The Midnight Key

Rene gasped awake.

Her lungs burned. Her vision blurred.

Stone pressed against her hands. Cold, rough, real.

Nyra was beside her, shaking her shoulder. "Rene! Say something!"

Rene sucked in a breath. "I—"

She looked around.

They were back.

The ruins, the shattered sky, the distant sound of the wind.

Lucien, Adrian, Adriel, Kieran—all of them.

And in her arms—

Rena.

Still small. Still fragile.

But her silver eyes were open.

And she was staring at her sister.

Rene's heart pounded. "Rena?"

The child blinked once.

Then, in a voice far too steady, she whispered:

"She's coming."

Rene's breath caught.

Nyra swallowed. "Who?"

Rena tilted her head.

"The one who made me."

Silence.

Lucien's fingers curled into a fist. "Then we don't have much time."

Rene's breath came unsteadily.

Because deep down—

She already knew who it was.

The true creator of the key.

The one who had been pulling the strings all along.

And it wasn't Selene.

It was someone else.

Someone closer than any of them realized.

To Be Continued…