Mira POV I stood by the window, my eyes fixed on the chaos unfolding in the training yard below. From here, I could see everything — Kai and Rowan lunging at each other, fists flying, grunts echoing through the castle grounds. They fought like wild animals in human skin, no sign of mercy between them. I should have been horrified, but instead, my heart fluttered with an unexpected thrill. They were tearing into each other over me. Well, not only me — over pride, over old grudges, over Lucian, over their beliefs. But I was still part of it, tangled in the web they had spun with their own hands. I crossed my arms and leaned against the cool wall beside the window, watching closely as they fought in their human forms. Neither shifted into their beasts, not yet. There was still restraint, but I could see it fraying at the edges with every punch and shove. Their faces were twisted in rage, sweat already dripping down their temples, muscles tight and strained. Guards sto
Rowan’s POV I couldn’t stop clenching my fists as we returned to the meeting hall. The tension between us was unbearable, and if not for Damien trying to hold us together, I might have already lunged at Kai again. I could see it in Kai’s eyes too. He wasn’t any calmer than before. He looked like he was ready to explode, and I wasn’t sure I could blame him. As soon as we entered, Kai barked at the guards to leave us alone. They scattered instantly, not daring to linger under the weight of his furious glare. The doors slammed shut behind them, and it was just the three of us now, standing in the vast room, the air heavy with unspoken words. Kai’s chest heaved as he paced back and forth like a caged beast. His steps were loud against the stone floor, his shoulders tense, and his jaw clenched so tightly I wondered if his teeth would crack. His eyes flicked to me every few moments, burning with accusation. I stayed where I was, my arms crossed over my chest. I wasn’t
Rowan Pov I watched Kai closely, every muscle in my body coiled with tension as I waited for him to speak. I had pushed him as far as I dared, but I knew that if he didn’t agree, if he shut this down completely, then we would lose Lucian for good. My heart pounded in my chest, tight and unrelenting. He was our brother, our blood. No matter what pride or bitterness we carried, we couldn’t let him slip away. Finally, after what felt like hours of heavy silence, Kai let out a harsh breath and gave a sharp nod. “Fine,” he growled. “We’ll try it. But not until nightfall.” Relief flooded my chest, but I swallowed it down quickly, knowing it was too soon to celebrate. Kai’s gaze was hard, unyielding, still filled with the heat of our earlier fight. His next words, cold and clipped, made it clear. “We cannot do this in the light of day,” he said. “The people must not see Lucian like that. We will move under the cover of darkness. No one can know of this. Not the coun
Rowan Pov Mira’s scream pierced the air as soon as her eyes met mine. Without wasting a second, she dashed behind a small divider in the room, grabbing for anything she could use to hide herself. I chuckled under my breath, folding my arms across my chest, my eyes still resting on the spot where she had stood just seconds ago, bathed in sunlight, her beauty seared into my memory like fire on skin. “Mira,” I called out, my tone laced with teasing amusement. “Hiding is pointless. I’ve already seen everything. Besides, you seem to forget—I’m your mate.” Her voice came back sharp and angry from behind the screen. “That doesn’t mean you’re entitled to see me like that, Rowan!” I smirked. “Oh? But you didn’t seem to mind when it was Lucian, did you?” Silence followed. For a heartbeat, I wondered if she’d pretend not to understand. But then I heard the rustle of clothes and her voice, tight but defensive. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shook my head s
Kai Pov We arrived at the shrine in dead silence, only the soft creaking of the carriage and the faint rustle of the wind filling the air. The place looked darker than I remembered, older too, like the weight of forgotten prayers had settled into its stones. I climbed down first, my boots crunching against the gravel, and then Damien and Rowan followed, carrying Lucian between them. The moment my eyes fell upon the towering shrine entrance, I felt something bitter rise in my chest. Memories of blood, betrayal, and the fall of our father came crashing back. My fists clenched at my sides, and for a second, I almost turned away. Almost. No. I swallowed the burn in my throat, forcing my feet forward. Whatever history I had with this place, whatever scars, it wasn’t about me now. It was about Lucian. My brother. My blood. And I was ready to face any demon, even if it wore the face of the moon goddess herself. Rowan was ahead, always eager. He stopped one of the dis
