Page 35 of Crown of Ashes and Desire

Three times I was forced back, each attempt leaving my fingers numb and my light dimmer, made worse by my fractured concentration. On the fourth try, I channeled my desperation and fury, calling on my heritage as Gün Ata's daughter. Finally, the shimmer parted reluctantly, the heavy barrier dissolving to reveal a narrow stone staircase descending into darkness.

I created a small orb of light and began my descent.

The staircase spiraled deeper than expected, the air growing damp and cold. The walls were marked with faded symbols—Erlik's runes, ancient and potent. Each step I took felt heavier than the last, as if the very shadows were trying to drive me back. My light orb flickered, struggling against the oppressive darkness.

Eventually, the staircase ended at a heavy iron door with no magical locks—as if whoever used this passage had never imagined anyone unauthorized would find it.

I shoved it open and found a corridor stretching into darkness. From somewhere ahead came the sound of conversation. I extinguished my light and moved forward cautiously, listening.

"The subject still resists integration at the higher levels," a trembling tone was saying. "But the younger specimens show promising adaptation to shadow essence."

“Lord Azad won’t be pleased with mere ‘promising,’” another replied. “The ceremony requires fully integrated vessels. We need results before he returns.”

My blood froze. Azad—Hakan’s cousin with obsidian eyes who had watched me at the gathering like prey. What was his involvement in this?

“And what of Lord Hakan? If he discovers what we’re doing here?—”

“He won’t. He’s too preoccupied with his bride to concern himself with these passages. Besides, Lord Azad assures me this will please Lord Erlik immensely once it’s complete.”

I eased the door open and peered inside. The room was a laboratory with tables of equipment and shelves lined with jars of swirling darkness. Two men examined notes spread across a central table. Beyond them was another door with a tiny barred window.

I waited until they moved before slipping inside and peering through the bars of the inner door.

The sight beyond didn’t register immediately. My mind, still fragile from Hakan’s recent assault, couldn’t process what my eyes were showing me. At first, I saw only shapes in the dim light—minature forms huddled in cramped spaces.

Then understanding became a crushing weight on my chest..

Children.

The word formed in my mind, but I couldn’t find my voice. My breath caught in my throat, trapped there as if my body had forgotten how to function. These weren’t dolls or illusions or some twisted shadow conjuring.

They were real. They were babies.

At least a dozen of them, ranging from five to ten years old, locked in individual cells barely large enough for their small bodies. Some children lay motionless, their skin marbled with black lines that pulsed with sickly energy. The shadows had invaded their veins, dark tendrils visible beneath translucent skin. Others paced their tiny confines on skeletal legs, shadows leaking from their eyes and mouths in wisps that dissipated into the stale air. Their movements were jerky, puppet-like, as though their bodies were no longer fully their own.

One little girl sat rocking in a corner, dark veins visible beneath her pale skin where shadow magic had taken hold. Her eyes were completely black.

My hand flew to my mouth, pressing hard against my lips to muffle the sound trying to escape—not a scream, not quite a sob, but something raw and animal that came from the deepest part of my soul.

Kiraz. Oh gods, Kiraz.

These children were her age. Her size. Some had dark hair like hers, others blonde or brown, but they all shared that devastating innocence that belonged to childhood—innocence that had been stolen, corrupted, destroyed.

The boy in the corner cell broke my heart completely. He couldn't have been older than my own daughter, rocking back and forth with rhythmic control. Dark veins pulsed beneath his skin where shadow magic had corrupted his blood. The corruption spread slowly, visibly, like ink through water.

His eyes were completely black. Not just the pupils—everything. The whites, the irises, all of it consumed by shadow until nothing remained but empty, endless voids staring at nothing while his small body rocked and rocked and rocked.

“Mama,”he whispered to the darkness.“Mama, it hurts. Make it stop hurting.”

The broken plea shattered something fundamental inside me. Not just my heart—something deeper, something that connected me to every mother who had ever lived, ever loved, ever lost a child to monsters who saw innocence as raw material.

My legs gave out. I crashed to my knees before the barred door, clutching the iron so tightly that my knuckles went white.

This is what they do here. This is what Hakan’s world creates.

These weren’t just random victims. Looking at them—really seeing them—I realized they’d been chosen with care. Their ages,their sizes, even their coloring seemed deliberate. They were all the perfect age to be my daughter.

If Hakan ever found out about Kiraz…

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