Chapter 43: The Threads of Fate

As the dust began to settle after their victory, the kingdom started to recover and rebuild; its people gained renewed life from triumph over the darkness. The Heart of Light thus became a most venerable token of resurrection, laid in a resplendent chamber within the palace, its lovely glow an eternally living souvenir of the serenity they had won. Celebration and renovation had arrived, but unease still lingered—like a shadow beneath the surface of the new-found calm.

The Heart of Light was enigmatic, and both soothing and subtly warning, which Ariadne found ever more attractive for it. She spent too many of her nights deep in thought, warring with the knowledge that the forces they faced would never be wholly extinguished. The balance they had striven so long to strike was precarious; the future remained cloaked in uncertainty.

That evening, when the moon shed its silver glow over the gardens of the palace, Ariadne was joined by Thalia and Seraphina. They had turned up for a discuss