CHAPTER 85: THE PRICE OF POWER

Chapter 85: The Price of Power

The First Shadow’s smile froze Liana’s blood. It wasn’t looking at Celeste anymore. It was looking at her. "Finally," the old thing whispered without a mouth.

"The bloodline I’ve been waiting for." Celeste screamed as the Shadow’s tentacles wrapped around her dissolving form.

"What’s happening to me?" "You were never the goal, child," the First Shadow purred. "Just the key to open my prison. The Heart needed a willing carrier, someone desperate enough to break every rule." The truth hit Liana like lightning.

"You planned this. All of it." "Every forecast. Every trick of fate. Every moment that led you here." The Shadow’s attention made her skin crawl. "Your grandfather didn’t just seal me away, little wolf. She split her bloodline in two - one part to guard the lock, one part to finally open it."

"No," Liana backed away, but there was nowhere to go. "I won’t help you." "You already have." The Shadow motioned to Celeste, who was changing again. Her shadow form was hardening, transforming into something that hurt to look at.

"She opened the Heart. But opening isn’t the same as ruling." Celeste’s scream turned into something inhuman. Her body stretched like taffy, arms becoming tentacles of pure darkness. Her face split into three mouths, each one filled with teeth made of frozen shadow. "I can’t stop it!" she wailed through all three mouths.

"It’s eating me from the inside!" "That’s because you’re not strong enough," the First Shadow said lightly. "But she is." Lyra grabbed Liana’s arm. "Don’t listen! It’s trying to trick you!" "Am I?" The Shadow tilted its non-head. "Tell me, witch.

How long have you felt my whispers? How long have you thought your magic was your own?" Lyra’s face went white. "No. That’s impossible." "I’ve been feeding you power for decades.

Every spell, every potion, every dark rite - all mine. You were my backup plan if Celeste failed." The witch stumbled backward, looking at her hands like they were covered in poison. "Everything I did... was that you too?" "The attack on the pack? Mine. The curse on Rowan? Mine.

Even bringing you all to this rock - mine." The Shadow’s laugh was like breaking glass. "Free will is such a pretty lie." Kael, Jace, and Rowan were still holding the shield around what was left of Celeste, but their strength was fading fast. Golden, silver, and blue light flickered like burning candles.

"We can’t hold her much longer," Kael gasped, blood spilling from his eyes.

Inside the barrier, Celeste had become something from dreams. Her octopus arms whipped against the magical walls, each strike making the brothers cry out in pain. "Let me out!" she shrieked. "I can fix this! I can control it!" "You can’t control hunger itself," the First Shadow said softly.

"But you can feed it." It pointed toward the spectral wolves that had been watching from the mountaintop. One by one, they started walking down toward Celeste’s prison. "No!" Liana understood what was happening. "They’re not fighting. They’re giving themselves!" The ghostly wolves reached the barrier and simply walked through it.

The moment they touched Celeste’s shadow form, they dissolved into pure energy that she absorbed eagerly. With each wolf she swallowed, Celeste grew larger and more terrible. Her three mouths became six, then twelve.

Her tentacle arms expanded like a spider’s legs. "She’s getting stronger," Talia whispered, clutching her magic book. "The spectral wolves are making her stronger!" "Of course they are," the First Shadow sounded happy.

"They’ve been waiting ages for this moment. They were never cursed to guard this place - they were cursed to feed the prison when it finally opened." More wolves approached the barrier. Dozens of them, all walking calmly to their death. "Stop!" Liana shouted at them.

"Don’t do this!" But the lead wolf, an enormous silver female, turned to look at her. When it spoke, its voice was ancient and sad. "We must, young Luna.

It is our purpose. Our sacrifice will give you the power you need." "Power for what?" "To choose," the wolf said simply. "Between two darknesses." The First Shadow laughed. "Oh, this is perfect.

Tell her, old guardian. Tell her what her real choice is." The spectral wolf’s eyes held infinite sadness. "The First Shadow cannot be destroyed. It can only be controlled. But the old jail is broken beyond repair."

"So build a new one," Jace said through hard teeth. "We cannot," the wolf shook its head. "Only royal blood can build a prison strong enough.

But the cost..." "What cost?" Liana asked. The First Shadow replied instead. "A life for a life. A soul for a soul. To rebuild the prison, the royal bloodline must sacrifice itself totally." The truth hit her like a physical blow.

"You want me to die." "Not die," the Shadow amended. "Become. Become the prison.

Become the lock. Become the permanent guardian who can never leave, never love, never live." Liana looked at the triplets, who were barely holding Celeste back. At Talia, whose visions had tried to warn them. At Marcus, who’d followed them into trouble.

At Lyra, who’d been influenced for decades without knowing it. "There has to be another way," she whispered. "There is," the First Shadow’s smile widened. "Let me have what I want. Let me swallow this world and remake it in my image.

Everyone will be equal in the darkness. No more predictions. No more picked ones. No more pain." "No more anything," the spectral wolf replied. "No joy, no love, no hope. Only endless hunger." Celeste swallowed another wolf and roared, her voice shaking the mountain.

The fence around her cracked deeper. "Choose quickly," the First Shadow purred. "In moments, your friend will break free.

And when she does, nothing will stop her from eating everyone you love." Liana felt her wolf stirring inside her chest.

Not her own wolf - the old Luna whose spirit lived within her. The voice that spoke was older than memory. "Child," it said softly.

"There is a third path." "What?" Liana whispered. "The Shadow lies about one thing. Royal blood doesn’t have to die to make a prison. It just has to be willing to share the load."

The old Luna’s meaning crashed over her like a wave. "The triplets." "Four edges to a cage. Four souls to share the weight.

Four hearts beating as one eternal guard." The First Shadow’s look changed for the first time, surprise flickering across its non-face. "That’s impossible. The bloodline ritual was lost ages ago."

"Was it?" The phantom wolf’s smile was sharp as winter. "Or did we just let you think it was?" The barrier around Celeste finally broke. She burst free like a living horror, tentacles reaching for the nearest target - Talia.

"No!" Liana screamed. Time slowed as she made her choice.