LOGIN(Isabella POV) “Malrec?” I repeated the name, hoping I had misunderstood Eira. But the ancient being remained silent, its pale light trembling in the passage. “The voice I heard before I was born belonged to Malrec?” “Yes.” I looked at my mother. She had gone pale. My father looked as though someone had struck him. And Orion, who had spent so many years pretending he understood the Heart, suddenly seemed like a man standing before a door he had never known existed. “What does that mean?” I demanded. “How could I hear him before I was born?” Nobody answered. I turned toward my mother. “Please don’t tell me there is another secret.” Her eyes filled with pain. “I wish I could tell you that this was something we understood.” “You’re my mother. You knew about the Heart before I was born. You knew Malrec wanted me. You knew something had happened to my father. How can you not understand?” “Because we never knew he had reached you.” My mother stepped closer. “When you were
ISABELLA’S POV “You still believe in that old nonsense? The prophecy was written by frightened people who couldn’t control what they had created.” “No,” Liora replied. “The prophecy was written by people who finally understood that control was the problem.” The black wall surged toward us. “Now, Isabella!” she shouted. Isabella stepped forward. I reached for her hand. The moment our fingers met, the world seemed to become very still. I felt her fear, her grief, and the fierce determination beneath both. She felt my concern, my anger, and my promise to remain beside her. Neither of us tried to push the other into a particular choice. We simply stood together. Light spread from our joined hands. The black wall shuddered. Malrec’s expression twisted. “No!” The wall cracked. A second pulse of light crossed the chamber, and the barrier broke apart into drifting black fragments. Elara immediately led the soldiers toward the passage. “Move! We need to get everyone out!” Ca
ISABELLA’S POV For several seconds, I forgot how to breathe. The woman standing behind my father was older than the woman in the portrait Orion had shown me. Silver streaked her hair, and exhaustion had carved lines around her eyes. Her clothes were worn, and there was a faint scar near her temple, but none of that mattered. I knew her. Somewhere deep inside me, beneath years of forgotten memories and unanswered questions, I knew her. “My little star.” The words broke something open inside my chest. I took a step toward her. “Mother?” Her lips trembled. “Yes, my darling.” I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. I had imagined this moment so many times that I had stopped allowing myself to believe it could ever happen. In some dreams, my mother came back and explained everything. In others, she stood far away, unable to reach me. But she was here. She was real. And she was looking at me as though she had been waiting for this moment for years. I ran to her. She caugh
ISABELLA’S POV Malrec clapped slowly. “How touching. A family reunited through tears and regrets.” He stepped away from the barrier. “Now, Isabella, we can stop pretending. You have heard the truth. You know why you were hidden. You know what your father sacrificed.” He held out his hand. “Come to me, and I will release him.” Rex stiffened. “No.” Malrec ignored him. “One step across the marked circle. That is all I ask.” I looked at the floor. A ring of black symbols surrounded the barrier. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now I could see that the markings were connected to the chains holding my father. “What happens if I step inside?” I asked. Malrec’s expression was almost gentle. “The Heart will recognize your presence. Its power will flow through the chamber, and I will finally be able to stabilize it.” “By controlling Eira.” “By giving Eira the guidance it desperately needs.” Eira’s voice whispered inside my mind. “Isabella, he is not telling the truth.” I look
ISABELLA’S POV“Do not let him open the Heart!”Eira’s warning rang through my mind, but I could barely understand what it meant. My father was standing behind a wall of black light, looking at me with eyes that were somehow familiar despite the years separating us.He was alive.He was real.And he was looking at me as though he had spent every day of his life waiting for this moment.“Isabella,” he whispered again.I took a step forward.“Dad?”His eyes filled with tears. He tried to stand, but the chains around his wrists pulled him back. I heard the painful clatter of metal against stone, and something inside me snapped.“Let him go!”Malrec smiled.“Such a beautiful reunion. I wonder whether it will be as beautiful when you discover what your father has done.”“Don’t listen to him,” my father said urgently. “Whatever he tells you, don’t believe him.”Malrec tilted his head.“Still protecting her with half-truths, aren’t you, Alaric?”Alaric.My father’s name.I held on to it as i
Isabella’s POVWe entered the path just before midnight.The alliance camp had been left under Elara’s command, while General Varos remained behind with a small group of soldiers. He had argued that the Heart was too important to leave without military protection, but Rex had reminded him that an army could not protect something it did not understand.Varos had not liked that answer.I suspected he didn’t like Rex very much either.Our group was small. Rex, Orion, Cassian, Elara, and four trusted soldiers accompanied me. Eira’s light moved ahead of us, floating just above the ground.The path passed between towering trees whose branches twisted together overhead. Strange symbols glimmered on their trunks, appearing and disappearing as we walked.I kept my eyes forward.The farther we traveled, the quieter the world became.No insects.No birds.Not even the sound of leaves moving in the wind.“Is it always this silent?” I whispered.“No,” Orion replied. “The Hollow is listening.”I lo
(Rex’s POV ) War changes the air. You can feel it before the first real strike ever lands. Everything sharpens. Every movement matters. Every decision carries weight. But what no one tells you, is that sometimes, right in the middle of that tension… The world goes quiet. Not the heavy kind.
The sky did not split again. It only… shimmered. Like a scar still deciding whether it wanted to reopen. By nightfall, the rift had sealed completely. No more tremors. No more tearing light. The air still felt different—charged, thinner somehow—but calm had returned to Blackthorn territory.
***Earlier after the clash*** The war didn’t continue that night. It ended in exhaustion. Not because anyone had won but because something bigger had paused the board. By the time the courtyard cleared, the moon had climbed high and the stronghold felt hollowed out. Wolves moved quietly, ca
By dawn, the elders had gathered again. Not to talk. To judge. “She destabilizes the pack,” Elder Marris said, his voice thin but firm. “You saw what happened. The wards bent around her. The creatures came for her. This is no longer theory.” Rex remained seated in the Alpha’s chair, black stone







