Chapter 12: The Weight Behind the Mask

~Aeron

"Lyric?!"

I spun around, hand halfway to the hilt at my hip. My heart was still hammering from the chase, the scent of blood and rot clinging to my nose like a curse. But there she stood—tall, composed, as if she hadn’t just waded into a battlefield uninvited. Her black cloak rippled in the moonlight, the obsidian clasp glinting like a dark star.

"What are you doing here?"

She smirked. "Saving your life, obviously."

I stared at her in disbelief, my breath turning to smoke in the frigid night. The trees behind her swayed as if whispering secrets I wasn’t allowed to hear.

"Who's at Obsidian now?" I demanded. "I gave you one job. Just one. And yet you disobeyed my direct order to do what? Come join me on the battlefield?"

She rolled her eyes, brushing a leaf from her shoulder. "You still haven’t thanked me for taking care of the vampires for you. They definitely will not be terrorizing the villagers anymore."

My eyes narrowed. "What did you do to them?"

She smiled—a smile far too calm for the question. "I'll never tell."

"And my men?" I growled.

She snapped her fingers.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Three bodies fell from the high branches of a pine tree not far from where we stood. Then more. All nine. My soldiers, bound in vines, unconscious but alive.

I moved past her and checked their pulses. Steady. Unharmed. Just asleep. Magical sedation, if I had to guess.

"I understand why you took out the vampires," I said, my voice tight with fury, "but why did you attack my men?"

"I wanted your attention. Something that has been... hard to get these days." She stepped closer. "So I decided to track you. And get rid of all your distractions. So I could have you all to myself."

She said it like a lover, not a lunatic.

I looked her up and down. "Let's just get these men back to Obsidian. I can't deal with you right now. Whatever it is that you are."

She pouted but obeyed. Together, we carried them one by one, and with her magic clearing a path through the woods, we made it home by dawn.

Back at Obsidian, I walked its halls like a ghost.

The palace had once been a place of pride—a stronghold carved into the cliffs of the Blackridge mountains, its spires glinting like blades in the morning sun. Now, it felt like a mausoleum for my soul.

The men recovered fast. Too fast. Another sign of Lyric’s strange breed of magic—powerful, efficient, and always tinged with something not quite… natural. I was curious to know what she was but was scared to ask. Scared that the truth would made things worse between us. Scared that the truth would make me send her away and start a war with her father—Alpha Raven’s—pack. My men, when awake, had no memory of what had happened to them. No recollection of the forest. Not even a whisper of fear. I didn’t bother them with the details of what happened and just sent them home to their families.

That night, while the world slept, I didn’t.

I slipped into the lower levels of the castle, where torchlight flickered against damp stone. Past the archives. Past the treasury. Deep into the dungeons, where a single door remained—hidden beneath a rune-sealed archway.

A warlock waited within.

He wore a hood stitched with void-thread, his fingers inked with runes from the Lost Age. A scrying mirror floated before him, its glass thick with swirling mist.

He bowed as I entered. “My Alpha. Are you ready?”

“Do it,” I said.

He murmured something in a tongue older than the bones of our kingdom.

The mist parted.

Caelum’s face appeared, shrouded in pale blue light.

“Caelum,” I said.

He inclined his head. “Alpha Aeron. To what do I owe this call?”

“I’m calling to check up on your mission.”

“She’s safe. I made sure of that. Nothing is going to happen to Eira. I’ll make sure of that.”

“You better. You know she’s the only reason why you’re in the hills of Trepidation and not here with me. So make sure she stays safe. When I’ve fully gained the trust of the people and the council—and I’m sure Kade will not be able to return and sway the public—I’ll send for her.”

There was a pause.

“Pardon my intrusion, my liege, but… why do you all hate Kade so much? Even Alpha Marius, his own father, never approved of him.”

I stared through the mirror.

“He tried to conquer the kingdom with violence. That alone is crime enough for execution. His exile was an act of mercy, not punishment.”

I stepped closer, my voice like frost.

“And I would appreciate it if you focused on protecting Eira and not on topics that don’t concern you.”

“I’m sorry, my liege. It won’t happen again.”

I said nothing more. I turned and walked away as the warlock severed the connection, the mirror vanishing into smoke.

The walk back to the upper levels was quiet. Too quiet.

Until I stepped into the front courtyard.

Three figures stood before my gates—cloaked, masked, each one taller than the last. Their masks were carved with sigils I didn’t recognize. Symbols that pulsed with strange light.

One stepped forward. His voice was like gravel wrapped in silk.

“My lord, Alpha Aeron,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. We’ve been looking for you.”