INICIAR SESIÓNMy mouth was too dry to get any words out, so I nodded instead. In the tiny image, I saw something that made my skin crawl. A woman was being held between two guards. At the exact moment the camera captured the timestamped photo, the woman's face was turned toward the lens. I was staring into the face of Lyanna's mother. She hadn't made it out then, or perhaps she had and the royals had managed to track her down again. Either way, the date on the video made it clear that whatever was on the clip had taken place about a week ago. I pointed at the screen and swallowed hard. "Play that. I need to see what's going on."Valerian pulled up the clip and hit play. The moment the video started, the air rushed out of my lungs. I'd been right. Gabriella was being hauled down a hallway by two large men. "Is there audio?" I snapped. "Turn it up."A second later, I could hear her cursing at the guards. Gabriella twisted and yanked at her arms, but the two men had iron grips on her wrists and forear
Sinthy took our hands just like before, and I braced myself. The last trip was still fresh in my memory, and I was afraid it would be even worse the second time around, but when we teleported on this occasion, it wasn't as rough. It wasn't pleasant by any stretch. I still felt as though I'd been sucked through a vacuum cleaner, but when I opened my eyes inside the bedroom we'd left a couple of hours earlier, I didn't feel the urge to be sick. Lyanna looked a little lightheaded, but all things considered, it was a far more bearable experience than the first time."Is everyone feeling alright?" Sinthy asked.I let go of her hand and rubbed my face. "As well as I can be. That wasn't too bad."The witch smiled. "It gets easier every time."From downstairs, the sound of voices drifted up. From what I could make out, quite a few people were down there. They'd want to know everything that had taken place. "Sinthy, I'd like to introduce you to everyone. I know you've been through a great deal
We let Sinthy spend some time with Isme. I was too emotionally drained to do anything more than sit there, listening to the woman weep for the second mother she had lost. Leo placed an arm around my shoulders, and I gazed down at the vial resting in my palm. It felt tiny and delicate. Nothing about it appeared to matter. How could the whole world be losing its mind over something so small and unimportant? A little piece of glass, some blood from a man long dead, and a small cork and wax seal. Nothing beyond that. Even so, as tiny as it was, I could almost sense the power inside it pushing and straining to break free.Sinthy finally got to her feet and turned toward us, wiping her eyes once more. "I'm… umm… I had her resting place prepared a couple of days before I met you. Once the magic barrier was broken, she knew her time was running out. I'm going to take her to be laid to rest.""Where will you take her?" I asked, my lips feeling almost numb."To her home. Her very first home. Th
Sitting there, letting Isme’s words fade away, I thought about how little we had actually understood. Every tale we had heard as kids had turned out to be false. Edemas had always been painted as a creature of terror and dread. Shifters would often warn naughty children to behave, or else Edemas might crawl out from under the bed and come after them. He was the boogeyman. Something to be feared. Now it was obvious he had simply been a strong, proud, and stubborn man. A man who had loved his wife and children so deeply that losing them had pushed him into madness with grief. He hadn’t been a monster at all. He had just been a father and husband who was driven to the brink by a jealous family. It was almost too much to absorb.“I do have the vial,” Isme said, her face a mask of… what? Embarrassment? “The scavenger hunt part to find it was not my idea, but Edemas’s. He wanted it to be hard for his descendants. He said if it was difficult for them, it would be impossible for the royals. I
Suddenly, crude high-school jokes flooded my mind, girls laughing about using turkey basters to get pregnant. My jaw dropped open. “Are you serious?” I asked.Isme nodded calmly. “We crafted a very simple syringe-like device and used it to place Edemas’s semen inside his chosen surrogate. She was a high-ranking shifter in his pack, and everyone believed she’d have the greatest chance of producing an alpha. But miracles do happen. While we were still testing the method, Helena became pregnant again. This time the child was a girl. A female, but an alpha. Almost unheard of. Edemas was stunned but overjoyed. He adored his wife and his son, but this baby, Lillian, became the light of his life. She was declared the crown princess, the firstborn alpha of Edemas.”My wolf stirred and let out a soft whine at the sound of the name. Isme looked at me with a gentle smile. Could she sense my wolf? After all these centuries, was there still some thread connecting her to the woman who had helped br
“He was indeed. If you’ve never witnessed a werewolf in full battle, it’s… well, let’s just say it’s utterly terrifying. Edemas escorted us safely the rest of the way home. When the king and queen heard our account of the attack, they were profoundly grateful. They offered him a position on the royal staff, as Helena’s personal head of security. He laughed right in their faces. He was an alpha, he told them, a leader of shifters and essentially a king in his own domain. He would not kneel or serve as a mere employee of the royal family.” Isme gave a small shake of her head. “I could have warned them that would be his response. The king took it in stride but was still clearly disappointed. After that, there was scarcely any contact between Helena and Edemas. The old king passed away a year later from a blood fever. I tried everything in my power, but I couldn’t save him. The queen followed two years after, from what I’m certain was influenza. Despite the royal physicians doing all they
I gestured toward the sleeping quarters. “Lyanna, grab your stuff. Let's go.”Before she could even head for the room, Kenneth leaped from his seat and backed himself against the main entrance. He yanked a pistol from his coat and pointed it in our direction. “You aren't going,” he stated. The sno
My yell was still echoing throughout the house. My gaze was fixed on Kenneth’s corpse. All I could focus on was the massive pool of crimson leaking from his head. He was gone. Just like that. One moment, he was breathing and conversing with me. The next, he was just gone.I was trembling violently
I dug my fingers into my biceps, gripping and squeezing, trying to rub away the strange sensation that had lingered for days. It didn’t help. Ever since I claimed Lyanna, it felt like I was about to tear straight out of my own skin. All I could do was hold myself together and hope no one noticed or
I cradled her for several hours. The agony she endured must have been fierce. She shifted between shivering and burning up. There were screams, followed by hissing breaths drawn through clenched teeth. I moved her to the bathroom so she could purge. I was becoming concerned that a hospital visit mi







