Page 1 of Crowned by the Shadow (Bound by the Veil #5)

Chapter

One

Senara

I stepped through the veil of twilight flowers into the sanctuary of Moonweaver’s Grove, each footfall heavier than the last. The Grove was the safest place right now, not that I cared. It enveloped us in a perpetual dusk, neither day nor night, neither Sun nor Moon Court. Just emptiness now.

Thorn followed silently behind me, his usual radiance dimmed to barely a flicker. The fiery glow in his left eye had dulled to embers. Neither of us had spoken since we’d lost Wyn.

My fingers traced the bark of an ancient tree whose branches curled protectively overhead. Its silver leaves whispered with memories of the last time we were here, when I had actually felt hopeful that we could stop the Void Dragon Empress. Before we lost an artifact. Before Wyn was taken.

“We should have never brought her with us.” The words escaped my throat, raw and bitter.

Thorn’s jaw tightened. “Eldric didn’t seem to care about her at first, but then he targeted her specifically because of her magic.

” His voice carried the controlled rage I’d come to recognize as the voice of the general, not the man.

“Once he saw her powers, everything shifted, and he didn’t care about anything but her.

Not you, not the Crescent Diadem, not the Veilshard Pendant. Just her.”

I sank onto the ground and rested against the large tree, my Moon Mark burning against my skin like a reminder of my failure. “It’s not like her magic is that much different from his own, so why her?” I tried to remain detached, to think about things logically, but it was beyond difficult.

“Because her power is amazingly rare,” Van chimed in.

I glanced up at him and questions danced around in my mind.

Who, or what, exactly was he? Before I could ask, he continued, “Necromancy isn’t exactly common and with the way she summoned those golems…

It’s safe to say she could be a powerful necromancer if given the right training.

Something which the Shadow Dragon Clan does quite well, though I’d thought they had died out. ”

Thorn slammed his fist against a nearby tree, sending ripples through the magic-laden air. The bark absorbed his rage without cracking, unlike my composure.

The Grove seemed to respond to our grief, flowers closing their petals, vines retreating into shadows.

This place that had offered us refuge now felt hollow.

Part of me wondered if Kaelyn was still around here somewhere, but I knew that was a silly thought.

She’d probably gone straight back to High Lord Echo and reported everything that had happened.

Not that I’d blame her. I just hoped that she’d made it back okay, and she wasn’t another casualty of being in proximity to me.

I pulled my knees to my chest, remembering how Wyn had looked at me with such trust when we’d first arrived in the fae lands.

“I promised to keep her safe.” It was a promise made as a child, one made a lifetime ago, possibly two if my brushes with death were anything to go by. I still intended to keep it, though.

Thorn crossed to me then, kneeling before me. The fire in his eye flickered brighter for just a moment.

“We will find her.”

“How? We don’t even know which way Eldric took her.”

His hand found mine, our fingers intertwining—Sun and Moon magic pulsing against each other just under our skin.

“Together,” he said. “The way we’ve done everything since you crashed into my life.”

I froze at the sound of hurried footsteps approaching our sanctuary.

My hand instinctively went to the dagger at my hip as I surged to my feet with Thorn right next to me, also readying himself for a fight.

I relaxed slightly when Volker burst through the curtain of hanging vines.

His usually composed demeanor was shattered.

Guilt washed over me, as I hadn’t even realized he wasn’t with us anymore.

“I can’t feel her anymore,” he gasped, his silver eyes wide with panic. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his hands trembled as he clutched a crystal pendant—the tracking charm he’d crafted for Wyn months ago.

“What do you mean?” Thorn stood, tension radiating from his shoulders.

Volker paced the small clearing, the pendant swinging wildly from his grip. “Her magical signature—it’s gone. Just... vanished.” His voice cracked. “One moment it was there, faint but steady, and then nothing. Like someone snuffed out a candle.”

My stomach twisted into knots. The Moon Mark on my skin pulsed painfully, responding to my fear. “That’s impossible. She can’t be?—”

“That’s just it,” Volker interrupted, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. “This pendant works across realms. It shouldn’t matter where they’ve taken her unless...” He couldn’t finish the thought.

“Unless she’s dead.” Thorn’s blunt words hung in the air between us.

“No.” I stood, my voice steadier than I felt. “We would know. I would know.”

