เข้าสู่ระบบSol POVEverything stopped.Aurora stood near Leo, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. Her face was pale, her eyes wide and wet with tears she was trying not to shed.She looked so young.Too young for this.Too young for bloodlines and betrayal and fathers becoming enemies.My mother gasped softly.“Aurora…”Aurora took a step back.“Is that why I was taken?”Her voice shook.“Why they hid us all, Mom?”Leo stiffened beside her, suddenly looking terrified too.I felt something inside me crack.Because in all my own pain, all my own shock, I had forgotten that they were hearing this too.Children.My siblings.Maybe not Elias’ children.Maybe John’s.Maybe something else entirely.But children, still.And now they were standing in a room full of ancient Queens and broken adults, wondering if the monster who wanted my unborn child might also be their father.My mother moved toward them instinctively.Both Leo and Aurora stepped back.The pain on her face was immediate.But she d
Sol POVFor a moment, I thought she would refuse to answer.Then she whispered, “Because that was what he asked for in exchange for his silence.”The sanctuary went completely still.Not metaphorically.The air itself stopped moving.Aella’s fingers tightened around mine.Marcus laughed once.Not with humor.With disbelief.“What?”My mother opened her eyes again, tears spilling freely.“John knew,” she whispered.The words hit me like a blade sliding between my ribs.“He knew?” Marcus asked, voice dangerously quiet.She nodded weakly.“He knew you were not his sons.”Marcus staggered backward.I did not move.I could not.“He knew about Elias?” I asked.“Not everything,” she said quickly. “Not at first. I told him I had a mate before him. I told him Elias was dangerous. I told him he could never know about you.”Marcus looked like he might be sick.“And John agreed?” I asked.My mother swallowed.“Yes.”“At a price.”Her face crumpled.“Yes.”The frozen flame inside me stirred, cold
Sol POVIt explained too much.That was the worst part.The truth should have confused me. It should have shattered the pieces of my life into something impossible to understand, but instead, the moment my mother said Elias was my father, the pieces began falling into place with brutal precision.It explained why Elias had left me alone in the cage.Not completely alone, not forgotten, but alive.Studied.Watched.Tested.He could have killed me. He had tried hurting me, tried breaking me, tried compelling me, but beneath all of that there had been something else. Curiosity. Recognition. A hesitation I had not understood at the time.Now I did.He had looked at me and seen blood.His blood.It explained why he had taken my mother hostage too.Maybe Elias had not only been using her against the King.Maybe, in his twisted mind, he had been reclaiming what he thought had been taken from him.His mate.His sons.The family he believed the world owed him.My stomach twisted violently.It
Sol POVSometimes I surprised even myself.Honestly, I should have seen this coming.All this time I had been terrified of being corrupted by power, of losing myself to the frozen flame, the Monarch authority, the void, the responsibility, the crowns forced upon my head one after another.Turns out—It was not the power I should have feared.It was blood.I carried Elias’ blood in my veins.The realization hollowed me out from the inside.The sanctuary around me blurred strangely while everyone continued speaking. I could see their mouths moving, could see Marcus pacing furiously, Hunter looking deeply uncomfortable, Pamela crying softly near Aurora and Leo.But all I heard was white noise.Static.Like my mind had simply stopped translating sound properly.Aella’s hand remained wrapped tightly around mine.I could feel her worry through the Bond, warm and constant and terrified for me, but even that felt distant somehow.Muted beneath the storm ripping through my head.I could not sp
Aella POVSol was frozen beside me.Not physically.Spiritually.I could feel the confusion and despair tearing through him across the Bond while he tried to process everything at once.The betrayal.The lies.The possibility that the man who raised him had never truly been his father.The frozen flame inside him churned violently beneath the surface, unstable in a way I had never felt before.I tightened my hold on his hands instinctively.Grounding him.Reminding him he was not alone.Marcus, on the other hand, exploded.“Say something else!”His voice echoed violently through the sanctuary halls.“There has to be more than that!”The rage rolling off him made the air itself feel heavier.His shadows lashed wildly around his feet while Leo and Aurora stared at their mother in complete shock.But I barely heard him.Because Queen Samantha’s words kept circling through my head.I met Elias when I was twenty years old.Twenty years old.Twenty-five years ago.Back when my mother Aurora
Aella POVThe slap echoed through the sanctuary halls like a thunderclap.For one horrifying second, nobody moved.Nobody breathed.Then Hunter stepped forward instantly, placing himself partially between the Queens and Sol’s mother.“Okay,” he said slowly, hands raised carefully. “Maybe we all calm down before the immortal magical royalty starts assaulting people—”Queen Genoviva lifted her hand slightly.And the world stopped.Literally.Everything froze.Marcus halted mid-step.Pamela stopped breathing.Chaos remained stuck with his mouth half open in what was probably going to become an incredibly inappropriate joke.Even the air itself seemed suspended.Only Sol and I remained capable of moving.I felt the sanctuary recognize us instantly.Its monarchs.Its rulers.Its equals.Cold spread through my body.Not fear.Instinct.Because Queen Genoviva did not look angry.She looked betrayed.The younger Queen slowly walked toward Sol’s mother while the rest of the world remained froz
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
Two months had passed since the cafeteria incident, and the hierarchy of the Imperial Tower had shifted permanently. Amelie had leaned fully into her "victim" persona, limping through the halls and wearing silk scarves to hide bruises that had long since healed. She whispered to anyone who would li
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







