Elena's POV“I think someone’s playing a very dangerous game.”The air thickened between us, tense as a drawn blade. My breath slowed. I made my heartbeat even and forced my fingers to remain still, composed.If he smelled fear, he’d pounce.“I wouldn’t know,” I said softly. “I only clean floors and serve soup, Alpha.”Kairos chuckled a cold, hollow sound. The Keeper’s eyes narrowed behind him, dark and sharp like a hawk studying a cornered animal.“But the thing about games,” the Alpha murmured, circling again, “is that even pawns sometimes pretend to be queens.”He stopped behind me.“Tell me, Elia… have you ever killed anyone?”My throat went dry. “No, my lord.”“Do you want to?”"How can I, a lowly maid, kill someone."He stepped in front of me again. That same steady stare. Searching for cracks.“Do you dream?”“Yes, my lord.”“What do you dream about?”“…Peace and happiness."There was a pause. Long. He tilted his head, intrigued.“The same word again.” He glanced sideways, smil
Elena pov The morning after the escape came with no alarm bells. No pounding boots. No screaming guards. No locked-down halls. Just silence. Too much silence. Like the calm before a storm. I woke early, as expected. Dressed slower than usual. Checked every inch of my reflection twice. My wounds had scabbed over thank the gods but my hands still shook when I tied the apron. The weight of the scroll I’d hidden days ago beneath the floorboard now burned like fire beneath my bed. They hadn’t found it. Not yet. But I knew something had shifted. The castle was watching. By the time I entered the prince’s chambers, I could feel it. Tension. Subtle. Unspoken. The air was thicker. The guards at the door stood straighter. Their eyes scanned longer. Lady Dimitri wasn’t there. Which was its own kind of warning. Cael sat on the edge of his bed, feet swinging, still in his nightclothes. But when he saw me, his eyes lit up the same way they always did. “Elia!” he grinned. He jumped
Elena pov “Wait… what?” I said it aloud. The words slipped out before I could stop them, breathless, trembling, dangerous. Moirea? The boy? Cael? Eira’s voice hummed within me, not loud but steady. “You felt it, didn’t you? That thread. That strange tug in your chest when he hugged you. The way he clung to you like… like he’d known you before.” I swallowed, the weight of it falling over me like cold rain. Cael. The prince. The Alpha’s son. And yet… The softness in his eyes. The natural pull between us. The way the guards kept him hidden—almost too hidden. He had the look of Valric, sure. But there was something… else. Something wild and warm and older than the cold royalty this place wore like armor Could he really be…? “No,” I whispered. “That would mean…” "That the Alpha bred with someone of Moirea blood,” Eira finished for me. “To create a weapon. Or an anchor. Or maybe something worse.” My thoughts spiraled If Cael was Moirea… it wasn’t just political. It was
Elena’s POV That night, my sleep was anything but peaceful. It did not feel like a dream. Not truly. It felt like I was being dragged somewhere, pulled beneath the surface of my own mind into something older and colder. And vision, maybe. Or a warning. The world was cloaked in crimson. The sky didn’t move. The wind didn’t breathe. Everything was wrong. I stood in the middle of what looked like a decaying forest—trees twisted into clawed hands, roots bleeding into cracked soil. The sky above was stained blood red, pulsing slowly like a heartbeat. Something was watching me. But no one moved. Then I heard the sound. Laughter. Childlike. Soft. Creepy. I turned. And there he was. A little boy. No more than six. White hair. Pale skin. And eyes that gleamed like moonlit steel. He was carving something out of wood. Humming. And whispering to himself. "Die young. Burn bright. Die young. Burn bright." "Unless… you change the story." I took a step closer
Elena pov They ordered me to the royal dining chambers before sunrise. The moment the command came, I knew two things: 1. The Alpha would be there. 2. I was walking into the lion’s den. 3. This was a test. The slightest slip-up, I would die. I had changed my appearance before entering the castle dull blonde hair tied low, brown lenses masking my violet eyes, no makeup, no scent. I made myself look small. Plain. Forgettable. But inside, my blood pulsed like thunder. Because the man who sat at that table? He killed my mother. And I planned to kill him. The doors opened, and I was led in by a silent guard. The room was massive. Columns of black stone stretched toward the ceiling. The table was long, dark, carved from obsidian, polished like a mirror. Gold cutlery. Silver plates. Silence. At the head of the table sat Alpha Valric. The man who burned the Moirea to ash. And beside him? Cael. His little legs dangled from the seat, kicking idly until his face lit up when h
Lykan’s POV I hadn’t slept in days. Not really. I closed my eyes when I had to. I breathed when I remembered. But my mind? It never stopped spinning. The bond was quiet but not peaceful. Elena wasn’t hurt. I would’ve felt that. But something in me had shifted the moment she slipped through the night like smoke and left me behind. A part of me had gone with her. And now, it was trapped behind enemy walls, out of reach. I stood outside the main cavern at dawn, eyes trained on the thin mist rising from the valley below. That cursed castle stood in the distance like a tomb silent, stone-faced, and unknowingly preparing for its reckoning. Mira approached without speaking at first. She knew better. Then, finally “We intercepted movement at the lower ridgeline. A supply caravan. Three guards. All too calm. They’re not afraid of anything. They think we have gone cold." “They think we’re broken,” I muttered. “They don’t see what’s coming.” She nodded. “You’re right.” “I usually