The escape from Thornspire had been violent and narrow. Aria's muscles still trembled, her lungs burned, and Lyra—barely conscious in her arms—was growing colder by the minute.
They didn't stop running until they reached the hollow beneath the ridgeline, hidden by pine trees and wrapped in mist. Only when Reid signaled the all-clear did Aria finally collapse to her knees, holding Lyra close.
"She's burning up," Aria murmured. "She's not healing."
"That place was warded," Reid said, already pulling herbs from his satchel. "The chains were enchanted. It's going to take time."
Kade hadn't returned yet. He'd stayed behind, buying them precious minutes by confronting the crimson-cloaked man who had attacked them—a man Aria couldn't shake from her mind.
She had seen him before. Not in life.
In her dreams.
---
Hours passed. The fire crackled low, casting shadows that danced across Lyra's pale face. Aria sat at her side, running cold cloths over her skin.
"Don't die," she whispered. "I came for you. I found you. Don't you dare leave me now."
"She's strong," Reid said from across the fire. "Moonborn don't go down easy."
Aria's hand trembled as she brushed Lyra's silver hair from her forehead. "They drained her power. That kind of magic leaves scars."
Reid was silent for a moment. Then: "You saw him, didn't you? The one in red."
Aria nodded slowly. "He called me by name. And when I struck him with a broken blade, something changed. It's like… something latched onto me."
Reid stepped closer. "Let me see your wrist."
She hesitated, then pulled up her sleeve.
There—just beneath her Moonborn mark—a second symbol had formed. Darker. Sharper. It pulsed like ink infused with light.
Reid hissed. "That's not a natural mark."
"I didn't choose it," she said. "He branded me. Somehow."
"It's a binding," Reid muttered. "Blood Oath magic. Old and illegal. It links the caster and the branded—through blood, power, and intent."
"I didn't agree to anything."
"You didn't need to," came a low voice.
They turned—Kade stood at the tree line, bloodied and limping, his eyes fierce despite the bruises.
Reid rushed to him. "You look like hell."
Kade ignored it, eyes locked on Aria's wrist. "That's Varian's seal."
Aria blinked. "Varian?"
Kade sank beside the fire, wiping blood from his jaw. "Varian Nightbane. Founder of the Thornspire Pack. Exiled over two hundred years ago for using forbidden magic to absorb Moonborn abilities. Everyone believed he died during the Great Burning."
Aria swallowed hard. "He's alive."
"He's more than alive," Kade growled. "He's feeding again. And now he's found the one thing he never had before."
Aria stared at him. "Me."
Kade nodded. "You're Moonborn by blood. But you're also a Convergence. That mark means he's tying his soul to yours."
Reid paled. "If he completes the ritual—"
"He'll take her powers," Kade said. "And if she's truly the Prophesied One, he'll take control of the Moonborn lineage itself."
---
The fire popped. The forest listened.
"What do I do?" Aria asked softly. "Rip it out?"
Kade's jaw clenched. "We sever it. The old way."
Reid's eyes widened. "No. That's a blood ritual, Kade. It could kill her."
"It could kill him, too," Kade snapped. "It's the only shot we have at breaking his grip."
Aria looked between them. "If this is my fight, then let's end it."
---
They prepared the circle before dawn.
Kade etched the runes in ash and silverroot, drawing protective wards around Aria as she sat cross-legged in the center. Reid stood nearby, ready with bandages and healing salve. Lyra rested, unconscious but breathing easier now.
Kade took a curved blade from his belt. "Once I cut the mark, the seal will try to anchor itself deeper. You have to fight it. Resist."
Aria nodded, chest rising and falling. "Do it."
Kade's hand was gentle—but the blade was not.
Pain surged the moment steel touched skin. The mark hissed, flared—alive—and black mist coiled up her arm, shrieking in a voice not her own.
Varian's voice.
"You belong to me now."
"NO!" Aria screamed, her body jerking.
Kade held her down. Reid chanted something in Old Wolf. The runes flared white.
The mist twisted.
The voice roared—
And then, with a flash of moonlight, the mark shattered.
Aria collapsed forward, gasping.
Kade caught her. "It's gone."
She blinked up at him. "We broke it?"
"For now," he said. "But he knows you're resisting him."
Aria looked down at her wrist. The second mark had vanished, leaving behind a faint burn.
Her original Moonborn crescent glowed brighter than ever.
"I won't let him control me," she said. "Not now. Not ever."
---
That night, Lyra finally spoke.
Her voice was weak but steady. "There are more of us."
Aria leaned closer. "Where?"
Lyra stared into the fire. "The girl in Hollowmarsh. The boy in Bleeding Dunes. And someone else… hidden even from the moon. I felt them when he tried to take me."
Kade looked at the others. "Then we go to Hollowmarsh next."
Reid muttered, "Great. Just what I wanted—a trip into the cursed wetlands."
Aria smiled faintly. "We won't stop. Not until
we find every Moonborn. Not until Varian pays for everything."
Her crescent mark shimmered.
The fire reflected in her eyes like starlight.