The forest still echoed with the remnants of power from the relic rite. Raina hadn't slept since returning from the ruins. Her soul felt scorched, reborn, and yet... unsettled. The mark carved across her collarbone pulsed faintly beneath her skin, a half-moon fused with flame.
She stood at the edge of the grounds before dawn, dressed in her Huntress leathers, her blade strapped to her back. The sky was bruised with approaching twilight, and her breath curled visibly in the cold air.
Lucien appeared beside her, silent as always. His eyes scanned her face, and for a moment, the only sound was the rustle of wind threading through the trees.
"You're certain?" he asked.
Raina didn't look at him. "The solstice weakens the veil. If I wait... the memories won't just echo; they'll consume me."
Lucien's jaw clenched. "Then let's face it now."
They moved together toward the Circle of Stones where Maeva waited, cloaked in black, a dagger wrapped in sacred cloth resting in her palms.
"You're not stepping into a memory," Maeva warned. "You're stepping into judgment. The souls tied to your past lives will come. They won't be kind."
Raina nodded. "Let them."
She unwrapped the dagger. It throbbed with ancient heat the moment it met her skin, sending a jolt of flame through her veins. Her knees buckled. Lucien caught her, but she shoved herself upright.
"I'm fine."
"No," he said, his voice low. "You're breaking."
"I have to."
The moment the dagger fully touched her skin, the sky above them rippled. Silver light cracked through the clouds like shattered glass. The veil split open and the dead began to step through.
Shadows took form. Not monsters. Not beasts.
People.
Her past lives.
Her past victims.
Lovers she had betrayed. Children she had failed to save. Enemies whose deaths bore her name. All of them wore versions of her face, corrupted or abandoned by her choices.
Maeva whispered, "This is the Reckoning."
Lucien unsheathed his sword but didn't move forward. "You have to face them alone."
Raina stepped into the ring of stones. Her heart thudded like thunder. One by one, the shades encircled her, their eyes glowing like dying stars.
The first to lunge wore a version of her first Huntress armor, bloodstained and torn. Raina parried with instinct. Their blades clashed, but it wasn't strength she fought; it was guilt.
"You let us die!" the shade screamed.
Another attacked. Then another. Each fought with the fury of memory, of betrayal.
"You broke the bond."
"You loved the wrong man."
"You failed them all."
Raina faltered. The blade grew heavier. Her knees kissed the earth.
Then one final figure stepped forward, silent, commanding.
It was her.
The Huntress.
Not a shadow, not a ghost. A full embodiment of her strongest self. The one who had once sealed the Moonlight Contract.
"You forgot me," the Huntress said.
"I didn't," Raina gasped. "I buried you. Because I wasn't ready."
The Huntress raised her blade.
Lucien stepped forward, but Maeva stopped him again. "Let her finish it."
Steel met steel as Raina rose. Their clash wasn't just physical; it was spiritual. She fought not to kill, but to reclaim. Every strike was a confession. Every parry, a forgiveness.
Then Raina dropped her weapon.
"I'm not fighting you," she whispered. "I am you."
The Huntress paused.
"I remember now. Not just what we lost... but why we fought. And I'm done being afraid of what I was."
The shade lowered her blade.
And knelt.
As did all the others.
The veil sealed behind them in a sudden gust of wind, and silence reigned once more.
Raina stood alone in the ring, shoulders squared, breath steady.
Lucien ran to her, cradling her face. "You're here. You're still here."
She nodded, her eyes brimming with fire and exhaustion. "I remembered. And I forgave myself."
Their kiss was quiet. Anchored. No longer survival, just love.
Maeva watched, her lips curled ever so slightly. "The Huntress has returned."
That night, Raina curled beside Lucien in the quiet of the east wing. Her hand traced the ridges of his chest, stopping over the scar above his heart.
"There's more coming, isn't there?" she asked softly.
Lucien nodded. "They'll come for the bond. For the power you carry."
Her voice didn't shake. "Then let them come."
He pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. "Whatever happens next… you won't face it alone."
She smiled against his skin. And for the first time in lifetimes, she believed him.
Because she was no longer just Raina Carter.
She was Raina Blackthorne.
And the Huntress had truly awakened.