Page 75 of Blood Marked

She spat at his feet.

He only chuckled.

“You should be honored, really,” he said. “Your bloodline is one of the oldest still tethered to the true Veil. Did you think that made you free? That Kael could keep you for himself, seal you with some mangled bond and call it love?” He leaned closer. “No, girl. You were born for this.”

She strained against the chains, but they didn’t give.

“You don’t evenknowwhat you are, do you?” he whispered. “A Veilwalker, yes. But deeper. Rarer. The magic in your veins predates the wolf packs. Predates the Dominion. You are the keystone.”

Selene’s heart pounded. “Keystone for what?”

“The Bridge,” he said simply.

She blinked. “The what?—”

“The bridge to break the Veil entirely,” he explained, standing again. “To pull the old realms into this one. Dominion. Human. Magic. Blood. All one. Your blood can open the path. All the way. Not just step through it, butshatter it.”

Selene froze. “And once it’s broken?” she asked, dread curling inside her.

“Then we shape the world,” he said, as if it were obvious. “One people. One will. One rule. No more monsters in charge. No more shifting tyrants. Onlyorder.”

“You’ll kill everyone,” she said. “You don’tunderstandthe Veil.”

“I don’t need to understand it,” he replied. “I need tocontrolit.”

Her jaw clenched. “You’ll never get away with this. Kael?—”

“Isn’t coming for you,” Varyn cut in. “He made that very clear.”

The words stabbed deeper than they should have.But she didn’t let it show.

He gestured to the others in the chamber—three cloaked figures, two human, one shifter whose face was obscured.

They began preparing the ritual.

Selene tried to memorize everything—the symbols etched in chalk, the blades etched with runes, the circle of ash they placed her in.

This wasn’t just extraction. This wastransference.They were going to try to rip her powerout.And if the books in the hidden library had been right… it would kill her.

But Selene lifted her chin.

Let them think they had her. Let them think she was just a vessel. They didn’t know her fire yet.

THIRTY-THREE

KAEL

Kael knew something was wrong the moment he reached the eastern guard post and saw the blood.

Not much.

Just a smear. A drag mark. A scuffed boot print in the dust where the passage bent toward the old ridgeline trail.

But it was fresh. And Selene’s scent was woven through it like silk through a blade.

A wild pulse of terror cracked through him.

“Selene,” he breathed and ran.

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