Home / Fantasy / The Crownless Curse / Chapter 32: What Bleeds Is Not Always Mortal
Chapter 32: What Bleeds Is Not Always Mortal
Author: Emay
last update2025-07-27 16:37:01

Smoke clung to Kael’s skin like tar. His lungs burned with every breath, and the scent of scorched stone and blood turned his mouth dry. He pushed himself upright, legs barely holding under the weight of exhaustion and pain. The blade in his hand had dimmed, but it was still warm, still alive. It thrummed faintly, as if frightened.

Across the shattered altar chamber, the winged creature floated above the wreckage. She looked like Lira, but there was no recognition in her eyes. Only abyss. Black smoke spiraled from her shoulders, and her voice was not her own.

“You should have left me buried,” she said.

Kael stepped forward. “You are not her.”

She tilted her head. “And yet I remember everything. The night she wept at the tomb of her father. The hour she begged the flame to die when she feared it would consume you. I know her. Because I was her.”

“Then you know she fought to live.”

“She should not have.” Her voice cracked like frost underfoot. “They called me the Sealed Vessel. I kept t
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