Novels by Olivia

Rhydian’s eyes had changed. Still that pale grey, still unmistakably his, but now there was something underneath, something new you could actually see, like the mark had settled into his bloodline the same way it had in mine. He looked at his hand, then at me, and we both stayed quiet. There wasn’t anything to say yet.Then someone yelled from the northwest boundary. “Hello? I can see the light. Is someone there?”Malek moved first, stepping out of the settlement. I followed. Soren was already at the edge of the clearing, watching the northwest.There, caught in the silver light, stood a young woman holding her hands out to her sides in that particular not-threatening way. She must have been taught to approach strange ground with caution, and she looked it. Maybe nineteen, slight, with dark skin and the exhausted edge of someone who’s been running way too long and finally, maybe, made it somewhere, but still isn’t sure.She took in the whole scene. The clearing. The light. The first w

“How far northwest?” I typed to Aldric.His reply came back in a heartbeat. “Three hours. Toward the silver light. She can see it from where she is.”I turned my screen to Rhydian. He read it, then glanced out at the spreading light near the trees, steady, patient, and honestly, it didn’t care what problem it was causing.“Can we stop it?” Malek asked.“I don’t know how,” I said.“The mark,” Soren said. “If the mark controls the light…."“I don’t control it,” I said. “Never have. The light does what the confluence ground does. What the sequence does. I’m not in charge.” I stared at those silver columns. “I’m just part of it.”“So we can’t stop it,” Malek said. “And Carrier Two is three hours out. She’s coming in, following a beacon everyone can see from the northwest.”“Yeah,” I said.“So the question is, what do we do with three hours?” Malek said.I looked at the clearing. Seven packs in the trees, all watching the silver light touching their paws. Four hundred wolves standing quiet

Everyone turned.Aldric's daughter stood at the northern edge of the clearing, her mother just behind her. The silver light did something new, it started pulling toward young Mira, almost like it had when the bond first began, but this time, it homed in on her, slow and subtle, like a compass needle finding north.She pressed both hands flat against her chest, just like she had back at the boundary."I can feel it," she said, eyes on the mark burning through my shirt. "I've felt... something, all evening. Thought it was the confluence ground. But it's not. It's in me. And it's... responding to….." She looked right at me. "To you."I edged closer.She stayed put."How long?" I asked."Since I got here. Since I crossed the boundary. But it's gotten louder these last ten minutes." She glanced at the silver light swirling around us. "Since the color changed."Her mother, older Mira, watched her with that strange look, some wild mess of pride and grief. You could see the weight of twenty y

The vehicle rolled into the confluence territory and I caught the shift before I’d even gotten out. Silver everywhere. Where an hour ago the clearing had glowed with gold, now every shaft of light had turned, quiet, but deep, into silver. The whole place sat under it, like somebody swapped out the bulbs for something just as warm, but running on a different frequency. It was the same silver that’d shaded my own shoulder, the mark at its brightest, clearest edge.The first wolf stood dead-center in the clearing, exactly where Soren said it would be. It stood still and the silver light rose from the ground around it in slow, steady columns. Almost like the light itself was alive, breathing.Soren met me at the edge. He glanced at the wolf, then at me.“It started ten minutes after you texted,” he said. “No warning. The gold just, shifted.”“The seven packs?” I asked.“Old-growth on the eastern side,” he said. “Keran and Aldis are with Tomas and Vael. They’re talking. No panic.” He hesit

“Tell me everything,” I said. “Don’t leave out the part the network cut.”Mira glanced at the stack of pages in my hand. “It’s long.”“Summarize,” I told her. “We’ll read the rest on the way back.”She slid into a chair, finally still, for once, and folded her hands on the table. I’d seen enough Vanes do that to know it was a habit.“It goes like this,” she started. “Finishing the bond sets off a process. Three stages. First, the return. That’s finished, everything the bloodlines had suppressed wakes up again. That part’s done.” She paused. “Second, the consolidation. The mark settles into the new bloodline, permanently, through the transfer. Not just as a thing that comes and goes, but something that’s always there, in every descendant, every generation.”“So it’s forever,” Rhydian said.She nodded. “That’s the point. The choice isn’t just about who gets it now. It decides which family holds it for everyone who comes after.”“And the last stage?” I asked.“That depends on who gets th

We pulled into Greycliff about forty minutes later.Zevran waited for us at the entrance. He didn’t need to say anything, his face told me things inside were still a mess. He fell in beside me as we headed in.“She’s still in the archive room,” he said. “I hear her moving around. She hasn’t come out since she went in.”“Anyone else in the hall?” Rhydian asked.“Two of my people at each end,” Zevran said. “That’s it. It’s been quiet since we cleared it this afternoon.”Inside, the corridor looked just like I’d left it, dim lamp oil, shiny waxed floors, that echo you only get with old stone. It was the kind of place trouble liked to settle in. The archive room was third on the left, warm light spilling out beneath the door.I knocked once and went in, no waiting.She stood at the far shelves, pulling a box down from up high, moving like she knew exactly what she was after. She heard us come in but didn’t startle, which told me plenty. She set the box down and faced us.She looked forty-

