Novels by Theo

Ivara's POVWe reached the healer's wing to find two guards already inside, and the healer herself pressed flat against the wall, her face pale as bone. On the floor between them lay a shattered vial, dark liquid spreading slowly across the stone."What happened," Kael demanded."I was testing her blood, my lord, as you asked." The healer's hands shook as she spoke, and she pointed at the broken glass. "The sample reacted the moment I tried to seal it. It should never do that. I have never seen blood behave this way in thirty years of practice."Kael crouched to examine the shards without touching them, his expression unreadable. "Explain what you mean by behave.""It moved, my lord. On its own. Like it was alive." She looked at me now, and there was something close to fear in her eyes, though not the kind aimed at an enemy. It was the fear people reserve for something they do not understand. "My lord, I believe her bloodline is not merely rare. I believe it may be one the old texts w

Ivara's POVThe letter held only a few lines, but each one landed heavier than the last. Draven demanded proof that I was alive, nothing more, no plea for my return, no apology, only the cold, careful wording of a man protecting his pride even while his world quietly fell apart around him. I read it twice before handing it to Kael, watching his expression harden with every line."He says nothing of wanting you returned," Kael said finally, his voice tight. "Only proof.""What will you tell him?""Nothing." Kael folded the letter and set it directly into the flames, watching it curl black at the edges. "He forfeited any claim to answers the moment he threw you into rogue territory to die."I should have felt relief. Instead, I felt something colder settle over me, the memory of Draven's hands on my face the night before everything fell apart, gentle in a way I had spent years waiting for. It made no sense to still ache for a man who discarded me so easily, and yet the ache was there, s

Ivara's POVThe fire in my chamber never seemed to go out. I noticed that on my third morning in Emberreach, watching the flames curl around a fresh log while a servant girl set a tray of bread and honey beside my bed. In Ashveil, fires burned low by dawn, and no one bothered to feed them again until dusk. Here, someone always came before I woke.I sat up slowly, my hand pressed against the curve of my stomach. The healer said the baby was strong, stronger than she expected for how thin I had grown in the omega quarters. She said it with a frown, like something about that strength troubled her more than it comforted her."You are awake." The voice at my door was crisp and cold, and I looked up to find a woman standing there I had not met before. She wore silver at her throat and a gown the colour of frost, and her eyes moved over me the way a butcher looked at meat before deciding which cut to take first."I am Lady Serris," she said when I did not answer fast enough. "I sit on the Em

Sleep didn't come anymore, it had not come in weeks.I lay in bed staring at the ceiling while my wolf paced inside me, restless, snarling at something I could not see. Every night it was the same, the moment my eyes closed, I heard her name clawing up from somewhere deep in my chest.Ivara.I sat up and pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes. “Stop it,” I muttered to the wolf, to myself, to whatever part of me refused to let this go. “She’s gone. It’s done.”The wolf didn't listen, it never listened anymore.I haven’t eaten a full meal in days. Selara noticed, of course she noticed, she noticed everything now, always hovering, always watching me with those wide worried eyes that used to make my chest ache with longing and now just make me tired.“You look unwell,” she said one morning, sliding into the seat across from me at breakfast. A seat that used to belong to no one because Ivara always ate standing, always working, always too busy running my pack to sit still. “Are

Ivara’s POVThe stone floor was the only thing keeping me from screaming.I had lost count of the days and there was no window in this cell, only a small slit near the ceiling where thin light crawled in each morning and disappeared each night. I knew it had been a while because my dress was stiff with dirt and my wrists still bear the marks of the ropes they used to drag me here.Footsteps echoed outside, more than usual, voices laughing, excited and I pressed myself against the bars and listened.“The Moon Goddess Ceremony is tonight,” one guard said to another. “Every unmated wolf in the pack will find out who their true mate is. Can you imagine? A night like that only comes once.”My chest tightened. The Moon Goddess Ceremony. I remember hearing about it as a child, how the goddess herself lit a path between true mates, how the whole pack gathered to watch the reveal. I never thought about it much once I married Draven, since married wolves didn't take part. But I was not ma

Ivara’s POVThe omega quarters smelt like old firewood and unwashed linen, nothing like the room I slept in for three years.“You. New girl.” A woman shoved a bucket into my hands before I had even set my bag down. “Wells need scrubbing, all four of them. Selara wants it done before sundown.”I then looked at her, waiting for a name, a greeting, anything that told me this is a mistake but nothing came.“I’m not new,” I said quietly. “I’m the Lun..”“You’re nobody now.” Another voice cuts in, and I didn't need to turn around to know who it belonged to.Selara stood in the doorway wearing a dress the color of blood, her arms crossed, her smile sharp enough to cut glass.“Word travels fast in a pack,” she said, stepping closer. “Everyone already knows you signed your own papers. No fighting. No begging. Very dignified.” She tilted her head. “Or very stupid. I can’t decide which.”“What do you want, Selara?”“I want these wells scrubbed by sundown.” She nodded at the bucket in my hands