Chapter 14

Three weeks after the ship explosion, Dianna hunts a banshee faction in an abandoned factory. She kills their leader, Sasha, and decapitates her. As the collapsing building groans, Dianna takes the head and vanishes.

At a hidden temple, Dianna drops Sasha’s head on a rune-carved altar, demanding Camilla find a new location for their work. Dianna’s urgency is driven by fear of Kaden’s remaining plots and the constant threat of Samkiel finding her. Camilla insists she needs a day, citing the strain of cloaking both Dianna and the sanctuary.

Dianna warns Camilla that her usefulness is the only thing keeping her alive. They discuss a talisman that, even with Samkiel’s blood, must be stabilized to avoid catastrophic side effects. Dianna’s grief and rage spike when referencing the coven’s past inaction as her sister was slaughtered.

Retreating to the temple’s lower level, Dianna trains with reclaimed blades, repeating techniques Samkiel taught her to surpass both Kaden and Samkiel. A memory surfaces of her father teaching her knife work and purpose under the desert sun, grounding her resolve.

Camilla interrupts, barely stopping a thrown dagger with magic. After tense words about the quality of Dianna’s training resources, Camilla reports wolves moving through the forest. Dianna immediately decides to hunt them, seeking live, dangerous practice to sharpen her edge for the coming confrontations.