LOGINKai did not mean to discover the secret. He had come to Ela's room late at night to return a book she had lent him, a old text about healing herbs that he had been studying for weeks. The door was slightly ajar, and he heard voices inside. He should have knocked. He should have walked away and come back in the morning. But something in Ela's tone made him pause. She sounded scared. She almost never sounded scared anymore. Not after everything she h
The letter had been sitting in Ela's desk drawer for months. She had taken it out sometimes, late at night when she could not sleep, and held it in her hands. The paper was soft now, worn at the edges from her fingers. The seal was broken, but she had never pulled the pages out. She had been too afraid. Her mother had died before she could read these words. Her mother had been murdered because of the secrets contained in this envelope. And Ela had kept it closed, hidden, untouched, as if not reading it would somehow keep her mother alive a little longer.The trial was over. Lukas was gone. The Shadowborn were scattered. The academy was quiet for the first time in months. Ela sat on the edge of her bed, the letter in her hands, the baby kicking softly. Nikolai was in the library with Kai, discussing patrol routes and supply line
The Council chamber was fuller than Ela had ever seen it. Every bench was occupied, every standing space filled with wolves who had come to witness the end of Lukas Brandt. Some of them had fought beside him once, before they knew what he was. Some of them had been his victims, manipulated and blackmailed and used as weapons in his war against the Volkov bloodline. Some of them were simply curious, drawn by the promise of spectacle, hungry for the sight of a powerful wolf brought low. Ela sat in the front row, her hand on her belly, the baby kicking softly. Nikolai sat beside her, his hand on her knee, his ice-blue eyes fixed on the empty chair at the center of the chamber.Lukas was brought in through the side door, flanked by four guards in silver armor. His hands were bound in front of him with chains that glowed faintly, en
The wounded came in waves. First the scouts who had run into a Shadowborn patrol near the southern border. Then the wolves who had been guarding the eastern pass, ambushed by assassins who seemed to come from nowhere. Then the civilians from a hybrid village that had been burned to the ground, their survivors carried through the academy gates on makeshift stretchers, their screams echoing off the stone walls. Ela healed them all. She healed broken bones and punctured lungs and wounds that had already begun to fester. She healed the poison from their blood and the fear from their hearts and the despair that threatened to drown them. Her hands glowed constantly now, golden light spilling from her palms like water from a spring. The baby's glow pulsed in response, stronger each day, as if the child was learning to heal alongside her.
The assassination attempt happened on the east path, the narrow trail that connected the academy to the old well. Ela walked there often when she needed to think. The trees were thick on either side, their branches heavy with snow, and the silence was deeper than anywhere else on the grounds. She had not told anyone where she was going. That was her mistake. She had grown too comfortable, too confident, too certain that the Shadowborn were too scattered to pose a real threat. The knife came out of nowhere, aimed at her belly.Sasha appeared between her and the blade without a sound. One moment he was not there. The next moment he was, his body blocking hers, his arm raised to deflect the strike. The knife sank into his shoulder instead of her stomach. He grunted, stumbled, but did not fall. His gray eyes were wild, focused, and
The red moon rose over the academy just after midnight. Ela had been sleeping, or trying to sleep, curled on her side with Nikolai's arm draped across her waist. The baby was restless, kicking and turning, keeping her half-awake even when exhaustion begged her to rest. She had felt the moon's pull for hours, a strange heaviness in her bones that she could not explain. The curse had been dormant for months. The black veins on her arms had faded to faint shadows. She had almost convinced herself that the curse was gone, that her healing power had burned it out, that she was finally free. The red moon reminded her that she was not free. She would never be free. The curse was part of her now, woven into her blood, waiting for moments like this to remind her of its existence.The pain started in her chest. A tightness, a pressure, a
The spy was caught in the archives at midnight. A young wolf named Finnian, barely seventeen, with sandy hair and a nervous smile that had always reminded Ela of a younger version of Kai. He had been part of the rebellion from the beginning. He had fought beside them in the battle against the Silencer. He had brought Ela tea when she was too exhausted to leave her room. He had asked her about Istanbul once, curious and earnest, wanting to know what the human world was like beyond the academy's walls. She had trusted him. She had liked him. And now he was kneeling in the center of the Council chamber, his hands bound with silver chains, his face pale and wet with tears.Thorne had caught him red-handed. A hidden letter, written in code, addressed to a contact in the mountains. The letter contained details about Ela's health, her
The sun rose over the academy, painting the blood-soaked courtyard in shades of gold and red. The battle was over. The wolves who had survived stood in small groups, tending to their wounds, mourning their dead, trying to understand what had just happe
The tunnels erupted into chaos. Wolves poured from every direction, their eyes glowing gold and amber and red, their teeth bared, their claws extended. The secret army had been ambushed, but they were not defeated. Not yet. Not while they still had bre
The underground chamber was hidden beneath the oldest part of the academy, a cavern that had been carved out centuries ago by wolves who believed in secrets and shadows and the power of the unseen. Ela had never been here before. She had not even known
The forest was alive with shadows. Thorne moved through them like he had been born in the darkness, his gray eyes scanning the trees, his hand resting on the knife at his belt. Ela followed close behind, her legs aching, her lungs burning, the black ve







