Chapter 56- Shadows Stir

Lorelie the Bone Queen POV

The room was cold as death despite the fire roaring in the hearth. Bone white curtains billowed like spirits around the shattered balcony, where Lorelei stood cloaked in black, her fingers trailing along the railing. Her eyes, pits of hollow venom, burned as she stared into the hovering rune screen that broadcast the joy of Aurealis.

Laughter. Music. Magic.

Children dancing through streets...

And her....Rhiannan...smiling like she'd won something.

Lorelei's lip curled. "Disgusting," she hissed, her voice a cracked whisper of rot. "Look at them… wallowing in light like pigs in perfume."

A maid in chains behind her tried to step back and stepped on a bone, the crunch sounding loudly throughout the room.

Lorelei turned, eyes narrowing. "Do you think they deserve peace?"

The woman shook her head furiously.

Lorelei didn't care.

She turned back to the screen as the camera zoomed in on the royal triplets, bundled in their cribs, cooing softly while Rhiannan held them close.

"Ugly fucking things," Lorelei spat. "One vampire. One glowing wretch. And the other… a demon born of filth and false prophecy. They should have been drowned."

She spit on the stone floor. Acid hissed where it landed.

The Bone Queen raised her skeletal hand, the air around her rippling with shadow.

"Send the shadows. I want to see how her precious little kingdom reacts. Let her new officers scramble in their polished boots. Let them bleed defending their sunlit fantasy. Test their wards. Rattle their bones."

The shadows listened, rising like smoke from the cracks in the floor, silent and obedient. Her generals bowed low, heads touching the earth.

"I will raze this kingdom from the inside out," Lorelei whispered, smiling now. "Let the people see her fail."

Khezur The Coilborn POV

The self proclaimed King of Vash'ra lounged on a throne carved from gilded bone and adorned with the fangs of his fallen enemies. At his feet, silk cushions lay scattered across sun baked sandstone, but none were touched. Comfort meant nothing to Khezur the Coilborn, not when hunger burned hotter than the desert sun.

His scales glistened in iridescent bands of copper and black, sleek and polished like a weapon. A tall, lean frame coiled lazily on the dais, but every inch of him pulsed with contained power. His golden, slit pupiled eyes shimmered like molten daggers, locked onto the glowing rune screen before him.

Aurealis.

That cursed kingdom.

That woman.

Rhiannan Vaelorian. Queen. Divine. Untouched by fear. She appeared on the broadcast holding a child to her breast, surrounded by her mates and people and light. Her laughter rang like bells through the glowing panel.

Khezur's tail twitched.

"She smiles like she's not being watched," he whispered, voice thick with oil and venom.

A nearby servant trembled. Too loud. Too close.

Khezur's hand snapped out, impossibly fast, and crushed the man's skull without looking.

He did not flinch.

"Let them worship her," he murmured, rising now, tall and terrible. His forked tongue tasted the air, scented with mirage and madness. "Let them kneel and kiss her feet. I will take her from the center of their glowing paradise and shatter their illusion."

He paced with unsettling grace, his coils slithering soundlessly across the floor. His gaze never left the screen as it panned across the queen and her triplets.

"She will be mine. I will chain her with silk and bind her womb with serpent fire. She will carry the blood of Vash'ra within her. Divine, yes...but made divine for me."

He raised both arms to the dusk stained ceiling, eyes glowing with lust and prophecy. "I will take her power, her name, her body. And when she births my empire from between those sacred thighs, the gods will know fear again."

The room bowed. Or cowered.

Khezur the Coilborn smiled.

"Send word to the spies. We'll bleed them before we steal her. Let them see their goddess vanish in the night."

Sasha's voice rang out across the castle like a blaring siren in the wind.

"⚠️ Outer ward breach detected. Sector 7. Unidentified hostile entities incoming. Alerting all command. Alerting all command. This is not a drill."

The air itself tensed.

Rhiannan sat upright in bed, eyes wild. The triplets slept soundly beside her, but her entire body jolted into high alert. Azarion was already moving, sliding a blade into his belt with silent efficiency. Kaleb growled low, yanking his armor on as Arwen kissed her quickly and vanished out the balcony in a blur of pirate steel and Fae wind.

