Mag-log inThat night, the Silver Tower penthouse was alive with the glow of data and the thrill of a hunt. I had ended the seminar with a final, high-stakes bait.
"I’ve given you the rules of the Acting Method," I told the hundreds of faces on the screen. "Now, here is the final challenge for the term. Find out exactly who I am—my history, my origins, every bridge I’ve burned and every one I’ve built. The first person to bring me my own complete dossier will be offered a permanent position onSol POVI trained harder than I ever had before.Not because I wanted to improve.Because I couldn’t stand still.Because the longer Aella was gone, the harder it became to ignore the pull of the bond, the quiet, muted connection that reminded me she was still there… just out of reach.Ten hours.More than ten hours.Time had stopped outside, but not for me.Not in here.Every second stretched, heavy and relentless, pressing against my patience until it cracked.I pushed myself harder.Meditation. Reading. Repeating the same exercises over and over until my mind stopped fighting me and started listening.But it wasn’t enough.It didn’t feel like enough.The bond flickered faintly again.Distant.Muted.Still there.At least she was still there.I exhaled slowly and stood, running a hand through my hair before turning toward Order.“Can you get me a book?” I asked, my voice rougher than I intended. “Something that teaches me how to match Aella’s power.”The words sat heavy between us.
Sol POVI stayed seated in front of the path, staring at it as if I could force it to give her back.Then the books dropped.Not gently. Not by accident. They hit the ground in front of me with purpose, the sound echoing through the library like a challenge thrown at my feet. I didn’t need to look up to know who had done it.“Your Majesty,” Order said calmly.I closed my eyes for a second, already feeling my patience thinning.“Wouldn’t it be a better use of your time to learn something and better yourself instead of moping around while you wait for Queen Aella to return?”My jaw tightened as I opened my eyes and looked at him.“Moping?” I repeated, my voice low.Chaos snorted from somewhere behind him. “Oh, he’s definitely moping.”I ignored him and looked down at the books. Their titles stared back at me, heavy with meaning I didn’t want to admit I needed.Advanced Realm Stabilization. Path Forging and Sovereign Access. Soul Gate Theory. Power Integration and Identity Recognition.S
Sol POVAella was gone.At first, it didn’t register as something wrong.A few minutes passed, and I stood where she had left me, staring at the path that had swallowed her whole. The barrier still pulsed faintly in front of me, solid and unmoving, as if nothing had happened at all.I told myself it was part of the process.Another step.Another test.She would be back.She always came back.Minutes stretched.I shifted my weight.Looked at the board again.At the empty space where she had been.Still nothing.Then minutes became longer than they should have.The silence changed.It wasn’t quiet anymore.It was absence.I felt it before I admitted it.Through the bond.The connection between us that had grown stronger with everything we had faced—It wasn’t gone.But it was… distant.Muted.Like trying to hear her through layers of something I couldn’t reach through.My chest tightened.No.That wasn’t right.“Aella?”No answer.Of course not.She wasn’t here.I took a step toward the
Aella POVThe difference struck immediately.“The sanctuary grants structure. Balance. Alignment.”Not hunger.Not expansion.Not endless possibility.It held.It didn’t consume.I nodded slowly.“So giving someone access there… doesn’t change them the same way.”“It may elevate them,” she said. “Refine them. Stabilize them.”A pause.“But it does not twist them.”That mattered.More than I had realized.I looked at my hands again.At everything I now understood.This wasn’t about whether I could remove access.I could.This was about what I left behind when I gave it.The mark.The fragment.The influence.The potential consequences walking out into the world with them.“I see the difference now,” I said quietly.She studied me.“Then tell me.”I lifted my gaze.“If I give someone access to the sanctuary,” I said, “I’m letting them step into something structured. Something that holds them.”“That’s why the shadows hesitated with Elias… isn’t it?”The realization came slowly, but once
Aella POV“How do I use the door?”The question left me quieter this time.Not desperate.Focused.Because I wasn’t asking how to escape anymore.I was asking how to rule.My essence watched me for a moment, as if measuring whether I was truly ready for the answer.Then she nodded once.“This is a portal, Aella.”The clearing shifted faintly, the shimmering air settling into something more deliberate, more structured—like the place itself was listening now.“And you,” she continued, “are its key.”I stilled.Her gaze sharpened.“To grant access, you must infuse a drop of your power into those you deem worthy.”The words settled slowly.Deliberately.A mark.A choice.A piece of me… given.My hand tightened slightly.“And that’s how they enter?” I asked.“Yes.”Her voice softened, but the weight of what she was saying did not.“They will carry your power within them. A fragment. A recognition.”I exhaled slowly.“And that’s enough?”“It is not just enough,” she said. “It is binding.”T
Aella POV“How do I allow access?” I asked.My voice sounded smaller than I expected in a place that reflected everything I was.“How do I choose who gets in and who doesn’t?”The question echoed through the clearing, carried on glittering air and the quiet hum of something ancient watching me decide.“Would that make me as bad as the ones who banished Elias in the first place?”The words came faster now.Sharper.More honest.“Will I be the one who creates the next great villain because of my actions?”Silence followed.Not empty.Waiting.My essence didn’t answer immediately.She stepped closer instead, her presence calm, steady—unchanged by the weight of what I had just said.“You are asking the right questions,” she said at last.That wasn’t comforting.“That doesn’t answer anything.”“No,” she agreed. “It doesn’t.”Her gaze held mine, unwavering.“Because there is no answer that removes the risk.”The clearing dimmed slightly, as if acknowledging the truth.“You will choose who e
The arena was a theater of carnage. Maxwell stood on the sands, his chest heaving, his wolf pushing so hard against his skin that his eyes were a constant, unstable amber. Sol stood opposite him, calm and immovable. Before the first blow was struck, Pamela stepped onto the lower ridge of the stand
The middle of the day was a grueling marathon of mental gymnastics. Finance Class was a joke; I ended up correcting the professor's tax-haven models while Sol watched with a smirk that said he’d already moved his gold to my recommended accounts. Theater was even more surreal—the "Acting Method" was
The walk to the first class was an exercise in power. We weren't just students moving through a hallway; we were a parade of apex predators. The King and Alpha Linus led the way, their presence so overwhelming that other students—including several Alphas from the lower towers—literally backed into
The Academy was silent, the stone corridors lit only by the flickering glow of ancient torches and modern security beams. At precisely 22:00, the heavy iron doors of the Sovereign Training Chamber groaned open. The air inside was different—colder, pressurized. Linus stood in the center of the mas