EMILIA’S POV “I'm going out for a while,” I said quietly as I picked up my handbag, keeping my voice casual even though I knew Richard would probably ask where I was going. I had barely been home for an hour, yet the walls already felt too close. The weekend was over, but the questions Richard had asked were still sitting heavily in my mind, especially the ones about my marriage and whether I was truly happy. I didn't have an answer for him, and I wasn't ready to admit that to myself either. Richard looked up from his phone when I walked past the study. “Where are you going this late?” he asked, his eyes following me as I adjusted the strap of my bag. There was nothing wrong with his tone, but after the weekend, even simple questions made me feel like I needed to explain myself. “I'm just going to the club for a little while,” I answered, giving him a small smile as I tried not to look nervous. “I need some air, and I'll be back later.” He studied me for a moment before nodding.

RICHARD’S POV “Something is wrong with Emilia.” I said it quietly as I watched her from across the table, pretending to listen to the music playing around us. She had smiled several times that evening, thanked me for the dinner, and even laughed at one of my jokes, but none of it reached her eyes. I had known her for years. I knew when she was happy, when she was tired, and when she was simply trying to keep me from asking questions. “You've barely touched your food,” I said, keeping my voice light as I looked at her plate. “Are you not hungry, or is something on your mind?” “I'm fine,” Emilia replied, picking up her fork and moving a little food around her plate. “I'm just tired. It's been a long week.” I nodded and took a sip of my drink, deciding not to push her yet. “How is the project going?” I asked casually, leaning back in my chair as though the question meant nothing. “I imagine working with Adrienne has made things easier.” Her hand stopped for half a second before she

EMILIA’S POV “Welcome home,” Richard said the moment I stepped into the house, his voice warm enough to make me stop near the door. He was standing in the living room with a small black box in his hand, and the smile on his face looked nothing like the serious expression he'd worn during our argument. I stared at him for a moment, wondering what had happened between the time I'd left that morning and now. “I thought you might be tired, so I didn't want to bother you,” he continued, walking toward me with the box as he watched my face. “But I wanted to give you something. I know things have been tense between us lately, and I don't want us to stay that way.” I accepted the box slowly and opened it. Inside was a beautiful diamond bracelet. It was simple but clearly expensive, and for a second I didn't know what to say. Richard had always been good at buying things when words became difficult between us. Of course he would do this now, I thought as I stared at the bracelet. “It's be

EMILIA’S POV “Please, just let today be normal,” I whispered to myself as I walked into the hospital the next morning, holding my coffee tightly in one hand. I had barely slept after Adrienne's message, and I had spent most of the morning telling myself I didn't need to think about him. I needed to work, take care of my patients, and go home. That was all. I had barely reached the doctors' station when a nurse hurried toward me with a worried look. “Dr. Emilia, we have a patient coming in. The emergency team needs you in Room Four right now,” she said quickly, already turning toward the emergency ward. I didn't ask any more questions. I handed my coffee to another nurse and followed her, pushing Adrienne and everything else out of my mind. When I entered the room, I stopped for half a second when I saw Adrienne already there. He was standing beside the bed, reading the patient's file while two nurses prepared the equipment. He looked at me briefly, but neither of us said anything

EMILIA’S POV “After everything I've done for you, Emilia, is there someone else you would rather be with?” Richard asked quietly, watching me so closely that I could feel the question sitting between us. I couldn't answer immediately. My fingers tightened around the edge of my nightgown as I tried to control the panic rising in my chest. Just say no. It's simple. But somehow, the word wouldn't come. “No,” I finally said, forcing myself to meet his eyes as I tried to keep my voice steady. “There isn't anyone else, Richard.” The lie left my mouth easily enough, but the moment I heard it, something inside me sank. Technically, there wasn't another man in my life in the way Richard meant. But Adrienne had already become someone I thought about when he wasn't around, and that alone made the answer feel dishonest. Richard didn't respond immediately. He continued watching me, his expression unreadable as though he were trying to decide whether I had given him the truth or simply the answ

EMILIA’S POV “You know what's strange? You fight everyone except your husband.” Adrienne's words followed me all the way home, repeating in my head no matter how many times I tried to push them away. I hated that one sentence had managed to bother me more than the argument we'd had about the project. It wasn't even the first time someone had noticed how easily I gave in to Richard, but hearing it from Adrienne made it feel different. “Emilia, you're home.” Richard's voice pulled me out of my thoughts as I stepped into the living room. He was sitting on the sofa with several folders spread across the coffee table, already dressed for the evening as though he'd been waiting for me. “Come and look at these. We need to sort out the schedule for the next few weeks.” I walked over and picked up the first folder, scanning the list of events inside. There were dinners, investor meetings, private functions, and several appointments connected to the healthcare project. My shoulders immediat