The ruins of the Veritas Circle were no longer silent. Fires crackled in the distant towers. The once-sacred halls had become battlegrounds. And at the heart of it all—Seina and Kaydence stood surrounded.
Vultures. Dozens of them. Armed. Trained. Eyes glowing with the same obsidian gleam the Bone Crown once held.
Seina raised her blade. Her breath fogged in the cold.
Kaydence stood beside her, already bleeding from his shoulder.
“Sei, there’s too many—”
“We end this. No more running.”
A woman stepped forward from the Vulture ranks. Silver hair. Crimson eyes.
“Annora,” Kaydence hissed.
She smiled, all venom. “Still protecting her, Kay? Even now?”
“She’s not the threat here,” he spat.
Annora lifted her hand. Runes flared into the sky.
The Vultures moved.
Seina’s power ignited. She was a blaze of motion, steel and flame dancing in tandem. Kaydence followed—silent, lethal, unstoppable. Together, they carved a path through enemies who had once called themselves brothers.
Annora’s voice echoed above the chaos.
“You think you’ve changed fate? That the Bone Crown was the only thing tying you to death?”
Seina broke through the last line and stood face-to-face with her.
“I’m done with fate,” she whispered.
Annora’s dagger slashed forward.
But Seina didn’t dodge.
She caught it.
And drove her own blade into Annora’s side.
The ex-lover staggered.
“He’ll never forgive you.”
Seina’s eyes were flames. “He doesn’t have to.”
Annora crumpled.
Behind her, the Vultures fell into chaos.
Kaydence reached Seina’s side.
“It’s over,” he said.
But the sky said otherwise.
Thunder rumbled.
And the raven flew past once more—headed east.
Toward the storm.
The air was thick with ash and vengeance.
Seina stood over Annora’s fallen body, blood coating her fingers, her breath ragged in the night-choked ruins of the Veritas Circle. Kaydence’s hand found her shoulder, grounding her—but nothing could still the storm in her chest.
“She made her choice,” he said, quietly.
“She made every choice,” Seina whispered.
“She betrayed you. Lied to all of us. Led them.”
Kaydence didn’t respond. Not right away.
Then he turned to the fallen Vultures, those who now knelt or stood in surrender.
“This isn’t over. Not yet.”
A voice called from the shadows of the broken chamber.
“Indeed, it’s not.”
Miro stepped into the light, flanked by a dozen rebels—those who had defected before the siege. The ones Seina had once risked her life to save. His gaze went to Annora’s corpse and then to Seina.
“You killed the Queenkiller.”
“She wasn’t a queen,” Seina muttered. “Just another liar with a crown.”
Miro nodded. “And now, you’ve opened the path.”
“What path?” Kaydence asked warily.
“The one we’ve been fighting for. The Bone Crown may be gone, but its echoes still live. In every hidden altar, every blood-sworn heir, every kingdom built on secrets. You didn’t stop the prophecy, Seina. You lit it on fire. And now the flames are coming for the rest.”
Seina’s mouth was dry. “I don’t want a throne.”
“You don’t get to want or not want anymore,” Miro said.
“They’ll come for you anyway. Every king who fears your blood. Every cult that thinks you’re salvation or damnation. They’ll come.”
Kaydence stepped forward. “Then let them.”
But Miro raised a hand.
“No. We meet them first. We strike before the storm. With you two leading the charge.”
Seina looked between them—Kaydence, loyal and bruised and hers, and Miro, with his burning eyes and broken cause. Two men shaped by war. One by her side. One in her path.
“I don’t want power,” she said again, but it felt thinner this time.
Miro tilted his head. “You want freedom. And that comes with fire.”
The remaining rebels rallied around them, forming a loose circle, waiting for Seina’s word. Waiting for a crownless queen to ignite the war they had all been too afraid to start.
Seina turned to Kaydence.
“If we do this , if I do this there’s no going back.”
He reached out, brushing a bloodied curl from her cheek.
“I’ve never looked back, Sei. Only at you.”
The wind howled through the broken walls. The raven flew again—closer now, its wings silent as shadows.
And Seina Veil—Seina Sallow—lifted her sword high.
“For every silence they forced on us,” she called.
“For every name they tried to bury.”
“For the bloodline they thought they could erase.”
The rebels shouted in unison, fire catching in their hearts.
And deep beneath the ruins, in a chamber long forgotten, a second crown—smaller, made of fireglass and bone—cracked open.
Its light was waiting.
Author’s Note
Hi readers 💌
If you’ve made it this far—thank you. Truly. Writing Scarlet Veil has been a wild ride through secrets, betrayals, and the kind of messy, beautiful love that doesn’t fit into tidy boxes. Seina and Kaydence have lived in my head (and heart) for a long time, and seeing their story take shape has been nothing short of magic.
This book started as a love letter to broken people who still choose to fight for something bigger than themselves. For the girls who hide daggers under their dresses, for the boys who bleed loyalty, and for everyone who's ever been told they were "too much"—this one’s for you.
We're not done yet. The final chapters are coming with fire and fallout, and I promise you—we're going to end this saga with the kind of blast that leaves echoes.
Thank you for reading, feeling, and believing.
With all my ink and madness,
—C.V. Rose 🖤🗡️
P.S. If the raven creeped you out... good. It should.