A Flame in the Shadow

For a thousand years, the city of Crescent Falls has survived beneath the shadow of an ancient savior. Each century, a man is chosen as an offering to Sariyah-the being said to have once driven demons from the world. When Bastion, the man Ember loves, is taken after daring to refuse her, Ember's grief turns into defiance, and she vows to bring him home no matter the cost. Her search forces her into an uneasy alliance with Orion St. James, a dangerously charming immortal with a violent past and secrets tied to Sariyah herself. Bound together by a magic neither of them wants nor understands, Ember and Orion are drawn into a hidden war beneath the city-one involving cultists, monsters, and an ancient order known as the Watchers. As Crescent Falls begins to fracture, Ember experiences unsettling visions that hint her bloodline is far more entangled with Sariyah than anyone ever suspected. Strange new powers awaken within her, blurring the line between protector and destroyer, while enemies gather and old loyalties are tested. With the city on the brink of collapse and unseen forces moving in the shadows, Ember must decide how far she is willing to go to save Bastion-and whether becoming something darker is the only way to stop an evil that has ruled unchallenged for centuries. Because some thrones are not inherited. They are taken.

Chapters

Chapter 2

"Ember, wait up." Bastion yelled from across the street as I exited the corner store. I turned to see him waiving me down. My heart fluttered at his smile. Bastion was the neighborhood hero ever since he returned from training in the military. The perfect example of the boy next door, tall, strong, light brown hair with blue eyes, and a jawline that made every girl blush when he looked at them.

I stopped, waiting for him to catch up. He walked up throwing his arm around my shoulders casually. Bastion had been my best friend for as long as I could remember but since he returned things seemed to have taken a turn.

"Are you going to the festival with anyone?" He asked.

The Festival of the Offering was a tradition going back a thousand years. One we celebrate every hundred years on the same night of the Blood Moon. This year the festival just happens to land on my birthday. Not that anyone would care, the festival was the biggest event anyone in the town of Celestial Falls would ever experience. A forgettable girl's twenty-first birthday would never come close.

"Who says I am going?" I asked him.

"You have to go, Em. It only happens every hundred years. We are so lucky to get to experience it. They are already setting up in the town. There are tents and booths setup. The food is going to be so good. Plus," He smirked. "it would be a perfect way to celebrate your birthday! You didn't think I forgot, did you?"

To be honest, I did think he forgot. I smiled my cheeks heating up. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday. The festival was going to be extravagant. There would be no expense spared and I had always wanted to get a look at her.

Sariyah. The name was like a whisper one the wind in our town. One spoken for centuries. She had become a legend at this point, one that seemed too fantastical to be true. She only ever leaves the castle and her Obsidian Throne for the offering. I couldn't explain why but I needed to see her for myself.

"Ok. I guess I could make an appearance, for you." I smiled at him as he grabbed the bags from my hands and began walking me home.

The Festival began just before sundown. Bastion met me outside my house so that we could walk together.

"Happy Birthday." He said as he handed me a bunch of wild flowers in all colors. He took a purple one out, my favorite color, and slipped it behind my ear. "There, you need a little color in your life, all you wear is black."

We walked down the cobblestone pathways to the festival lands. The music was blaring and the dancers and fire-eaters were mezmerizing. There was a massive bonfire right in the middle. We walked down the paths of vendors, the scent of all the greatest foods wafting past us making me delirious with hunger. Bastion grabbed my hand pulling my attention away from the food.

"I want to tell you something, I have been wanting to say it for a while now Em." His bright blue eyes piercing my soul. He opened his mouth to continue when the slecting bell rang. One note, long, low and cold enough to cut bone. The crowd of people rushed to the stage where the High Priest of the Veyl stood in his long crimson robes of velvet.

"It's happening." Bastion said beside me, his jaw locked. He hadn't let go of my hand. I could feel the tension vibrating beneath his skin, like his body was already preparing to fight something we couldn't see yet.

The townspeople gathered near the stage, faces pale, under the Blood Moon. Mothers gripped their sons. Girls whispered prayers not to be chosen to weep this year. I didnt pray. Not because I didn't believe, but because if the gods had been watching Celestial Falls, they were cruel.

The Priest spoke and his voice echoed across the crowd. "Celestial Falls," He addressed the crowd. "this year we are proud to offer the pride of our town as consort for the goddess. Bastion Thorne, in three days time Sariyah will come to claim you as her payment. We have faith you will make us all proud!"

The world started to spin and everything went dark.

I awoke to a local healer splashing water on my face. There were people everywhere. Some were looking at me many were crowding around Bastion offering congratulations, or condolences, depending on how they saw the offering. Bastion, however only focused on me. As I came to the people began to clear away until it was just Bastion and I again.

"Tell me I was dreaming. Tell me they didn't say your name." I begged. He just frowned and at me as if he felt bad for me. How could he feel sorry for me when his name had just been called as the offering.

"You don't have to go," I said desperately. "you could run. We could run. I would help hide you. We could go somewhere no one could ever find us."

He tilted his head and frowned, his blue eyes darkening. "Em, you know there is nowhere we could go that they wouldn't find us." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead before turning to leave, shoulders slumped, looking more defeated than I had ever seen him.

Continue to next part

Betrayed by his own family, Carrick Aurum Gale was left for dead. But death was only the beginning. Reborn with a powerful system, Erebus, Carrick rises from the ashes to reclaim his rightful place as the most powerful Mafia Lord. With ruthless determination and cunning strategy, he builds a new empire, the Zenith Family, and sets his sights on vengeance against those who wronged him. The streets will run red, allegiances will be tested, and the very foundations of power will be shaken. The boy who was once discarded will become the master of his own destiny. Witness the unrelenting ascent of Aurum Zenith, the Mafia Lord who will stop at nothing to claim his throne.

