Masuk(Rex’s POV) The laugh echoed through the mountain long after the voice stopped speaking. Nobody in the council hall moved. Nobody wanted to. The sound hadn’t felt like an echo. It had felt alive. Listening. Waiting. Enjoying itself. The realization alone was enough to make my wolf restless. Around me, the room remained tense. Kaelen’s hand still rested on the hilt of his sword. Ash looked like he was debating whether running away was a valid strategy. Adrian looked furious. Lucien looked broken. And Isabella… She looked focused. Very focused. That worried me. Because every time Isabella got that look lately, reality usually became everyone’s problem. The rumbling beneath the fortress slowly faded. Silence returned. For approximately five seconds. Then Isabella spoke. “Why?” The single word cut through the room. Lucien looked at her. “What?” “Why did you help him?” Nobody interrupted. It was the question everyone wanted answered. Lucien lowered his gaze.
(Isabella’s POV)Nobody spoke after Lucien’s confession.The storm outside continued to pound against the fortress, but inside the council hall, everything felt strangely still.I stared at him.The man who had guided us.Protected us.Warned us.The man who had carried centuries of secrets without ever revealing how deep they went.“I chose the wrong twin.”The words echoed in my head.“What does that mean?” I finally asked.Lucien looked tired.Not physically.Soul-deep tired.Like a man who had spent hundreds of years reliving the same mistake.For a long moment, he didn’t answer.Then he slowly sat down.The action alone startled everyone.Lucien never looked vulnerable.Never looked defeated.Yet now he looked both.“The Builder wanted balance.”His voice was quiet.Steady.Controlled.The way people spoke when discussing memories that still hurt.“The brother wanted freedom.”Nobody interrupted.The woman who looked like me had lowered her eyes.Elara looked close to tears again
(Rex’s POV)Isabella’s scream tore through the council hall.I caught her before she hit the floor.Her entire body was shaking.Not from pain.Shock.Pure, overwhelming shock.“Isabella.”Her eyes snapped open.For a second she didn’t seem to recognize where she was.The council hall.The storm.Me.Then her gaze found mine.And some of the panic eased.Only some.“What happened?” I asked quietly.She stared at me.Then at the others gathered around us.Her breathing remained uneven.The room waited.Nobody dared speak.Nobody wanted to interrupt.Finally, Isabella swallowed.And looked directly at Lucien.The moment she did, every instinct in my body sharpened.Because her expression wasn’t confused.It wasn’t fearful.It was stunned.Completely stunned.Lucien noticed too.His face tightened immediately.“What?”The single word sounded dangerous.Isabella stood slowly.I remained beside her.Close enough to catch her if she fell again.She never took her eyes off Lucien.“I saw you
(Isabella’s POV)The roar shook the entire mountain.Stone cracked somewhere beneath Blackthorn. The windows rattled violently. Dust drifted from the ceiling beams.And then—Silence.Not peaceful silence.The kind that follows an explosion.The kind where everyone is waiting to see what happens next.Nobody in the council hall moved.Nobody seemed willing to breathe.Because there was only one thought running through every mind.There were two voices.Not one.Two.The realization settled heavily over the room.The woman standing before me looked horrified.Not surprised.Not confused.Horrified.Like she had just witnessed her worst fear come true.Lucien was the first to recover.“That’s impossible.”The woman laughed bitterly.A short, broken sound.“Apparently not.”The storm outside continued raging, but it felt distant now. Small compared to what had just happened.Rex stepped closer to me.His arm brushed mine.A simple touch.A reminder that he was there.Always there.I didn
(Rex’s POV) Nobody spoke after Isabella returned. The council hall felt different now. Heavier. Like the air itself had changed. I still had a hand on her shoulder. Still felt the rapid beat of her heart beneath my palm. Whatever she had seen had shaken her. Badly. “What happened?” I asked quietly. Isabella looked at me first. Not the others. Me. For some reason, that small detail eased something tight in my chest. Then she swallowed. And said the words that immediately made the room tense. “It spoke to me.” Nobody needed to ask who. The thing beneath the mountain. The thing that had said her name. The thing that apparently thought speaking directly into people’s minds was acceptable behavior. “What did it say?” Lucien asked. Isabella looked away. Toward the storm beyond the windows. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “It said I’m the second attempt.” Silence. Then absolute silence. The kind that makes your ears ring. Adrian closed his eyes. The woman
(Isabella’s POV) “Isabella.” The voice wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. From the stone beneath my feet. From the air around me. From somewhere deep inside my own mind. The moment it spoke my name, every light in the council hall reignited. The sudden brightness made several people flinch. I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because I was listening. The voice had vanished as quickly as it appeared, but something remained. A feeling. A pull. Like an invisible thread tied somewhere behind my ribs. The woman felt it too. I knew because her face had gone completely pale. Rex immediately stepped in front of me. Protective. Always protective. His body had become a barrier between me and whatever was happening. Normally I would have argued. Not this time. Because for the first time in months, I was genuinely scared. “What opened?” Lucien demanded. The woman looked toward the floor. Toward the mountain. “The inner gate.” The words la
(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.
Silence didn’t return. It collapsed. Like the world had been holding its breath and then forgot how to breathe at all. For one impossible second, there was nothing. No sound. No movement. No time. Then everything rushed back at once. The wind slammed through the forest. The ground shuddered vi
The forest didn’t erupt into chaos. It stilled. Completely. Like every living thing had stepped back to watch. The Seeker stood a few paces away, calm and patient, as if time itself bent around its presence. Its eyes never left Isabella—not blinking, not wavering. Waiting. Rex shifted slightl
The war room filled quickly. Not with noise, but with presence. Rex stood at the head of the long stone table, shoulders squared, expression calm in a way that made everyone else straighten without being told. Kaelen took position to his right, already scanning reports brought in by scouts. Ash l







