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Chapter 10
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2025-09-20 00:23:11Chapter 10 – Into the Shadows
Aria barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind replayed the same torment: golden fire licking at the edges of her vision, crimson eyes flashing in the dark, growls curling through the air like smoke, vows whispered in tones too close to lies. Each fragment pressed against her chest until breathing felt like dragging glass into her lungs. Not just human. Blood that carried power. Under his protection. The words tangled like barbed wire in her head, impossible to untangle, impossible to ignore. She rolled onto her side, fists clenched tight against the thin blanket. Protection wasn’t truth. It was a cage with silk walls—soft enough to lull her, strong enough to trap her. She had been living inside someone else’s version of safety, but she could no longer bear the weight of half-truths. By the time the first pale streaks of dawn cut across the forest canopy, she had made her decision. She would find her answers herself. --- The Shadow Fang’s records. She remembered Rowan’s voice, low and hesitant, when he’d once mentioned the stone hall where their history was kept. He’d spoken as though even the walls could overhear him, as though the place itself carried secrets too dangerous to name. If there was any trace of her parents there—any hint of why Lucien hunted her—it would be waiting in those pages. Slipping from the lodge was easier than she expected. The camp still slumbered, the wolves curled in their dens after the long night. Only a handful of guards lingered at the borders, their eyes more focused outward than inward. Aria pulled her hood low, kept her breaths shallow, and slipped through shadows like a ghost. The meeting house loomed ahead, its stone walls rising from the forest floor like a beast’s ribcage. The doors were massive, each one carved with snarling wolves whose eyes seemed to glint in the faint dawn light. A warning. A threat. Her stomach twisted, but she pushed herself forward. The doors creaked open with a groan that seemed too loud for the silence of morning. Inside, the air was colder, damper, carrying the faint smell of earth and wax. Shelves climbed the walls, sagging under the weight of scrolls and ledgers. A heavy oak table dominated the center, its surface scarred by claw marks and layered with hardened candlewax. It felt less like a library and more like a tomb. Her hands trembled as she reached for the first ledger. The leather binding cracked beneath her touch, dust rising in faint motes that sparkled in a shaft of light. She turned the pages quickly, her eyes skating over births, treaties, records of old hunts. The words blurred, numbers jumbling until— Miriam Ellara. Her aunt’s name. Aria’s breath caught. Her heart thudded so loud she feared the whole hall would hear it. The record was old, faded with time, but there was no mistaking it. Miriam Ellara – bloodline guardian. Bloodline? Her fingers traced the ink as though touch might bring clarity. But below the words, the parchment ended in a jagged tear, half the page ripped away. Panic clawed at her ribs. She shoved the ledger aside and reached for another. And another. Her pulse quickened with each fragment she found: mentions of bloodlines sealed in fire, of a pact that bound wolves and guardians, of a child hidden among humans. Her vision swam. It couldn’t be coincidence. It had to be her. She pressed a shaking hand to her temple. Why hadn’t anyone told her? Why keep it buried? --- A creak shattered the silence. Aria froze, her body locking as though the sound had been a command. The hairs along her arms lifted, and her heart slammed against her ribs. She wasn’t alone. Slow footsteps echoed against the stone floor, deliberate, unhurried. Her breath stuttered. She ducked behind a shelf, clutching a scroll to her chest as though it could shield her. The shadows lengthened across the hall, stretching, reaching. Then came the scent—sharp, metallic, coppery. Not Kael’s earthy musk. Not Rowan’s familiar steadiness. Something colder. Something wrong. A voice slid through the dark, low and almost amused. “So the little secret walks on two legs after all.” The sound of it froze the blood in her veins. Aria’s grip on the scroll tightened until the parchment crumpled. She turned, her breath caught at the base of her throat. And there he was. Red eyes gleamed from the doorway, glowing faintly as though lit from within. The rest of him was a shadow against the light, tall and sharp-edged, his presence filling the hall as easily as smoke fills a room. Lucien. Her worst fear made flesh. He stepped forward, the sound of his boots striking the stone ringing through the chamber. His lips curled, the faintest smile of a predator who had finally cornered his prey. Aria’s pulse hammered so loud it drowned everything else. She stumbled back, her shoulder slamming against the shelf. Scrolls toppled, spilling across the floor with papery sighs. Lucien didn’t even glance at them. His gaze was fixed on her, unblinking, hungry. “Looking for the truth, little one?” His voice was silk over steel, mocking. “You won’t find it in scraps of parchment.” Her throat worked, but no words came. The air felt too thin, as if he had drained it from the room. Step by step, he closed the distance, and with each one, her body screamed at her to run. Yet her legs wouldn’t move. He tilted his head, studying her like a puzzle. “I wondered how long it would take before curiosity dragged you here. Blood calls to blood, after all.” Her hands shook violently now, the scroll slipping from her grasp and tumbling to the floor. Lucien’s smile widened. “Ah,” he murmured, as if confirming a long-suspected truth. Aria forced herself to breathe, forced herself to think past the panic clawing at her. She had wanted answers—now she was staring straight into the monster who held them. The shadows seemed to press closer, the hall shrinking around her, until there was nowhere left to run. Lucien’s crimson gaze burned into hers as he took the final step into the chamber, the light catching the cruel curve of his lips. --- Cliffhanger (Chapter End): Lucien stepped fully into the hall, his presence suffocating, his smile the promise of a predator who had finally trapped his prey.
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