The first sign was the roses.
They grew overnight—along the forest's edge—where no roses had bloomed in generations.
Black petals.
Silver thorns.
The air around them shimmered with magic that tasted like blood and broken promises.
Selene stood at the treeline, staring.
Her wolf stirred uneasily beneath her skin.
Elira stepped beside her, lips pressed into a thin line. "They weren't here yesterday."
Theron crouched low, brushing a finger along a stem. It drew blood instantly.
The drop hissed when it hit the earth.
Kael's voice came low and cold. "She's back."
Selene didn't need to ask who.
She already knew.
> The Thornmother had returned.
---
Once, she'd been called Liraith.
Half-faerie. Half-curse. A creature born of moonlight and vengeance.
She had been Selene's rival. A lover of the same king. A wielder of a twisted kind of beauty—magic that ensnared, enchanted, devoured.
And long ago, Selene had cast her into the Witherdeep. Bound her in bramble chains. Sealed her beneath the earth.
But no curse lasts forever.
Especially not one born of envy.
---
Rowan returned from the southern perimeter with blood on his blade and fury in his eyes.
"The trees are bleeding," he said. "And the roots are moving."
Naeria paled. "That's old fae magic. Wild. Unruly."
Selene's chest tightened. "She wants me to come to her."
Kael growled, "Then we bring the whole forest down on her skull."
"No," Selene said. "That's what she wants. A war. A stage."
"She's luring you," Naeria warned.
Selene nodded. "And I'm going."
---
Kael followed her to the edge of the glade.
"You don't go alone," he said.
She turned to him—her mate, her fire, her heart—and kissed him hard.
"I need you to protect them. If I fall…"
"You won't."
"But if I do…"
He crushed her against him. "Then I'll burn the world until you're mine again."
---
She entered the Thornwood alone.
The roses moved as she walked.
Petals curled toward her heat.
Thorns reached for her blood.
But she didn't bleed. Not anymore.
The curse in her veins had hardened her long ago.
The deeper she walked, the colder the air became.
Not winter-cold.
Memory-cold.
Until she reached the clearing of glass and ash.
Where Liraith waited.
---
She was exactly as Selene remembered.
Hair like liquid dusk. Eyes like shattered mirrors. A dress of thorns and nothing else.
But her smile was new.
Cruel. Confident.
"Still beautiful," Liraith purred. "Still bound by sentiment."
"Still alive," Selene said flatly. "That's what counts."
Liraith circled her.
"You killed me," she whispered. "Buried me. And still, I rose."
"I buried the darkness," Selene said. "You were already dead inside."
Liraith's voice was sweet venom. "And now you're the queen of broken stars and half-breed heirs. How charming."
Selene's eyes flared.
"Say their names again. I dare you."
---
The forest trembled around them.
Vines thick as serpents slithered from the ground.
Liraith lifted her arms.
"Do you know why I returned?" she said. "Not for vengeance. Not for justice."
She leaned close.
"To remind you that nothing stays buried. Not love. Not betrayal. Not power."
Then she struck.
---
The vines surged.
Thorns launched from every direction.
Selene spun, summoning a barrier of starlight—crackling, silver, fierce.
Magic clashed. The forest howled.
They fought beneath a sky that forgot the moon.
---
Back at camp, Elira doubled over.
"She's under attack."
Theron grabbed her hand.
"We're going."
Rowan was already arming himself.
Kael didn't argue.
He only said, "Move."
---
When they reached the clearing, it was chaos.
Thorns everywhere.
Selene on her knees, arms outstretched, blood trickling from her palm.
Liraith stood above her, a crown of bone on her head.
Triumphant.
Until the twins stepped into the light.
---
Elira's glow pulsed once—pure and blinding.
Theron's shadows surged from the ground.
And for the first time, they moved as one.
Not as opposites. But as balance.
They struck together—Elira's light searing through the vines, Theron's void swallowing the thorns mid-air.
Liraith screamed.
---
Rowan leapt, blade flashing.
Kael roared and shifted midair, crashing into a wall of writhing roots.
Selene rose slowly.
Her body bruised. Her heart burning.
"Liraith," she said calmly.
And then, quietly—like a promise—
> "You are not my shadow. You are my mistake."
She raised her hands.
Called the forest itself.
And turned the thorns to dust.
---
Liraith fell, screaming.
Not dead.
Not yet.
But broken.
Banished.
Again.
---
They burned the clearing that night.
Every rose.
Every thorn.
The ash rose to the stars.
And Selene stood at its center, surrounded by her pack, her children, her mate.
Whole.
Not unscarred.
But whole.
---
Later, as they sat by the fire, Elira leaned into her mother's side.
"You're still stronger than her."
Selene smiled faintly. "Because I know what love feels like."
Kael took her hand.
And across the flames, Theron said, "She'll try again."
Selene nodded.
"Then we'll rise again."
---