Duskthorn Academy Book 3 – Serena Cross

I try again, reaching for the portal only to watch it collapse the moment I get close. “The dimensional anchor,” Dante says, understanding flooding his features. “Someone needs to hold it open from this side while you cross. The magic won’t sustain itself.” The implications hit me like ice water. “You.” “Me.” His smile is heartbreaking in its acceptance.

“I told you I was good at holding things together.” “No.” The word tears from my throat. “There has to be another way. I can’t leave you here.” “Maya.” His hands cup my face, thumb brushing away tears I didn’t realize were falling. “You can. You have to.” “I’ll come back for you,” I say desperately. “Once I get the artifacts, once I break the loop, I’ll find a way to return.”

“I know you will.” He presses his forehead against mine, and through our bond I feel his absolute faith in me. “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known. If anyone can find a solution, it’s you.” The portal flickers, Elian’s strength beginning to fail. We’re running out of time. “Open it,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “Please.” Our magic surges together one last time, tearing the dimensional barrier wide enough for me to step through. On the other side, I can see Elian collapsed in his ritual circle, barely conscious but maintaining the spell through sheer will.

I look back at Dante one last time, memorizing his face, the way his dark hair falls across his forehead, the silver light of his magic wrapped around his hands as he holds our lifeline open. “I love you,” I say, the words tumbling out before I can think about how insane they are. We’ve known each other for days, not months or years.

But everything in this nightmare dimension has been accelerated, compressed into moments of life-or-death intensity that strip away all the careful pretenses normal relationships are built on. When someone saves your life repeatedly, feeds from your blood, bonds their soul to yours, and makes love to you like you’re the most precious thing in existence, time stops meaning what it used to.

Explicit sexual content and graphic intimate scenes Multiple partner scenarios and group encounters Complex emotional themes and relationship dynamics Situations that some readers may find challenging If explicit content isn’t your cup of tea, or if you prefer to avoid detailed sexual material, you might want to skip this one. I completely understand – we all have our preferences when it comes to what we’re comfortable reading. For those who choose to continue, happy reading (and maybe keep that fan handy)! Serena OceanofPDF.com Contents 1. The Fall 2.

Academy Ghosts 3. Cave Sanctuary 4. Shattered Pack 5. Outcasts and Echoes 6. The Weight of Truth 7. Dragon’s Rage 8. The Offer 9. Blood and Bonds 10. Desperate Measures 11. The Price of Home 12. Homecoming 13. Confrontation 14. Flooding and Friction 15. Control and Chaos 16. The Verdict 17. Fight Back 18. Breaking Free 19. The Dimensional Crisis 20.

Hidden Depths 21. The Last Lesson 22. Stand Together 23. The Betrayal 24. The Price of Power OceanofPDF.com T Chapter One The Fall he first thing I notice isn’t the pain, it’s the silence. My body slams against cold stone with enough force to crack ribs, but there’s no satisfying crunch of impact, no echo of collision. Just crushing, absolute quiet that presses against my eardrums like a physical weight. I try to suck in air and find nothing but the taste of ash and copper coating my tongue, bitter with the memory of things that used to matter.

That bastard actually did it. Calloway’s last words echo in the void where sound should be: “This is the only way to protect you.” Protect me? By throwing me into what feels like the space between heartbeats, where even my spirals barely manage a dim, flickering glow? I force myself upright, every movement requiring tremendous effort against the wrongness pressing down on me. The ground beneath my palms isn’t earth or grass; it’s fine powder that might once have been memories, now ground to dust under an eternity of footsteps.

When the wind carries it to my lips, it tastes like despair given physical form. And the sky… fuck. The sky is a swirling mass of starless black, like someone took midnight and wrung all the light out of it. But it’s what rises from the powdered ground that makes my blood freeze. Spires. Towers. Curved archways and familiar stonework, all rendered in obsidian that gleams like wet blood. The architecture is unmistakable.

I’ve walked these halls, climbed these stairs, memorized every corner and corridor. It’s Duskthorn Academy. But different. Corrupted. Like someone built a shadow of the school and left it to rot in this place where time forgot to matter. The rage hits me so suddenly I actually stagger.

Fourteen years. Fourteen fucking years of lies. Mom’s “accident” when I was seven, not an accident at all. Dad’s abandonment, leaving me with nothing but a grandmother who whispered stories about power I didn’t understand.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 016b3075f5346cf7
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,378,679 bytes (1.315 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 189
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 294.38 minutes
• Total Words: 58,877
• Total Characters: 351,211
• Average Words per Page: 311.52
• Average Characters per Page: 1858.26

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