LOGINAbegail’s POVA fire had raged in my veins since Kelvin’s hands first pinned me to the sheets. Heat licked along my skin as his body pressed into mine; urgent, hungry, as if he needed to prove something not only to me but to the whole damned world.I let him have me hard and fast, like a storm ripping through a narrow valley, and I returned him with equal ferocity. Our moans bounced off the carved wooden walls of Kael’s mansion — Kael’s. But soon, no longer.When at last we collapsed in a tangle of sweat, lips, and ragged breaths, Kelvin rolled to the side, laughing breathlessly. His laughter wasn’t light; it carried the sharp edge of triumph, the giddy madness of a man who had climbed out of the shadows and finally stolen the sun.I propped myself on one elbow and traced a fingertip across the sweat-slick planes of his chest. “You feel it, don’t you? This is ours. No more living in Kael’s shadow, no more begging for scraps. Everything he has, will be ours.”Kelvin tipped his head, a
Kelvin’s POVThe news tasted sweeter than spiced wine.Abegail’s words still throbbed in my skull as I buttoned my brother’s favorite black coat, the one Kael always wore when he wanted to seem untouchable. Tonight, it clung to me instead. My reflection in the tall mirror smirked back, mocking and satisfied. For years, Father and the others had said Kael was the only one strong enough to lead.Me?Too weak. Too timid. A shadow.Well. Tonight, the shadow would walk in Kael’s skin.I drove in silence to the meeting place the Sovereign had chosen. The forest pulsed with moonlight; damp leaves whispered beneath my boots as I strode toward the clearing. The Sovereign’s banners fluttered from the trees, black silk etched with silver claws, and the scent of burning cedar drifted on the night wind. Murmurs of men thickened ahead like a rising storm.When I stepped into the firelit hall, the elders rose like a dark tide.“Alpha Kelvin,” they thundered.Alpha.The word swelled in my chest.For
Diana’s POVThe dorm hallway still trembled with the echoes of Kael’s roar. The stones seemed to hold their breath, dust drifting down in thin streams from the ceiling. My ears rang, my chest ached, and my palms wouldn’t stop shaking.Eva clutched my arm, her knuckles bloodless. “Diana, listen to me! George, Kael’s assistant, once gave me his card. If anyone can calm him, it’s him. I’ll call him now.”Her urgency beat against the fog in my skull, but my head felt stuffed with cotton. Kael’s golden, feral eyes still burned behind my lids. The chaos. The blood. The screams, they clawed at me, dragging me back into the nightmare.Eva could call whoever she wanted, but I knew one truth: I had to go down there and stop Kael.Before I could speak, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I fumbled it out, the screen a weak glow against the too-bright hallway lights.Di.My breath caught. My twin sister.I answered in a whisper. “Di? Now is not the…”“Shut up and listen,” she hissed. Her voice was shar
Diana’s POVThough Lucien had already been flung to the ground, panic still carved into every line of his face. His face twisted in horror, a wet gagging sound tearing from his throat. His fingers clawed at his own neck, raking his skin as though invisible hands were crushing his windpipe. “Stop it!” The scream ripped from me before I could think.I lunged forward, grabbing his arms, but some unseen force hurled me back. My body slammed against the wall, stone biting into my shoulder, pain sparking down my arm like fire.The air vibrated, heavy and electric, pressing against my lungs until my teeth ached. A metallic tang flooded my mouth. Blood.Then it came.A growl, low and thunderous, rolled across the courtyard. The students closest to us froze, their whispers shattering into silence. Every head turned.Kael stepped through them.He moved like a storm given flesh; wild, unstoppable and alive. His glacier-blue eyes had liquefied into molten gold, burning with a fury that blistered
Sovereign’s POVThe morning opened on a knife-edge. A cold unease slid beneath my ribs before the sun had fully climbed the sky.I yanked open the shutters and let the pale light spill across shelves bowed with books, jars of crushed herbs, and relics filched from older ages. Dust motes swarmed in the beam like mocking spirits. My fingertips brushed familiar spines; leather warm with years, until they hit empty air.The leather-bound volume with its cracked spine should have been there. Instead the space gaped at me like a missing tooth.“No.” The word left me in pieces as I flipped volumes aside, pages whispering under my hands. My skin prickled; the air tasted faintly of iron and old paper. Panic was a bitter thing on my tongue, but I swallowed it. That book was not mere parchment and ink, it was the tether between mortality and the endlessness I craved. My late wife had given it to me before she died; without it, longevity was smoke, and the revenge I’d sworn for her would be stole
Diana’s POVEva flopped belly-first onto my bed; her hair fanned around her like a messy halo. I sat cross-legged at the mattress edge, fingertips warm from the blanket. For the first time in what felt like ages, laughter rolled through my room, shaking the air, shoving away the heaviness that had clung to us for weeks.“Oh, Goddess,” I wheezed between giggles, pressing my palm to my stomach until the laughter settled into a shaky smile. “You should’ve seen your face when you shoved Lucien, I thought he’d swallow his own tongue.”Eva slapped the blanket, nearly cackling. “You’re one to talk! Diana, you deserve an award for acting. Your eyes, your voice… you had Lucien so convinced he didn’t even glance at me twice. He was too busy drinking you in.”I bit my lip, grinning despite myself. The image of Lucien’s bewildered stare in the school garden flashed through my mind. “You think so? I felt like my hands were shaking the whole time.”“No, babe. You were flawless… the way you held you







