Chapter 53. Serana Unmasked

The Citadel had no doors—only a living scar yawning at the forest’s heart, where ancient trees knotted into bone and root. It was as if the wood itself had grown too vast for any hinge or latch, and so had braided itself shut in a jagged seam of bark and calcified marrow. Thick tendrils curled across the threshold like the fingers of some slumbering titan. Some shone slick with black sap, glistening like fresh blood beneath a wan sun; others lay brittle, flaking into dust with each restless stir, cracking like old wounds reopening. A hollow hush draped itself over the clearing: no birdsong, no wind. Even the air felt subdued, as if the forest had drawn back in awe—or fear. The barrier exhaled a black silence, heavy with Wyrdcraft, and waited.

Ryker’s breath came low at Aeryn’s shoulder. He sounded as though he were exhaling centuries of dread. “This place… it isn’t dead. It’s feeding.”

Thorne said nothing. He studied the writhing wall, eyes flicking over its curves and k