Kai’s Pov The first light of dawn stretched across the sky, yet my mind found no peace in its arrival. I stood on the balcony of my chamber, pacing back and forth like a caged beast. I hadn’t slept, not even for a heartbeat. I couldn’t. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was Lucian—my brother—helpless, pale, barely clinging to life. The memory of him lying there, weak and bound by forces I could neither see nor fight, gnawed at my heart. I hated it. I hated that I had allowed Rowan to convince me to bring him to that cursed shrine. I raked my hands through my hair, dragging in a sharp breath as the bitter taste of regret coated my tongue. “Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, pacing faster. What if history repeated itself? What if I watched another family member slip away, helpless to stop it? The thought tightened like a noose around my neck. Before my mind could spiral further, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned sharply to see Damien entering, his face c
Mira POV The moment I stepped into their presence, I could feel it—like the weight of a storm cloud pressing down on my chest. The air was thick with tension, and my instincts told me it could only be about one thing: Lucian. I swallowed hard, my throat feeling like sandpaper. My heart twisted painfully inside my chest, a strange contradiction tearing at me. I should have been rejoicing at their misfortune, reveling in their suffering, but all I felt was a deep, unsettling ache. Why did it hurt so much to see them like this? They were my enemies, weren’t they? My targets. The ones who took my mother’s life, the ones my father had cursed since the day I could understand words. I came to this castle with the sole purpose of destroying them, of making them bleed from within, and yet… here I was, feeling my chest tighten at the thought of Lucian’s pain.Why do I have to feel this way towards the people I should hate with all of me? When Kai asked me about the shrine,
Kai pov I felt like my entire world was tilting beneath my feet. Councilman Ryker’s words echoed in my mind, loud and jarring. Witches… do not exist. It felt like a death sentence. But I wasn’t ready to let this rest. No, I needed to know every single detail. My chest tightened as I forced the words from my throat. “Explain,” I ordered him, my voice rougher than I intended. “Tell me everything, Councilman. Every word.” He nodded, his expression grim. His eyes carried exhaustion, the look of a man who had not only traveled far but had returned with burdens heavier than any physical weight. “When I arrived at Darkfire,” Ryker began, “it wasn’t the old King who greeted me. The old king was dead.” He paused, giving the room a moment to absorb this unexpected news. “His son had ascended the throne. Young but sharp.” I clenched my fists at my sides, grinding my teeth in frustration. Another complication. Another dead end. Ryker continued, his voice steady, though
Mira POV When I arrived at the shrine, I immediately knew something was different.The courtyard was crowded, more than I’d ever seen it. People were pouring in through the arched gates, their footsteps fast yet quiet, their heads bowed as though afraid to lift their eyes. Some clutched prayer beads, others held burning candles. A few sobbed quietly as they moved toward the inner sanctum.I stepped aside as a woman passed me, dragging two small children behind her. One of them looked up at me, his eyes swollen from crying. My heart twisted painfully.I made my way inside and found the head priestess, her wrinkled face lined even deeper than usual.“What’s going on?” I asked softly, trying not to let the heavy tension around us suffocate my voice.She turned to me with a tired expression. “The people are afraid,” she said, clasping her hands together. “Since the massacre… the castle guards, the bloodshed… word has spread.”I frowned. “Word?”The priestess nodded. “About the wit
Mira POV Two days later…I woke up before the sun had risen, the castle still blanketed in silence. For once, I didn’t wait for Adela or any of the handmaids to come in. I slipped out of bed, walked barefoot to the bath chamber, and poured myself a cold shower. The icy water hit my skin like a slap, but I welcomed it. I needed the numbness. My mind had been anything but still for the past two days.I couldn’t stop thinking about the massacre—the way the blood had soaked into the stone floors, the way the guards’ lifeless bodies had been carried away one by one. And the families… Gods, the families. They had gathered outside the castle gates yesterday, their wails cutting through the air like blades. Some had thrown stones, others had just fallen to their knees, begging for answers. Begging for justice.I stayed in the shower longer than necessary, hoping the water would wash away the unease churning inside me. It didn’t. When I stepped out, I dried myself quickly and dressed
