Back in the Sanctuary…
Amelia exhaled shakily.
"Kael… I need to know the whole truth."
His expression broke.
"No," he whispered."Knowing will bind you to him faster. It'll tear you away from this life—from me."
Her voice was small.
"But hiding it is tearing me apart."
Kael staggered.
Because she was right.
Because fate had cornered them both.
Because love might not be enough.
He pressed his forehead to hers, wings trembling in fear.
"Then we'll take it slow," he whispered."I'll tell you a piece at a time."
Amelia nodded.
But the light inside her pulsed—
—and another memory cracked open.
Unbidden.
Unstoppable.
Unmerciful.
Seraphine felt the shift the moment it happened.
She froze where she stood, fingers tightening around the spell-forged chalice in her hand.The air around her trembled.The candles in her manor flickered violently.Her pulse stuttered with something sharp—
Recognition.Fear.Triumph.
Claire, who had been sorting enchanted herbs nearby, looked up nervously.
"Mother? What was that?"
Seraphine didn't answer at first.She placed a hand over her heart, feeling the echo ripple through her veins like molten light.
A light she had not felt in decades.
A light she once shared blood with.
A light she was never supposed to feel again.
She whispered, not to Claire—but to the universe:
"Serael has awakened another memory."
Claire flinched.
"You… you mean Amelia?"
Seraphine's eyes sharpened.
"I mean the Dawnbringer."
Her voice vibrated with a mix of bitterness and hungry longing.
The Aunt Who Wanted What Wasn't Hers
Seraphine moved toward the mirror, and her reflection shimmered between her stolen human face and her true celestial form:
golden irises
highborn celestial markings
a sigil of the Dawnblood clan glowing faintly on her collarbone
She touched it with a trembling thumb.
"That power should have been mine," she whispered.
Claire watched her mother carefully, fear and admiration twisting in her expression.
"But Amelia… she didn't ask for it. She doesn't even understand it yet."
"That is exactly the problem," Seraphine snapped."The more she awakens without guidance, the closer she comes to remembering everything."
Claire swallowed.
"And that's bad because…?"
Seraphine's gaze cut to her daughter.
"Because if Amelia remembers her full identity—if she regains her birthright—she will eclipse every celestial alive. Even me."
And that…
she could not allow.
Not again.
Not after losing the throne.Not after losing her clan.Not after losing everything her bloodline promised her.
Her voice softened into something venomously calm.
"That girl carries the fate I should have been born with."
Claire's lips parted.
"So… what happens now?"
A slow smile curved across Seraphine's face.
"Now, my daughter… we make our move."
The Sanctuary Trembles
Back at the Sanctuary, Amelia was pacing the room, her fingers trembling.
The mark on her collarbone—the Eternal Dawn sigil—glowed with a soft inner fire.
Kael watched her carefully.
The light didn't burn him this time.
But the fear in her eyes did.
"I remembered something else," she whispered."It wasn't a voice. It was… a moment."
Kael stepped closer.
"What did you see?"
Amelia swallowed, her throat tightening.
"I wasn't human. I wasn't even… shaped like this."
Her voice trembled.
"I was made of light. Pure dawnlight. And someone was there with me."
Kael's chest tightened.
"Raeth," he said bitterly.
But Amelia shook her head.
"It wasn't just him."Her eyes unfocused as the memory flickered.
"It was… creation itself. Like we were made together. Like we were meant to—"
She stopped, breath shaking.
Kael's wings flexed, tension rolling off him.
"Amelia. Listen to me."He cupped her face gently."You don't belong to him."
Her eyes fluttered.
"But I did," she whispered, horrified.
Kael flinched.
"But you don't anymore. You chose humanity. You chose this life."
She met his eyes.
"And you."
Their foreheads touched—warm, trembling, afraid.
Raeth Reacts to the Memory Break
Deep beneath the city, in the cavern where his chains still held…
Raeth sat up.
Slowly.Predator-slow.
His silver eye glowed with delighted hunger.
"Serael remembers our beginning."
He tilted his head back, letting the chain weigh down his throat like a collar.
A grin spread across his face—dark and devastating.
"Oh, little dawn…Your soul is waking up beautifully."
The chains strained.
One snapped.
Only six remained.
Seraphine Makes Her First Move
"Prepare your coat, Claire," Seraphine said smoothly, stepping away from the mirror.
Claire blinked."Where are we going?"
"To the Sanctuary," Seraphine said calmly."To collect what should have been ours."
Claire stiffened.
"But it's dangerous. They'll recognize you."
Seraphine smiled coldly.
"Not in this face. Not with these spells. Not when they believe I died decades ago."
Her eyes flashed with celestial fire.
"Amelia's awakening has accelerated.If she remembers her lineage before I reach her…"Seraphine's voice dropped, silken and deadly:
"She will never be mine to control."
Claire nodded obediently.
"What about Kael?"
A dark laugh spilled from Seraphine's lips.
"Oh, him?"She waved a hand dismissively."He's already losing her. His fear will do half my work for me."
She snapped her fingers.
A portal of gold and shadow opened.
"We leave now."