**The Howling Dark**
Eira ran until her lungs screamed and her legs gave out. She collapsed in the hollow of a dead oak, her breath ragged in the silence. The forest around her was too still—no crickets, no owls. Just the whisper of wind through skeletal branches.
Her wrist burned. The crescent mark pulsed like a warning.
*Something's coming.*
Then she heard it—a wet, guttural *clicking*, like bones snapping back into place. The smell hit next: rotting earth and old blood.
Eira pressed herself deeper into the tree. *Don't move. Don't breathe.*
A shadow detached itself from the trees.
It walked like a man, but its limbs were too long, its spine curved like a predator's. Moonlight slid over its skin—not skin, *scales*, black and iridescent as oil.
The creature stopped. Tilted its head.
*It's hunting me.*
Eira's magic surged in response, a silver glow building under her skin. She clamped a hand over her wrist, smothering it. Too late.
The creature's nostrils flared. It turned—
—and *smiled* with too many teeth.
**"Little light,"** it rasped. **"You've been gone so long."**
---
**The First Lie**
A blade sprouted from the creature's chest.
It shrieked, thrashing as black ichor sprayed the leaves. Kaelan wrenched the dagger free and lunged for Eira. "Move!"
She didn't argue. They ran, the creature's howls shaking the trees behind them.
"What the *hell* was that?" Eira gasped.
"*Vyrth*," Kaelan snarled. "The Shadow King's first mistake."
The name unlocked something in her—a memory that wasn't hers. *A battlefield. A king kneeling before a scaled monstrosity, offering a bargain.*
Eira stumbled. "It's one of the Forgotten."
Kaelan shot her a sharp look. "You *remember*?"
"Not me. The mark does." She clutched her wrist. "The Shadow King made a deal with them. But they betrayed him."
"And now they're waking up." Kaelan pulled her behind a boulder, his breath hot against her ear. "Because of *you*."
She stiffened. "What?"
"Your magic. It's a key, Eira. The Forgotten were sealed away by Starlight—and now that you've awakened, so have they."
The truth hit like a slap. *She'd* done this.
The vyrth's scream split the night. Closer now.
Kaelan gripped her shoulders. "The king didn't want you dead. He wanted you *contained*. But Lirien and the others—they don't know the truth. They think killing you will end the threat."
Eira's pulse pounded in her throat. "And you?"
His golden eyes burned. "I think you're the only one who can *finish* this."
---
**The Hollow City**
They found shelter in the ruins of Vaelis—a city swallowed by the forest centuries ago. Moss-crusted statues watched as Kaelan lit a fire with a flick of his fingers.
Eira sat as far from him as possible. "If the Forgotten are free, why hasn't the Shadow King stopped them?"
"Because he's afraid." Kaelan fed a branch to the flames. "He stole their power to build his empire. Now they want it back."
"And my magic?"
"Is the only thing that can destroy them." He met her gaze. "Or control them."
The implication hung between them. *She could become what the king feared.*
Eira curled her hands into fists. "You still haven't told me about your brother."
Kaelan went very still. Then—
"He's not cursed." His voice was raw. "He's *infected*. The vyrth's blood got into him during the war. The king keeps him alive in a stasis spell, but it's failing." He looked away. "I thought if I brought you in, the king would heal him. But now..."
"Now you know the truth." Eira studied his profile—the tight jaw, the shadows under his eyes. He'd lied to her. Used her.
And yet.
She exhaled. "How do we kill them?"
Kaelan lifted his head. "We find the Heart of Vaelis. The first Starlight weapon."
A gust of wind snuffed the fire.
In the sudden dark, something *scraped* against stone.
Eira's mark flared—not in warning.
In *recognition*.
---
### **Teaser for Chapter Five: The Heart of Vaelis**
*The Forgotten remembered Eira.*
*But the weapon meant to destroy them had a will of its own.*
*And it wanted blood.*