Chapter 16: The Silver Veil

The moment the name left Emress's lips, the air in the clearing shifted. It was subtle, like a held breath, the hush before a storm. The beast before her lowered its head even further, its ember eyes flickering with something she couldn't name.

Callan, however, went rigid. His fingers, still gripping her shoulders, tightened slightly. Not enough to hurt, but enough for her to feel the tension in him.

"Say it again," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

Emress met his gaze, the silver depths unreadable in the moonlight. "Emress," she repeated.

Callan exhaled sharply, almost as if the word itself had struck him. He let go of her shoulders and stepped back, running a hand through his silver-streaked hair. He looked away, his jaw tight, his body suddenly a battlefield of emotions.

She swallowed. "You know that name, don't you?"

Silence.

Then, a bitter chuckle. "Know it?" He turned back to her, and for the first time since she'd met him, there was something unguarded in his expression, an emotion she couldn't quite place. "I've done everything in my power to forget it."

Her heart slammed against her ribs. "What do you mean?"

Callan studied her, his gaze flickering to her hands, where the fire had once burned. "Because if you are Emress," he said slowly, carefully, "then that means the past isn't done with us."

The wind howled through the trees, rustling the leaves with restless energy. Emress shivered, though not from the cold.

She took a step toward him. "Callan… tell me what you know."

His lips parted, but before he could speak, the ground beneath them trembled. A sudden pulse of energy surged through the air, rippling outward like an invisible wave.

The archway,the portal, flared to life behind them.

Emress turned just in time to see the runes blaze with silver fire. The swirling darkness within the arch deepened, becoming almost liquid, like a pool reflecting a sky that didn't belong to this world.

Callan cursed under his breath. "They've found us."

A chill crept down her spine. "Who?"

He grabbed her hand, his grip firm, unyielding. "There's no time. We have to go."

Emress barely had time to react before Callan pulled her toward the portal. The moment their hands touched, the energy around them crackled, alive, potent, something neither of them fully understood.

The portal pulsed. The trees groaned as if the forest itself was resisting. The beast that had once bowed to her let out a low, guttural sound, a warning.

"Callan, wait—"

But it was too late.

The moment their feet touched the threshold, the world dissolved around them.

The clearing, the forest, the night, everything shattered like fragments of a broken mirror, swallowed by the silver veil of the unknown.

A force stronger than any wind tore through Emress, pulling her body in every direction at once. It was neither pain nor pleasure, but something beyond human comprehension, like being rewritten thread by thread, unraveled and reformed all at once.

For a breathless moment, she saw glimpses of something beyond the veil.

A towering palace made of obsidian and silver.

A throne room bathed in flickering candlelight, a silhouette seated at its center.

The scent of ancient books, firelight dancing over walls carved with stories lost to time.

And a pair of eyes, silver and endless, watching her from the abyss.

Then, silence.

When Emress opened her eyes, she was no longer standing in the forest.

The sky above her was a deep, unnatural shade of violet, swirling like a storm frozen in time. Stars blinked in and out of existence, scattered across a vast darkness that stretched endlessly. The air was heavy with the scent of something both familiar and foreign, ancient, powerful, laced with whispers only the soul could understand.

They stood on the edge of a great city, its towers stretching toward the heavens, bathed in a silver glow. The roads were paved with glimmering stones, and bridges of woven starlight connected buildings that seemed to defy gravity.

Emress felt a strange pull within her chest, an ache deep in her bones.

She had been here before.

Not in a dream. Not in a vision.

But in a life before this one.

Callan stood beside her, his expression unreadable. "Welcome back, Emress," he murmured, his voice laced with something close to reverence. "Welcome home."