Action LitRPG Mafia Modern

9.2

He Chose Her Over Our Child

9.2

My world shattered twice. First, the ocean claimed my son. Then, the mountain road took another, a direct sacrifice to the man I loved and the woman he chose. In the hospital, beeps marked the emptiness where my second son used to be, echoing the first loss, both involving Holden and Giana. During the car crash, I was pinned, bleeding, and trapped. Holden, my partner, looked me in the eyes, then chose to save Giana, abandoning me and our unborn child. Soon, I overheard Holden praising Giana for turning our tragedy into a PR win. His hollow apologies and focus on Giana’s "miracle work" reignited the brutal memory of her push and his past denials. A decade of sacrificing my life and two children for a man who saw me as a liability left a bitter taste. His choice was clear; only profound abandonment remained. But this time, I was choosing me. From my profound loss, a dangerous spark ignited: I would not just survive; I would find freedom and make him pay.

Action Adventure Modern

8.6

Marrying His Rival: The Jilted Wife's Sweet Revenge

8.6

"Her blood type is a match. It’s the only option." I froze outside the conference room door, the quarterly reports digging into my ribs. I knew that voice. It was Ben, my husband’s best friend and doctor. But the next voice, cold and devoid of warmth, shattered my world. "Then we do it," my husband Ethan said. "Chloe cannot wait any longer. If Ava is the match, then Ava is the solution." For the past month, Ethan had been obsessed with my health, insisting on daily "vitamins" and endless checkups. He called it love. Standing in that hallway, I realized he was actually shopping for spare parts. "She is your wife, Ethan," Ben argued weakly. "You can't just harvest her like a crop." "She became my wife because she was useful," Ethan replied, his indifference cutting deeper than any scalpel. "Now, she can be useful for this." The realization hit me with the force of a physical blow. The nausea I’d been feeling wasn't stress. I was pregnant. And those "vitamins" he fed me every morning? They weren't supplements. They were poisons designed to ensure I remained a viable donor. He was killing his own child to save his mistress. To him, I wasn't a partner. I was livestock. An asset to be liquidated for parts. I didn't burst into the room. I didn't scream. I walked away in silence, my hand hovering over my stomach. He wanted my kidney? He wanted to carve me up? I decided right then. I wouldn't just leave. I would terminate the pregnancy, fake my death, and burn his entire world to the ground.

Action Modern Romance

8.9

My Fiance's Betrayal, My Fiery Vengeance

8.9

My fiancé and my adopted sister framed me for burning down our Hamptons beach house. They had me declared insane and used a forged power of attorney to lock me away in a private facility for four years. While I was drugged, tortured, and systematically broken, they stole my company, my reputation, and my life. When I was finally released, they stood before me, dripping in the wealth they'd stolen. Kelly, my sister, even wore my mother's engagement ring, a glittering trophy on her finger. They saw a vacant, docile shell, not the woman who spent every waking moment meticulously planning their ruin. They thought they had extinguished the fire. At a party meant to celebrate their victory, Kelly held up a dog collar studded with cheap rhinestones. "Wear this," she cooed, "and you can have your mother's watch back." I dropped to my knees and barked. They thought it was my final, crushing humiliation; it was the beginning of their end.

Action Mystery Romance

7.3

My Stepbrother's Deadly Game of Love

7.3

I started a dangerous game to break my perfect, cold stepbrother, Hunter. Our forbidden affair became a secret inferno, and I thought I was the one in control, the one teaching him how to feel. Then an anonymous video arrived on my phone. It showed Hunter with a young intern, repeating our most intimate lines, my words, my lessons, verbatim. "Does this need to be taught, too?" he asked her, his voice a chilling echo of our past. He confessed it was all a calculated revenge plot against my mother. He left me to collapse in the street, sick and alone, and the car crash that followed shattered my legs, ending my ballet career forever. My love was a weapon he used to burn my world to the ground. My body was broken, my dreams turned to ash. I had lost everything to a man I thought I had broken, but who had instead destroyed me. But from the ashes, a new dream was born. I became a choreographer, my pain fueling my art. Now, years later, as I stand on the world stage, he watches from the shadows, a ghost consumed by a regret he can never atone for.

Action Mystery Romance

8.7

Signed Away: His New Wife

8.7

In my past life, I died alone in a sterile hospital bed while my fiancé, Dyllan, comforted his "foster sister" Heather through a fake panic attack. He missed the birth and death of our child because Heather was "too delicate" to be left alone. Even as I took my last breath, he was wiping away her crocodile tears, ignoring my desperate calls. I sacrificed my dreams, my money, and my life for him, only to be a forgotten footnote. But when I opened my eyes, I was back at the City Hall counter, the marriage license waiting. Dyllan tapped his foot impatiently, checking his phone. "Hurry up, Ivy. Heather called. She' s having an episode. She needs me." The old Ivy would have trembled and obeyed, desperate for his approval. But I just smiled, a cold, calculated expression he didn't recognize. "Go to her," I said, pushing him toward the door. "I'll handle the paperwork. Family comes first, right?" He rushed out without a backward glance, relieved to be the hero again. Left alone with the official document, I didn't write my own name on the bride's line. With a steady hand and a heart full of vengeance, I wrote Heather Rosales. Congratulations, Dyllan. You're legally married to the burden you love so much. And I am finally free.

Action Modern Romance

A Flame in the Shadow

Chapter 2

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