Chapter 8 The Crimson Cathedral Burns

The sound of the Crimson Alpha was so loud and strong that it shook every person there. Ember didn't move. She couldn't. Not with Ash's blood staining the cracked stones. Not with her mother standing between her and the beast that had destroyed their world.

Her mother turned toward the Alpha. "She's not ready. Let her leave."

All he did was growl, showing his teeth as he backed away. "She made a vow. Blood binds her now."

There was a low chant coming from within the walls of the cathedral, and it came from the stones rather than from anyone's throat. Ember recognized it: the Call of the Bound. It was the same ritual used during the Rite of Smoke. The same rite that had tethered her soul to Ash's.

"No," Ember whispered, stepping forward. "You will not twist this bond. Not again."

The Crimson Alpha lunged.

Everything happened at once.

Vess shoved Ember aside just as the beast's claws raked through the air, splintering the stone where she had stood. Ember hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up with her dagger drawn. Her guards surged forward, but the Alpha was a blur of savage speed and raw fury.

Aeris unleashed a warding spell. Light flared in the shape of a dome around Ember, shielding her just as the Alpha slammed his full weight against it. The air cracked with the sound of ancient runes being tested.

Ash groaned on the altar behind them.

"Hold him!" Ember shouted.

Vess and two guards locked blades with the Alpha, their steel sparking with the clash of enchanted resistance. But it was like fighting a nightmare-nothing slowed the beast for long. Each blow they landed seemed to enrage him further.

Ember turned to her mother.

"You said you remembered me," she said through clenched teeth. "Prove it. Help me save him."

Her mother's eyes flickered, the war between blood magic and maternal memory raging inside them.

Then she lifted her hand to the talisman at her neck and untied it.

"I can weaken him," she said. "But it will cost me."

"What do you mean?"

"I was his tether. His anchor. When I break this-he'll lose control of everything."

"Do it," Ember said. "We'll handle the rest."

Her mother pressed a kiss to the talisman, then crushed it in her hand.

The effect was instant.

The Crimson Alpha shrieked, a sound that was no longer just wolf, but something older, something monstrous. His form shimmered, spasmed-fur receding, bones shifting-but instead of transforming back into a man, his body fractured into something inhuman. Horns erupted from his shoulders. His face split with burning red cracks. Whatever tether had been holding his monstrous form in check-it was gone.

"What is he?" Ember whispered.

"A god's mistake," her mother said, swaying with the effort. "Now finish this."

Ember leapt over the broken stones toward Ash.

His arms and feet were attached with chains that were decorated with old glyphs. His lungs were not inhaling deeply, but his eyes blinked open when she arrived.

He mumbled gently, "Em..."

"I'm here," she said and used her weapon to cut through the rope.

He replied, "I don't agree." "Not just chains. -he marked me."

She looked down.

Runes had been seared into his skin-markings of submission, of blood servitude. It wasn't just physical imprisonment. The Crimson Alpha had tried to make Ash his vessel.

Ember's heart twisted. "Then I'll unmark you. I'll take it back."

She pressed her palm to the largest rune.

Pain lanced through her arm as fire shot up her veins. But she didn't pull away. Instead, she reached for the bond between them-the vow. The tether they had formed in the Rite of Smoke. The ancient connection of soul to soul.

And she burned it through the brand.

The rune flared-and then vanished.

Ash gasped as though surfacing from deep water. His eyes cleared.

He simply said, "You're nuts."

"You love me because of it," she said, still smiling through her pain.

He pushed himself up, staggering. "Where is he?"

They both turned.

The Crimson Alpha was fully monstrous now, battling half of Ember's guard and forcing Vess to her knees. Aeris was on the ground, unconscious or worse.

Ember helped Ash to stand. "Let's end this. Together."

They moved as one.

Ash took the left flank, his sword blazing with runes freshly awakened. Ember charged center, her crimson veil swirling behind her like a banner of vengeance.

They struck in tandem-light and flame, blade and will.

The Alpha roared.

Ash ducked under one of its claws, slashing across its belly. Ember hurled her blade into its eye, blinding it. Blood like lava poured from its wounds, and still it fought, relentlessly.

Then her mother stepped forward again, chanting a spell not heard in a thousand years.

"Mother, no!" Ember cried.

But it was already done.

The ritual she unleashed cracked the cathedral itself. Stone peeled away. Light burst from the earth. The magic was ancient, pure-sacrificial.

"No one else will be your anchor," her mother said, and then the spell consumed her.

The Crimson Alpha shrieked.

His body collapsed, torn apart from within. His soul-detached from its tether-began to unravel, howling in fury and defeat as it was dragged into the void.

Silence fell.

And then, rain.

Not fire this time. Not ash.

Just gentle, cooling rain through the broken roof of the cathedral.

Ember stood in the center of the ruin, heart racing, body shaking.

Ash came to her side. "It's over."

"No," she whispered. "Not yet."

Because from the shadows, deeper in the cathedral, came a sound she had not heard in years.

The cry of a child.

They turned slowly.

In a makeshift cradle of torn cloaks and broken stone lay a baby.

A girl.

Her eyes-red as blood. Her aura-part human, part wolf, part something else.

Ash looked at Ember. "Yours?"

"No," Ember whispered. "But... maybe hers. My mother's. After she was taken. Born of blood magic."

"What do we do?"

Ember lifted the child into her arms.

"We raise her," she said. "Away from all this."

Ash's brow furrowed. "You're serious?"

"We end the cycle. It begins with us."

He nodded slowly. "Then we'll need a new vow."

Ember looked at him. "Then say it."

Ash took her hand, his other on the child's.

"I vow to protect you, and whatever future we build, until the last star falls."

Ember breathed, "And I vow to never let the past define what we become."

The rain fell.

The Crimson Cathedral burned.

And from the ashes, something new began.