Page 139 of Severed Heir

His grip caught my shoulder, steady but firm. “Let’s try your shadow portal.”

“I told you,” I said quietly, “my shadows aren’t strong.”

He cocked a brow. “You know, it isn’t very nice to lie.”

“I’m not lying. They’re… weaker.”

“Because you’ve been siphoning them to a certain guard?”

I lifted my chin. “How do you know?”

“I knew the moment you couldn’t cast a shade on our birthday. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I bartered them,” I said quietly. “He was going to brand me in front of everyone and reveal my Serpent mark before it was time.”

His expression turned cold. “Don’t use your quell. Just find the shadows. Will them. Powers can grow.”

I opened my palm and reached for the chill, for the pulse I hadn’t trusted in weeks. His hand cupped my jaw, steadying me.

“Will them, Sev.”

A flicker of shadow curled beneath my fingertips.

“I can’t hold it,” I whispered.

“Yes, you can.”

I pushed harder, and the shadows thickened, coiling up my arm. They slithered across our skin, drenching us in onyx rain.

“Through the shadows,” I murmured. “Quickly. I can’t hold it.”

Mist swallowed the air, thick and cold. I lifted my hand higher, forcing the power to rise and obey.

“You are the heir of Night,” Archer said, his voice low and certain. “Find your home.”

I closed my eyes and imagined the dark plains of Demetria. Then the world dropped out from beneath our feet.

We hit the ground hard. The impact rattled through my bones, sharp and jarring, but when I looked down, my hand was still intact. Maybe Antonia had been right, that shadow portaling really was the safer option.

I straightened slowly, the ground cool beneath my palms.

“The first time I traveled through flame,” I said, my voice quiet now, “I swear I saw Veravine… and I think your grandfather. It felt like a memory.”

Archer stilled, brow furrowing. “It could be. That flame was hers.”

“They were fighting over a dragon egg.”

“That flame didn’t just pass to you, it remembered her,” Archer said. “That’s the strange thing about antecedent powers.”

I wasn’t sure what unsettled me more: that I’d seen into my grandmother’s past… or that it had reached me through my flame.

We stepped into the estate. In the front hall, Amria looked up from a lone wooden chair and gasped. “Archer,” she breathed. “Severyn, how did the wedding go?”

He gave a short nod, brushing past her. “I stole her at the threshold.”

Amria turned to me for the real answer. “He didn’t steal me,” I sighed. “The wedding was null. Apparently, my mother had an affair, so we’re off to find my real father.”

Amria lifted a single strawberry-blonde brow. “Oh?”

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