LOGINKIAN POV"Marcus is stable, but it was close. Silver again, aimed with the same precision that nearly killed you weeks ago."The healer delivered the update wearily, having spent the last several hours moving between wounded across two separate medical tents, and I absorbed the news with the particular numbness that came from having simply run out of capacity for more fear tonight."And Ren," I asked, though some cold certainty already told me the answer wouldn't be good."Nothing," Silas said grimly, entering the tent with a tablet full of grainy security footage. "We found this, though. Timestamped right before the lights went out."The footage showed Ren moving through a side corridor, alone, and then a figure emerging from the shadows to intercept her, too brief and too dark to identify clearly. The two exchanged words I couldn't make out, and then Ren followed the figure willingly through a service door, no visible coercion in her posture at all."She went with them voluntarily,"
ELIRA POV"I can't see her. Kian, I can't see her in this dark."The heat beneath my skin flared brighter in response to the fear, an instinct I didn't fully understand yet but trusted anyway, and the glow rising from my own hands cast enough light to cut through the smoke immediately around us."There," Kian said, pointing toward a shape moving low and fast near the shattered windows, Isolde's silhouette unmistakable even in the chaos.I moved toward her without hesitation, every ounce of fear from the last month, the last four years, the last eighteen years, finally condensing into something I could use instead of something that used me.Isolde turned to face me as I approached, and for the first time since the warehouse, I saw genuine uncertainty behind her composure."You've grown into it faster than I expected," she said, eyeing the light still radiating from my skin. "Your mother never fully claimed her power. She was too frightened of what it made her.""I'm not my mother," I s
KIAN POV"Wren!"Elira's scream cut through the darkness, raw with a terror I felt mirrored in my own chest, and I moved on pure instinct, tracking sound and scent through the chaos toward the dressing room where Priya had taken the twins for safety.Emergency lighting flickered on along the hall's edges, dim red emergency strips barely cutting through the smoke, enough to reveal shapes moving with purpose through the fleeing crowd. Not guests. Not Silas's people. Isolde's soldiers, moving in a coordinated sweep toward the same corridor I was racing down.I reached the dressing room door half a second before two of them did, and the fight that followed was fast, brutal, and entirely without mercy on either side. I put the first man down with a broken arm and a knee to the ribs. The second nearly got a blade past my guard before Silas arrived at my back, taking him down from behind with the kind of economy only decades of pack combat could teach."Priya!" I shouted through the splinter
KIAN POV"Get down!"I was moving before the last shard of stained glass hit the floor, closing the distance to Elira in three desperate strides as chaos erupted through the ceremonial hall. The air exploded into a dense fog of grey and copper as smoke grenades hissed along the eastern and western entrances. Guests scrambled over overturned chairs and tailored garments, screaming as a sacred moment shattered into an absolute warzone in the space of a single, violent breath.Silas's voice tore through the comm unit pinned against my jaw, sharp with adrenaline. "Multiple breach points, east and west perimeter! Marcus's aerial team is engaging hostiles along the upper ridge, but they're coming in heavy! Kian, this isn't a random raid—this is fully coordinated, exactly like Renar warned us."I reached Elira, tackling her down behind a heavy, overturned oak pew and shielding her body with my own as a high-caliber volley cracked through the upper mezzanine. Plaster and splintered timber rai
ELIRA POV"Hold still. If you keep fidgeting, this veil is going to end up somewhere near your left ear instead of where it belongs."Priya's voice carried equal parts affection and exasperation as she adjusted the delicate fabric, and I forced myself to still despite the nervous energy thrumming beneath my skin."I've faced assassins, conspiracies, and an entire pack council without this much anxiety," I admitted, studying my reflection in the mirror of the small dressing room adjoining the ceremony hall."Assassins don't require small talk with in laws," Priya said, deadpan enough that I laughed despite myself. "There's a reason weddings terrify grown adults who've survived actual warfare."Selene entered a moment later, elegant in deep blue, carrying herself with a composure that still occasionally slipped to reveal the depth of everything she'd survived to stand here at all. "Security's confirmed. Marcus's aerial coverage is in place. Silas has doubled the ground perimeter." She s
KIAN POV"Renar's intelligence checks out. Isolde's been meeting with delegations from at least three territories in the last ten days."Silas spread a fresh set of documents across the war table, and I felt the familiar cold weight of dread settle over the room as everyone absorbed the implications."Which territories," I asked."Vask, unsurprisingly, given Dorian's history with us. Kestrel Hollow, further north. And one I didn't expect." Silas hesitated. "Ren Achara's own extended family holdings, on her mother's side. Not the King's direct territory, but close enough to raise uncomfortable questions."I felt something twist sharply in my chest. "You think Ren's compromised.""I think we need to ask her directly, rather than assume either way," Silas said. "She's earned trust the hard way this past month. I'm not willing to throw that away on a family connection she may have no control over. But I'm also not willing to ignore it."Elira, seated across the table with a fierce concent







