Page 25 of Haunted Crowns
He didn’t look at Eris. Not directly. If he did, he might falter. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Too much attention. Too much meaning. She wasn’t ready for this yet.
The woman didn’t argue, but as she rose, her eyes remained steady. The pack had seen. They had heard, and something in the night had changed.
Kareon’s jaw clenched as he turned back toward the fire.
“Enough talk,” he said, pausing with a sharp exhale. “We eat.”
Eris reached for her spoon as the scent of fire-seared meat and spiced broth thickened the air.
Bellara passed her a wooden plate, her fingers hesitant but hopeful. Eris took it with a small, steady smile. She lifted a spoonful. The flavor was smoky and bold, laced with unfamiliar spice. It was different but not unwelcome. Eris swallowed and smiled again, warmer this time. Bellara exhaled, shoulders easing.
Around them, the warriors spoke in low murmurs, their voices edged with steel. They didn’t trust her, and they were not meant to, but they were listening.
Then another shift came. A flicker of foreign emotion brushed her mind: restlessness, hunger, fatigue, drifting like smoke on wind. She pressed it down, but it pushed harder, until it broke. A ripple passed through her, followed by a surge. Eris stilled. Emotions pulled at her like an untamed current without an anchor. Sharp laughter rose from across the fire, edged with relief. Doubt coiled in one warrior’s chest. Resentment flickered in another, his jaw locked. Exhaustion clung to the man beside him, a weight he no longer named. And there was grief, deep and unspoken. It showed not in faces or voices, but in the silence between them. It lived in clenched hands. It pressed into shoulders already bowed.
She felt it all. She didn’t sense it. She bore it. Her vision blurred for a heartbeat, her pulse roaring in her ears.
Kaelioth’s warning echoed like a whisper in the dark:The more you walk the spirits’ path, the more it will awaken. If you do not master it, it will master you.
She squeezed her eyes shut, though it was a mistake. The emotions surged harder the moment she tried to shut them out.
A flicker stirred at the edge of her mind like a whisper.
You do not silence the river, child. You let it flow.
The words curled through her bones, as familiar as breath, as distant as prophecy.
Seraphina.
The name struck like lightning through her veins. Her great-grandmother had walked this path and mastered the same power. That meant she could too. The thought steadied her. She drew a slow breath, then another. She could do this.
Across the fire, Kareon watched her. He tracked every breath, every shift, not by choice but by instinct. He didn’t yet understand why, only knew he could not look away.
Eris inhaled sharply as the emotions surged and broke again, pulling at her like unseen tides. Her grip tightened around her spoon.
Breathe. You have to breathe.
For a moment, the world was loud, waves of foreign emotion crashing over her, drowning her in a storm she couldn’t outrun. Then a voice rose, simple and clear, cutting through the chaos like light through fog.
“Is it true the sun burns you to death?”
Eris blinked, drew in a steadying breath, and met the young warrior’s wide-eyed stare.
After a heartbeat she replied, “Not to ash, no…but our skin blisters in minutes without protection.” She dipped a finger to the small tin at her hip. “We slather on helioshield balm every dawn and dusk, then stick to the shadows when the sun’s at itsfiercest.” A faint smile curved her lips. “We’re not fragile. Just sun-shy.”
The warrior frowned. “That’s…not as terrifying as I thought.”
Bellara snorted. “That’s because you lot make up half the nonsense you believe.”
Another voice jumped in, eager now. “What about coffins? Do you really sleep in them?”
Eris sighed and set her spoon down. “No. I sleep in a bed. Just like you.”
Kareon’s jaw tensed, and he looked as if he were contemplating knocking their heads together.
A warrior to her left grinned. “You sure? Seems like a wasted opportunity.”
A ripple of laughter moved through the warriors, hesitant but real. The weight pressing against her chest eased, just slightly. Then a blur darted through the firelight, a young pup, nose twitching, aimed straight for Kareon’s plate. The warriors stilled. The pup lunged, snatching at the food with reckless confidence. A low growl rose from Kareon. The pup froze.
