"Jump!" Miller screamed, his voice scraping against the roar of the burning timbers behind us. "Collins, leap now!"I gripped Valis tightly against my chest, planting my boots on the tilting, fire-slicked railing of the shattered bow. I hurled us forward across the open drop, landing hard on the icy, rain-soaked granite of the lower dock. The impact rattled my teeth, sending a sharp spike of agony straight through my ribs, but the golden catalyst flared in my veins, forcing my legs to hold."I have her! I have her!" I rasped, dropping to one knee to cushion Valis’s fall."Dad!" she gasped, her hands clinging to my collar, her eyes wide as she looked up at the towering black iron walls looming directly over us. "The soldiers! They're coming down the stairs!"Boot heels pounded on the wet stone high above. Dozens of iron-clad guards spilled out of the lower guard towers, their pikes gleaming under the flare of oil torches."Movement on the docks!" a voice barked from the battlements. "C

"Then let us see if your spirit outlasts your bones," Kael spat, his face twisting into a cold, fanatical grimace as he squeezed the obsidian artifact in his palm.A wave of suffocating, dark purple pressure erupted from the crystal, slamming into the room like a physical hammer. The heavy black marble beneath my boots cracked, and the air turned instantly thick, smelling of bitter copper and scorched earth."Dad!" Valis gasped, dropping to her knees as the dark gravity of the soul-weaving magic pulled at her lungs."Stay down!" I roared, forcing my legs to push against the crushing weight.The gray, necrotic lines of the soul-burn flared across my wrists, crawling up my throat like frozen needles. The golden light in my blood screamed in violent resistance, burning through the rest of my catalyst reservoir just to keep my limbs moving forward."Look at you," Kael laughed, stepping forward with his heavy broadsword drawn, the steel gleaming under the violet fire. "A legendary conquero

"Get out of my way!" I roared, my voice tearing through my throat as I threw my entire remaining weight against Kael's bloodied, armored shoulder and shoved him viciously off the edge of the granite dais.He hit the lower marble steps with a heavy, metallic crash, groaning in pathetic agony as his broken arm twisted unnaturally beneath his silver chest plate. I didn't glance back at him. My eyes were locked entirely on the glowing pit ahead, where the secondary obsidian anchor hovered precariously above the white-hot slag. Its jagged core was thrashing in a terrifying, erratic rhythm, spewing sparks and expanding violently as it prepared to unleash a catastrophic wave of soul-fire across the entire continent."Dad, don't go near it!" Valis screamed, her tiny hands trembling violently in the air as she tried to maintain her fragile kinetic shield around the pit's heat-warped rim. "It's going to burst! The pulse is reaching maximum pressure!""If it detonates on its own, it will bind ev

"You are the only person in this three-province coalition who could unite every council delegate with a single word, Collins," Marcus said, his voice pleading as he thrust the heavy parchment scroll toward me across the long oak table. "If your signature isn't at the top of the Free Accord, half these regional lords will think the treaty is an empty promise."Then let them think what they want, Marcus," I replied, sitting on the low stone bench near the balcony edge, watching the late afternoon sun cast warm amber light across the bustling square of the newly liberated capital. "I am done giving lords reasons to believe in me.""It isn't about lords anymore!" Marcus snapped, taking a step closer, his knuckles white as he gripped the edges of the thick parchment. "Look out that window! That is a sovereign republic down there. Democratic councils in every district. No warlords. No crowns. No soul-weaving anchors tying people's lives to some grand duke's whim. We built this because of wh

"Is the dark rider still standing at the front gate, Dad?" Valis asked softly, her small fingers tightening around the neck of her clay water jar until her knuckles turned completely white."No, sweet pea," I whispered, reaching over to gently stroke her dark hair as the warm summer breeze rustled the golden leaves high above us in the canopy. "That was just a courier bringing fresh news from Marcus. A messenger from the new world we left behind on the coast.""What did the letter say?" Miller asked, leaning his heavy shoulders against the ancient, smooth bark of the white birch tree. He wiped sweat from his forehead with his linen sleeve, resting his polished oak walking cane across his knees as he looked down at the freshly turned earth between his boots."He said the district councils are holding," I replied, pulling a fresh, fragrant handful of bright yellow lilies from my leather satchel. "He said the trade roads are safe, the grain taxes are fair, and nobody in the capital speak