LOGINAt least Elias’s mom hasn't written him off. Even if she can only show support in secret.
The raven came with the new year. The sleek black messengers with feathers tipped in red that were used by my clan. Nerezza crest burned into the wax, sharp enough to cut. I already knew before I cracked it open. The letter was short. My father never wasted ink. By decree of Lord Gerrard Nerezza, Lucien Nerezza is hereby struck from the line of inheritance. His name is to be erased from clan rolls. He is disowned, his assets forfeited, his rights rescinded. He is no longer recognized as heir, nor as son. Signed. Sealed. Final. I laughed. Not because it was funny, but because it was exactly what I expected. The shadows curled tighter around me, like they were laughing too. But the second letter didn’t come by bird. It came with a knock at the Ember Hills gate. I almost didn’t believe it when I saw her: my mother, Isolde, hood pulled low, cloak lined in crimson. She stepped into the hall like the stones themselves might betray her. “Lucien,” she breathed, pulling the hood back.
Snow crunched underfoot when the Hawthorne owl found me. Big, ugly bird, feathers storm gray and eyes that were far too sharp. It dropped the package into my hands, leather twine and wax seal stamped with the Hawthorne crest. I already knew what it would say. But still took it inside to read it’s contents. I tore the seal, jaw grinding, and read the decree in the firelight of the great hall. By the authority of Alpha Alaric Hawthorne, Caelum Hawthorne is hereby cast out of the pack. His exile is upheld, his name is struck from record, his privileges revoked. In his absence, Briar Maddox has been named provisional Luna and granted authority to act as future mate to the Alpha heir in the event of Caelum’s return. So decreed, so done. The words burned worse than silver. It wasn’t exile. It was replacement. My wolf snarled, and my hands clenched until the paper tore in two. Briar Maddox, Luna. The very idea of her there, in my place, my Wildfire where she should be, turned my stom
The Ember Hills castle breathed. I’d spent the last two weeks testing every theory I had, every rune Everley had ever branded into my skull, and still I kept circling back to the same impossible truth: this place wasn’t just protected by magic. It was magic. The first morning I woke here, I thought I was imagining it, the faint hum in the walls, the way the sconces flared to life as soon as Nora’s bare feet touched the stone. But the longer we stayed, the clearer it became. The castle responded to her like it had been waiting, dormant, until her fire set it alight again. And I couldn’t stop myself. Every night after the others fell asleep, I prowled through the halls with a glowstone in one hand and my notebook in the other. I pressed my palms to the walls, traced patterns in dust, whispered incantations until my voice rasped raw. The wards here weren’t passive inscriptions like Everley’s cloistered runes. They were alive. Threads of phoenix ash bound with dragonfire, woven so deep
A week. That’s all it had been since the walls of the Gauntlet cracked and the truth bled out with the fire. A week since mercenaries fell, traitors were dragged into the open, and the patriarchs spat their fury at us before storming out. And now it was over. Not the war, that was beginning. But the fragile, impossible rhythm of classes and trials and pretending that Obscura Arcanum was still a university? Done. Headmaster Arx’s announcement had been as cold as his expression. Effective immediately, Obscura Arcanum University will be closed until the spring term. Faculty review and security reassessment are necessary to ensure the safety of all individuals. Students are to return home at once. Home. The word hit like an insult. The other students scattered, dragging trunks and satchels, flocking to the gates in groups. But me? I had nowhere to go. No home waiting. No family. Aurelian House was all I’d had. And now it was being stripped bare. I stood in my room, staring at the
The chamber stank of smoke and blood. Silver bled into the cracks of the marble, mercenary corpses littering the floor, their contracts nothing but ash curling in the updraft of my fire. The mercenary threat was gone. Ended. But it didn’t feel like victory. The council was still shouting, Houses clawing at each other with words sharp enough to draw blood. Hawthorne wolves howled about betrayal, Nerezza vampires hissed about broken bloodlines, and Everley wizards accused and countered in endless spirals. No one was listening. No one trusted anyone anymore. Except us. I stood in the middle of the chaos with the Sigil burning across my collarbone, tethered to the three of them, the bond alive and thrumming through my veins. Caelum braced at my right, bruised but unboken, his wolf still pacing beneath his skin. Elias held my left, his runes sparking faintly, exhaustion shadowing his eyes, but his grip steady. Lucien leaned against me like smoke given flesh, his fangs still stained from
The stink of burned silver and wolf blood hadn’t even cleared before another voice struck the chamber. “Lucien.” My father’s voice, smooth as glass, sharp as a blade. Lord Gerrard Nerezza didn’t roar like Alaric Hawthorne. He didn’t need to. The weight of his name, his titles, his power, all of it pressed down on me like a coffin lid. He rose slowly from his place at the council table, his crimson-lined cloak trailing like spilled blood. “Enough of this farce. You will remember your station. You will remember your duty. Selina Viremont was promised to you, bound by oath, sealed in blood. And you will obey.” Gasps and murmurs rippled across the chamber. Selina, standing with the Crimson Court, lifted her chin, her smirk thin as a blade. She looked at me like I was already hers. Like Nora was nothing more than ash in the wind. It made me laugh. Not warm. Not kind. The kind of laugh that made lesser men flinch. I tilted my head back, baring my fangs, the sound rolling low and cold t






