2026-07-11 16:07:34
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Back in the crowded market district of the Vanaheim border town, the sky hung in a perpetual, violet twilight. Glowing vines wrapped around wooden stalls, and the smell of roasted elder-boar and spiced nectar filled the air.Kaedric walked slowly through the cobblestone paths, his large hand holding Astrid’s tiny fingers. To anyone else, he looked like a powerful warrior wandering through a Vanir trading hub—but to the six-year-old girl skipping beside him, he was simply her father."Father, did you see that?" Astrid gasped, pointing wildly with her free hand at a floating crystal automaton hovering over a stall. It spun in the air, humming soft runic melodies while casting tiny illusion-butterflies into the crowd."We need to get something to eat first, honey," Liv reminded her gently, her voice soft but strained as she walked half a step behind them. "That is why we came here.""Father, look! Can you see that one over there?" Astrid was already distracted, her eyes shining as she po
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Kaedric grabbed Liv’s wrist.She shut her eyes for half a second, opening them just enough to glance into his face—seeking some shred of quiet reassurance before whatever madness he was about to commit.What she saw made her heart drop into her stomach.Kaedric’s eyes weren't human. The gold in his irises had expanded into vertical, slit-like dragon pupils, burning with a cold, terrifying savagery that made her blood freeze.Before the terror in her chest could even settle, the world smashed into pieces.The stone floor beneath them vanished. A violent, sickening vertigo slammed through Liv’s ribs as space itself folded inside out. THUD!They dropped fast. Liv’s boots slammed onto damp, glowing moss. Her lungs seized as the foreign air rushed into her throat.They were no longer in Askheim!This was Vanaheim—the realm of the wild gods, where the sky burnt a pale twilight violet, and ancient runes spun like dust in the thick air.Before Liv could even regain her balance, Kaedric had al
Chapter 13
Astrid backed all the way into the corner, her tiny boots scraping the cold stone floor.Her mouth was locked in a tight, trembling line. Grandfather had come to look at her just seconds ago, shaking his head in cold disgust before leaving. Then this scarred man had walked in with that glowing purple light swirling faster and faster between his fingers. He was going to take her away before Father got here, and Father would never be able to find her again."My father is coming for me!" Astrid yelled through her tears, her high voice echoing off the bare walls. "He killed a big dragon today! He’s gonna find you and tear your other eye out!"The Scarred Buyer stopped rolling the glowing talisman. He let out a low, dry chuckle."Is that so?" He took a step toward her corner, his shadow completely covering her. "A dragon-slayer father. How terrifying."His face went sour. "Shut your mouth and get over here, girl. I paid a fortune for you. You're going somewhere you'll learn to behave rea
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The Guardian landed before the gates of Halvard’s estate with a roar that rattled every shutter on the grounds.Inside, Gunnhild had only just gotten back on her feet.She had told the household she fell. A bad step on the courtyard stones, nothing more. She would have eaten glass before telling them the truth—that Kaedric had put her in that state without even trying. Kaedric. The same sad, shy, awkward boy who used to stand in corners at clan gatherings six years ago, apologizing for existing. What in all the realms had happened to him out there—The roar shook her out of the thought.The Guardian. Back. After abandoning its own covenant in front of her.Gunnhild marched out with both arms already glowing blue to the elbow, fully prepared to teach the overgrown lizard the lesson of its life——and the glow withered off her arms like frost in sunlight.Someone was climbing down from the Guardian’s back. Liv. LIV? Since when did the dragon suffer that disowned little—Every thought in
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The pit gates slammed shut behind Liv before she finished falling. Darkness. The stink of old blood and wet fur. Breathing, low and wet, from more directions than she could count. Then eyes began to open around her. Pair after pair. Pit-drakes. Wingless dragon-kin, bred for executions and kept hungry between them. The nearest stared at her, almost puzzled, then began to growl. The others rose to join it. Liv pressed her fingers to her ear. The sending. It ran in her blood—she had watched her aunt use it once, words carried mind to mind clear across a city. Two words were all she needed. “Kaedric—hear me—Astrid—” Nothing. Empty sound. The training that filled those words had been cancelled the night she chose a bleeding boy over her family’s blessing. “Hear me—” She tried again. And again. On the fourth try, the last of her power guttered out and took her legs with it. She hit the stones, and something already broken in her side broke further. The drakes circled now, unhurried
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10The first lord knelt. Then his whole row. Then the row behind it. No decree was read and no order was given—the arithmetic did itself in every head at once: the man on that sand answered to no city, no clan, no king. And he was theirs.In the stands, Liv’s hands rose slowly to her mouth.This was why! Six years, no letter, no word—because something in this world had been strong enough to keep him from her. She had said it to herself on a hundred bitter nights, half-believing it was a story she told herself to survive. She had been right. The bleeding boy from the cottage had spent six years becoming the strongest man alive—and he had spent his first hour of freedom coming back for her.She was crying and smiling at the same time, and had no plans to stop doing either.On the sand, Rothgar turned in a slow circle and saw it all—the kneeling rows, the flattened dragon, the Lawspeaker’s toneless face wearing something dangerously close to a smile. It was over. Every part of it. Which
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