising Flame has moved.

They believe Selene is still in the castle. They intend to breach the Veil.

The council’s protections have already weakened. This isn’t a small attack. This is war.

Our father is doing what he can, but the people are split after your imprisonment and escape.

I’m stalling them best I can, but they’re human fanatics, Kael. They believe her blood is divine.

That she’s the vessel.

They’re coming.

Kael stood very still, the wind scraping through the leaves above him like teeth on bone. His first thought wasSelene. His second—they were already too late.

If the Rising Flame believed she was still in the castle, they would tear the mountain apart looking for her. And if Ruarc couldn’t stop them, or if he saw it as some political convenience.

Kael clenched his fists.

He had no kingdom. No army. But he hadher.

He ducked back inside the cave.

Selene stirred when he knelt beside her. Her eyes fluttered open, already alert, already reading him.

“What is it?” she asked, voice husky from sleep.

He handed her the scroll.

She read it. Said nothing for a long time. Then looked up at him.

“Tell me everything.”

Kael crouched, bracing his hands on his knees, his voice low and tense. “The Rising Flame is a human cult. Anti-shifter. Extremist. They believe shifters are abominations—gods cursed into flesh. They’ve been small for years. Radicalized. Isolated.”

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