Sasha's glowing form flickered into the room, her tone uncharacteristically frantic. "They're shadows, Rhiannan. Pure darkness. Old magic. The Bone Queen sent them."

"Where?" Liam snapped, his voice a low rasp as he adjusted the harness holding his baby.

"North outer boundary. They're here."

The castle boomed as the rune cameras caught the first wave, twisted, shrieking shadows sprinting through the mist like nightmares come to life. But they didn't get far.

General Thorne had trained for this moment.

The skies filled with dragons. The barracks thundered as 100,000 soldiers poured from their quarters, armor gleaming, weapons raised.

The officers barked orders, and each squad moved in perfect unison.

Blades met shadows.

Magic clashed with death.

Screams pierced the air.

The kingdom of Aurealis… fought like hell.

Thorne stood at the front line, roaring orders, fire dancing in his eyes. His mate Lerenya flowed through the battlefield like an ancient forest wraith, her vines impaling the dark creatures with terrifying grace. Masaila held the rear with a protective wall of thorned shields and healing bursts of golden light.

Sable took to the skies with a demon's cry, wings spread wide as he crashed into the enemy with unstoppable rage. Azarion's flames carved wide swaths of destruction. Kaleb's wolf pack fought tooth and claw, unrelenting. Arwen's pirates sniped from the treetops.

The battle raged for nearly an hour, and when it ended, the ground was littered with ash and silence.

Only twelve men had fallen.

Twelve too many.

Rhiannan wept as she stood before their bodies, shrouded in soft light beneath the goddess statue in the courtyard. Her hands trembled as she laid enchanted flowers on each chest, whispering their names aloud so they would never be forgotten.

"These brave souls died in defense of this kingdom," she said softly, her voice cracking as it echoed to Faenet. "Their families will be honored. Their names etched into the walls of our hearts and history. We are safe today because they gave everything."

Faenet exploded with messages of grief, fear, love, and outrage. Rumors ran wild. Some villagers wept. Others rallied. But fear was growing.

Rhiannan didn't flinch.

She went live, her triplets nestled beside her in soft blankets, her mates standing silently behind her, each one bearing the scars and soot of battle.

She looked straight into the lens and said:

"Let me be perfectly clear, we will die before we let them reach you. We are stronger than shadows. And together, we are unshakable. But remain vigilant. Evil wears many faces, and it will not rest. So neither will we."

Azarion added, "Every village will have increased patrols. No less than five hundred soldiers per sector. No one is alone."

Thorne appeared next, blood still streaked across his chestplate. "We've trained for this. And we'll train harder. This was a test. And we passed."

By sundown, patrols had doubled. The villagers of Aurealis looked to the horizon, but this time, they didn't see fear.

They saw fire. Swords. Wings. Magic.

They saw protectors.

And they believed again.

The shadows shifted unnaturally near the western edge of Aurealis, just beyond the trade road that led to the sea.

Three figures cloaked in desert silk and serpent scale armor slithered through the underbrush, nearly invisible to the untrained eye. Their auras were masked with dark enchantments, their steps light as smoke. They moved fast, silent, calculated, headed straight toward Moonhollow.

Until Sasha caught a whiff of their code.

"Uhhh, hello?? Unauthorized cloaked heat signatures at Grid 12C. Those aren't villagers, those are slippery little shits."

She pulsed a silent alarm.

Seconds later, the air crackled as six elite soldiers shimmered into view, their enchanted armor pulsing with blue glyphs.

The spies froze, blades drawn.

"You've entered protected land under false aura," one officer growled, stepping forward with spell cuffs in hand. "Drop your weapons. Now."

Instead, the spies attacked.

Venom tipped blades clashed with enchanted steel. Spells whipped through the air. But the soldiers of Aurealis weren't fresh recruits, they were Thorne trained, magic tempered, and warded to hell and back.

In under three minutes, the serpent agents were on the ground, snarling and bound in glowing magical chains, wrists scorched by the cuffs.

One hissed in rage. "The Coilborn will burn this place to the sand!"

The lead guard just snorted. "Tell him to send flowers with his next failure."

They were hauled toward the castle dungeon, bleeding and defeated, as Sasha locked every outer gate with extra force and muttered, "Try me again, lizard bitches."