Mag-log inIvonne’s POVI woke up with the soft, steady rhythm of Hector’s heartbeat under my ear.His broad arms were wrapped around me, pulling me flush against his warm chest. Sunbeams filtered through the high glass windows of our bedchamber, casting golden light across the velvet blankets.For the first time in as long as I could remember, there was no immediate terror pressing down on my chest. No dark magic burning at our gates. Just the quiet room, the sound of our breathing, and the steady warmth of the man I loved.Hector shifted slightly, his chin resting against the top of my head. "Good morning, my love," he whispered, his voice deep and gravelly from sleep."Good morning," I murmured, burying my face into his neck. I let out a soft, contented sigh. "I don't want to get out of this bed. I just want to stay right here."Hector chuckled, his chest vibrating against mine. "Then we stay. The realm can wait a few hours." He slid his hand down to rest gently over my stomach. "How are the
Ivonne's povA short while later, Hector and I finally returned to our private rooms. The guards closed the heavy wooden doors behind us, shutting out the rest of the world.The hearth was already lit, casting a golden, comforting glow across the stone walls and plush rugs. The physical and emotional exhaustion of the last two days hit me all at once, making my limbs feel wonderfully heavy.Hector unbuckled his dagger belt, letting it clatter safely onto the table, before walking over to where I stood near the fire. He reached out, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and pulling me back against his broad chest. He buried his face in my hair, letting out a long, deep breath."We made it back," he murmured softly into my neck."We did," I whispered, resting my hands over his arms."I was thinking about your grandfather on the ride home," Hector said quietly, his voice full of a rare, solemn reverence. "I owe Mr. Archibald everything. If he hadn't subtly guided my path toward t
Ivonne’s POVThe air inside Archibald’s private archive room was quiet, not a tense silence, but the heavy, solemn quiet that comes when a massive secret is finally laid out in the sun.The parchment of my grandfather's letter lay open on the mahogany table in front of me. I stared at his precise, elegant handwriting, my thumb tracing the edge of the paper where his wax seal had been broken.Bill, the old butler, stepped quietly into the room carrying a large silver tray. The gentle clinking of porcelain broke our trance. He poured hot lavender tea into delicate cups and placed them before each of us with a soft, respectful nod before stepping back to stand near the door.I picked up my cup, letting the warmth soak into my cold fingers, and took a slow sip. Beside me, Hector wrapped his hand around mine under the table, his broad thumb rubbing gentle, reassuring circles against my skin."It explains so much," Denise said softly, breaking the quiet as she held her teacup in both hands.
Larry's povI took that generational hatred, that deep, hollow pain of being an incomplete creature, and I poured it straight into my little girl's heart. I taught her how to hate. I taught her how to manipulate."Ivonne is below you, Alison," I had told her when she was just a teenager. "She carries the blood of those who cursed us. You must take everything from her. You must take Lincoln. You must ruin her."I remembered the day Alison had come running back to this very hideout, her face flushed with excitement, her eyes shining brighter than I had ever seen them."Daddy! I met him!" she had cried out, grabbing my hands. "I met Lincoln! He's so kind, Daddy. He talked to me for hours. I think... I think I really love him! He makes me feel so safe. If I marry him, can we stop fighting? Can we just be happy now?"I remembered the coldness in my own voice that day. I had taken her hands and pulled her close, ruining her innocent joy."He is a tool, Alison," I had told her sternly. "Ivon
Larry’s POVThe air in the cavernous, stone-walled chamber of my secret compound, deep within the icy wastes of the Northern Continent, was freezing. Yet, my blood burned with an agonizing, incandescent heat.I stood in the center of the dark room, my breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. The silence here was absolute, heavy, and suffocating.I stared down at my hands. They were trembling. Dark, volatile magic still crackled faintly beneath my fingernails, a useless, bitter glow that meant nothing now. Absolutely nothing.She’s gone.The words echoed in the hollow cavern of my chest, each repetition feeling like a physical blade carving through my ribs."She’s gone..." I whispered into the quiet room. My voice sounded hollow, like a ghost's. "My baby girl... my Alison..."I closed my eyes, but the moment I did, the image flashed behind my eyelids with terrifying, unbearable clarity: Alison’s lifeless body striking the cold stone of the courtyard. The empty, vacant look in her beauti
Ivonne's povI turned the page, my heart racing as I saw the next section.“My true biological line,” Archibald had written, “did not end with my wife’s passing. Because years ago, when the war with Larry’s family reached its bloodiest peak, my biological son was born. But the dark factions were hunting my family. They were slaughtering children and women to erase competing bloodlines. And my fathed mate... My dear beloved love was lost to that war. But she had left our newly born son behind. And To save his life, I made the most agonizing choice a father can make: I placed my infant son in a human adoption center on in the northern realm. And as you may now know, HE... is the father of my darling dear granddaughter.”I gasped, my eyes skimming the frantic, passionate handwriting on the page.“I did not abandon him,” Archibald wrote, the ink pressed so hard into the paper it had nearly torn the parchment. “I watched over him from the shadows for decades. I ensured he was safe, loved,







