***
Sleep never found me that night.
Even with Seraphine curled naked at my side, her skin slick with sweat and warmth, my mind churned with fire and questions. I lay still, holding her tightly, trying to ignore the weight pressing into my chest.
Arion—my son—was asleep in the next chamber, guarded by Kael's layered protection runes. I'd spent hours watching the rise and fall of his chest, memorizing the delicate way he curled his fingers in sleep, the small twitch in his brow when he dreamed. He was powerful. Unstable. But he was mine.
And that meant I had to be more than just a warrior. I had to become a father… to a child born of shadows.
But it wasn't the boy that haunted me now.
It was the girl.
Her face—brief as it was—had scorched itself into my thoughts. Seraphine's silver eyes. My sharp jaw. Calista's magic lingering in the air like perfume around her.
Another heir.
Another secret.
And this time, the stakes were worse.
Because this daughter… wasn't mine alone.
***
When the first crack of dawn broke across the Temple of Ash, Kael summoned me with a single word.
"She's real."
We stood in the scrying hall, the runes on the obsidian mirrors pulsing with ancient energy. The reflection shimmered with red mist, and then it appeared again—the tower of void and thorn. A broken realm floating beyond the edges of time.
And the girl.
She was standing by the window, gazing out with eerie calm. Long black curls. Barefoot. Dressed in a gown of midnight silk. She couldn't have been more than six.
But the aura around her screamed ancient.
"She's not just a child," Kael said grimly. "She's been... altered. Blended with forbidden magic."
Seraphine stepped beside me, her jaw tight. "She has my eyes."
Kael's silence confirmed it.
"She's not a clone. She's not a vision."
I turned to him.
"She's our daughter," I whispered.
"No," Seraphine said, shaking her head. "I've never carried a child. You know that."
Kael's expression turned darker. "You didn't need to."
"What do you mean?"
Kael hesitated, then spoke slowly. "Calista has access to remnants of Flameblood essence. She could've stolen your blood… used memories… emotions…"
"To craft a child," I finished, sick to my stomach.
"A child born not from passion, but from manipulation."
***
The rage that roared inside me was primal.
Calista hadn't just tried to reclaim me—she had built a legacy behind my back. A twisted mirror of the family I was just beginning to build.
And now that daughter—who bore Seraphine's beauty and my blood—stood at the center of something we couldn't yet understand.
"Where is she?" I asked.
Kael's rune-glowing eyes narrowed. "She's hidden in the Realm of Dusk. A prison wrapped in illusions and time loops. You can't just walk in."
"I'm not asking to walk in." I stepped closer. "I'm asking how to break in."
***
Seraphine cornered me later in the war chamber.
"She looks like me," she said quietly.
I nodded. "I know."
"She's not mine."
I turned to her. "She's part of you. And she's part of me. Whether we like it or not."
She crossed her arms. "So what? We go save a child forged from stolen blood? Raise her like she's ours?"
"I don't know what we're supposed to do," I admitted. "But I do know one thing—if Calista made her, it's not just for revenge. It's part of a bigger plan. And that girl… she's the center of it."
Seraphine looked away, voice trembling. "What if I can't love her?"
I stepped close, cupping her face gently. "You don't have to love her today. But you can protect her. Like you protected me."
Her eyes glistened, the iron walls cracking behind them. "I just wanted us. You and me."
I kissed her, slow and deep, tasting her sorrow and strength.
"You still have us," I said into her lips. "But now we have more to fight for."
***
Kael opened a portal at midnight.
It wasn't stable.
The Realm of Dusk was a cursed space between life and dream. The air shimmered like oil. Sound moved slower. Light bent at angles that didn't make sense.
Seraphine came with me, dressed in her battle leathers, twin daggers strapped to her thighs. Kael and Kray remained behind to guard Arion—who had started to hear voices again in his dreams.
The Realm was a maze of obsidian towers and rose-thorn vines that pulsed with blood.
We moved in silence, following the heartbeat that echoed through the stone—mine, but warped.
"She's near," Seraphine whispered.
"I can feel it."
Then the path opened… into a garden.
And there she was.
Sitting in a circle of blood petals, braiding flowers into a chain.
She looked up at us calmly.
"Father. Mother."
Seraphine flinched.
"I've been waiting."
***
I stepped forward. "What's your name?"
She smiled sweetly. "Calienne."
My knees almost gave out.
That was the name I once dreamed of giving a daughter. Back when I still believed I could outrun destiny.
"Do you know who we are?" I asked.
She nodded. "You're Desmond, King's Heir. And you…" she turned to Seraphine, "...are the woman he burns for."
Seraphine's hand moved toward her blade.
"She's mocking us."
"No," I said, watching Calienne closely. "She's… reciting. As if it was told to her."
Calienne tilted her head. "Mother says soon I'll awaken fully. When I do, the Flame will burn clean, and all the false kings will kneel."
"What flame?" I asked.
"The Twilight Flame. Born from dusk and dawn. From love and betrayal."
I felt Seraphine's grip tighten on my arm.
"Calista made her as a weapon," she whispered.
"No." I swallowed hard. "She made her as a queen."
***
Suddenly, the garden trembled. The thorns writhed. The shadows deepened.
From the sky above, Calista descended in a gown of spiraling smoke, her hair swirling like black mist.
"You shouldn't have come," she said coolly.
I stepped in front of Calienne. "Then why leave the door open?"
She smirked. "Because I wanted you to see her. The legacy I made when you broke our bond. You chose the wrong woman, Desmond. And soon, the realms will see it too."
Seraphine stepped beside me, eyes burning. "You stole from both of us."
"I created what you were too afraid to," Calista snarled. "And she will rule, whether you accept her or not."
I reached back, grabbing Seraphine's hand.
And I made a vow.
"She's not yours anymore."
***
Calista raised her hands—runes glowing, the garden igniting.
And behind us, Calienne smiled.
"I'll see you soon, Father," she whispered.
Then everything shattered.
***
We woke up gasping on the monastery floor. Kael and Kray standing over us.
"The portal closed," Kael said. "You've been gone for minutes. Or hours. Time doesn't make sense there."
I looked at Seraphine.
She nodded. "She's real."
And far away, deep beneath the cracked lands of the First Flame,
something ancient opened its eyes.
The real war had just begun.