Chapter 46
“Mom… I’m here.”
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That voice echoed through my spiritual plane–gentle, clear, like a ripple on a still lake. It was faint, divine… but unmistakably real.
My mind lit up with threads of silver.
He had answered me.
Caelum–my child. The one about to be born under moonlight and fire.
Lunara/stretched out her hand. A soft sphere of silver light enveloped me and Caelum.
“He has no name. Without one, his soul cannot anchor. He floats between spirit and
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flesh, between realms.”
Y looked up at her.
“He already has a name.”
“But you have not offered it to the Moon.”
Her voice was calm. Absolute.
I nodded. “Caelum. It means ‘sky.”
Lunara closed her eyes. Silver flames danced through her hair.
“So be it. The child of the heavens shall be inscribed into the Book of Moons.”
The ceiling of the temple cracked open. A great mirror of the heavens emerged, casting a single silver thread into my palm. It merged with Caelum’s spiritual signature and burned
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a rune into our core.
“You have completed the Rite of Naming,” Lunara declared.
“He shall walk this world as Caelum.”
But the ceremony wasn’t over.
Lunara turned toward the Elder Council.
“You questioned his blood,” she said. “Then let me answer for him.”
Her hand pointed straight at Eira Greaves.
“You question his lineage. Step forward. Drip your blood into the Moon Seal and let the resonance speak.”
Eira’s face twisted. “You want me to connect with a fetus–a cursed mutation?”
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Lunara’s smile was ice. “If your blood is true, why fear the truth?”
Silence.
Eira stepped forward, slicing her finger and letting her blood fall into the silver seal.
The seal shook violently.
Caelum’s energy rejected her completely. Alarms rang across the array.
“Bloodline resonance: Negative?” Varo gasped.
“She’s not a true Greaves!” Rima exclaimed. “She has a masked third–gen hybrid strand in her DNA!”
“You lie!” Eira roared.
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it the Moon Seal glowed again, exposing a rk rune buried deep in her spiritual matrix.
The Nightshade Mark…”
asps erupted from the audience.
She’s one of them!”
‘A Nightshade inside the Council?!”
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Lunara raised her hand. A flash of silver energy blasted Eira from the dais.
“Greed led you to betrayal. Fear pulled you to the shadows.”
“But this child… chose his mother”
She looked at me, expression softening.
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“Will you now receive the Moonfire–the final Rite of Awakening?”
I nodded. “I will.”
But before she could act, a voice tore through the air.
“She cannot complete the Rite!”
Cyrus.
Wreathed in black fire, wearing the ceremonial robes of the Nightshade, his body pulsed with corrupted runes.
“If she completes the Moonfire, we lose the chance to reclaim the child!”
Lunara’s tone darkened. “You were once a priest of the Moon. Now you come to steal blood and future alike?”
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Chapter 46
“I came to reclaim my nephew.”
He launched a black blade of corrupted spirit straight at the soul tether between me and Caelum.
“Sadie, move!” Riven shouted, shielding me.
Talon intercepted the blast, silver blade clashing against dark flame.
For the first time, the two men stood side by side–warrior and protector.
“She’s not yours to touch,” Talon growled.
“She’s the woman I love” Riven said through gritted teeth.
I stood between them, heartbeat wild.
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“Stop fighting,” I said. “This is my Rite. I choose what comes next.”
I stepped onto the central seal.
“Lunara, I call the Moonfire. Let me awaken.”
As she reached for the heavens, Cyrus
screamed,
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“She carries the Dual Moon Sigil! She’ll be destroyed by it!”
Lunara froze.
“Did you say… Luca’s child?”
Cyrus nodded. “She bears twin marks. If she completes the Rite–her son will awaken, and her spirit will collapse.”
Inside me, Caelum’s heart began to beat
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erratically.
“The Moonfire has begun. The double sigil will collapse without a heart vow,” Lunara said.
“Offer your vow–or lose you both.”
I collapsed, gripping my belly. “I won’t let him die.”
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“I won’t lose him.”
Black fire. Silver flame. Spirit. Rage. Love.
All clashed in a storm of light.
At the heart of it-
A boy’s voice called out:
“Mama…”
人
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“I’ve made my choice.”
“I choose you.”
Then-
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The Moonfire receded.
And Caelum was born in my spirit.
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