Volker held the pendant up, its crystal clear rather than the soft blue it glowed when tracking Wyn’s magic. “There’s another possibility. They could have bound her magic completely—ancient bindings that sever a mage from their power.”

“Those were outlawed centuries ago,” Thorn growled, the fire in his eye flaring.

“The Courts have broken many laws in pursuit of their goals. Who is to say the other races haven’t done the same?” Volker replied grimly.

I closed my eyes, reaching through the soul bond I shared with Thorn, drawing strength from his steady presence.

Then I tried to focus on the faint connection I’d always felt with Wyn since we crossed the Veil together—that tenuous thread that had linked us, the way I’d known she was alive when Thorn and the others were convinced that the Veil had killed her.

There was nothing. Just emptiness where her bright spirit should be.

“We need to move now,” I said, gathering my weapons. “If they’ve bound her magic, she’s completely defenseless against them.”

I gripped my sword hilt so tightly my knuckles turned white. The emptiness where Wyn’s presence should be felt like a physical wound.

“I’m going after her. Now.” I turned toward the sanctuary entrance, but Thorn’s hand caught my arm.

“Senara.” Just my name, but the weight behind it stopped me. His eyes, one normal, one burning with inner fire, held mine. “Running blindly into a trap won’t help her. We don’t even know where she is and we can’t track her.”

“Every moment we wait?—”

“Could be the difference between rescuing her and joining her in captivity,” Volker finished, his voice gentle but firm. “We need a plan.”

My shoulders slumped. They were right, and I hated it. “What do you suggest?”

Thorn went to release my arm, but then changed his mind and pulled me into a hug.

“We’ll find her, I promise,” he whispered into my hair, dropping a quick kiss on my forehead.

He wasn’t one for displays of affection, especially since our bond was essentially illegal and the courts were hunting us because of it, but I knew we both needed that comfort now, the kind that only we could provide to each other.

The Veilshard Pendant pulsed against my skin, as though it wanted to remind me that all was not lost. I pulled it out from under my top and it was warm to the touch.

Volker approached cautiously, his eyes widening.

“May I?” When I nodded, Thorn gently lifted the pendant over my head and handed it to Volker.

The mage turned it in his slender fingers.

“The Veilshard doesn’t just part boundaries between realms. It traces connections—threads of magic that bind individuals together. ”

“Like our soul bond?” I asked, glancing at Thorn.

“Precisely.” Volker’s expression brightened with scholarly excitement despite the circumstances. “But it can follow other bonds too, blood ties, magical oaths, even strong friendships forged in shared magic.”

I moved closer, hope flickering to life. “Wyn and I are as close as actual family. We’ve sworn promises to each other more times than I can count.”

“And she’s been studying with me for months,” Volker added. “Our magical signatures have resonance.”

Thorn took the pendant back, holding it between us on his open palm. “Then we have three possible connections to trace. Yours, Volker’s, and mine through my connection to Senara. Van, anything to add?”

The bard shook his head, looking slightly embarrassed. “I never paid much attention to her song. Unfortunately, I was too busy trying to track down our moon scion.” He nodded at me.

“If they’ve bound her magic, will this still work?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

Volker’s expression grew thoughtful. “They can bind her ability to use magic, but they can’t erase the magical bonds themselves. Those exist beyond the physical realm. For now, let’s just focus on Wyn and see if we can find any trace of her.”

The pendant glowed faintly in Thorn’s palm, and I placed my hand on top of his as the crystal seemed to respond to our combined intent.

For the first time since Wyn disappeared, I felt something other than despair.

The weight of Wyn’s absence pressed against my chest, making each breath feel like a betrayal of her trust.

“How do we activate it?” I asked, my voice steadier than I felt.

Volker circled the small part of the clearing that we stood in, his scholarly demeanor returning as he focused on the problem. “We need something personal of hers, something that carries her magical signature.”

I reached into my pocket and withdrew a small object made from woven grass. The delicate crescent moon dangled from my fingers, catching what little light filtered through the sanctuary’s canopy.

“She made this for me last full moon,” I explained. “Said it would help me control my Mark when it flared.”

Thorn nodded, recognizing the charm. “Her magic is probably woven into every part.”

Volker gestured for me to place it beside the pendant. “Perfect. Now we need to combine our connections to her.”