Mira POVI sat quietly in the carriage beside Damien, the steady rhythm of the wheels rolling over the rugged trail doing little to ease the storm brewing inside me. The sun was still rising in the sky, casting golden beams through the trees, but my heart felt too heavy to appreciate any of it. We were heading to the place where Benard Sawyer was meant to be executed years ago. Damien sat across from me, flipping through an old parchment from the archives, but I knew we were both thinking about more than just the past.The silence stretched between us until I finally broke it.“How’s Lucian doing?” I asked, not looking at him. I didn’t know why I needed to know so badly. Maybe because the thought of losing him clawed painfully at the inside of my chest.Damien looked up at me, his expression shifting to something solemn. “He’s hanging on,” he said softly.“But not for long. The disciple told me the only thing that could really save him is complete faith—from the three of us.”I
Kai POVThe air was tense as we stormed toward Councilman Baylor’s chambers. I walked beside Rowan with six guards behind us, all alert and on edge. Damien and Mira had taken off earlier to the execution site where Benard Sawyer was once meant to die. I hoped they’d find something useful. But right now, our focus was Councilman Baylor.Rowan kept glancing at me as we moved through the corridor. “What if he’s already done it?” he asked, low but urgent. “What if he’s already summoned them?”I didn’t need to ask who he meant. “Then we’ll be too late,” I said. “But we can’t think like that. We have to act before they arrive.”Rowan didn’t speak again, but his jaw tightened. He knew as well as I did that there was no defense against witches—not unless we were prepared. And we weren’t. Not yet.When we arrived at Baylor’s chambers, they were eerily quiet. The guards took position at the doors while Rowan and I pushed inside. The room was dim, the curtains drawn, the fire out. It felt li
Mira POV I shifted another stack of scrolls and sighed. Damien’s secret archive was packed from floor to ceiling with books, dusty records, and ancient parchments. I could barely breathe from all the dust in the air, but I wasn’t going to stop. Kai and I had been digging through everything for nearly an hour now, trying to find anything about Councilman Benard Sawyer’s execution—the date, the place, even a small mention of it would be something. The deeper we dug, the more suspicious everything became.I glanced at Kai as he skimmed through a thick record book. “You really don’t know the date?” I teased, a half-smirk curling my lips. “Didn’t you grow up as your father’s little pet? Always at his feet, watching him rule?”Kai looked up sharply. “I wasn’t his pet,” he said, a bit defensive. “I did more than attend his meetings and parties. I trained with Rowan, built things with Damien… I even tried my hand at hunting once.”“Except Lucian,” I said quietly, flipping through a b
Damien POV I stood in my workshop, watching Adela as she sat nervously on the chair placed directly in front of the table. She looked lost, confused, and so much younger than her years. Rowan leaned against the wall by the door, arms crossed, watching with scepticism written all over his face.“I still think this is a waste of time,” Rowan muttered for the tenth time.“And I think you’re not helping,” I shot back without looking at him. I couldn’t afford distractions. Adela needed to remember, and fast.We had no idea what Councilman Baylor had done to her — only that her memories of the amulet, of everything she had learned, were gone. But I had a theory. If magic could block her mind, then science could trigger it back.“Alright, Adela,” I said softly, pulling a few paintings from the nearby cabinet. “Let’s start simple. Do you recognize these?”I spread portraits of the councilmen across the table. Some old, some new. Among them was Baylor’s.Adela leaned forward, squinting at
Mira POV I wiped my face quickly, my fingers trembling. I had cried enough. I knew now—there was no running from what the moon goddess had given me. My destiny wasn’t about revenge. It wasn’t about the hatred I carried or the love I feared. It was bigger than me. And no amount of heartbreak could be allowed to break me.I took a deep breath and stood up. My legs felt weak, but I forced them to move. No more hiding. No more letting my pain trap me. If I was truly meant to bridge the worlds—to heal what had been broken—I had to be stronger than this.When I stepped out of my chamber, the sunlight almost blinded me. It felt foreign against my skin, like I had been locked away in the darkness for too long. I shielded my eyes and headed straight to the courtyard, the place where everyone seemed to gather when something important happened.As I approached, I noticed Kai. He was standing there, as if waiting for me, his arms folded stiffly across his chest. His eyes softened when he
Mira’s POVI couldn’t believe what I’d just seen.Lucian. My mate. Lying unconscious on a bed hidden in the shrine. All this time, they’d kept it from me—every single one of them. Even Damien, who I’d come to trust more than I thought I would. The sight of Lucian’s motionless body sent something cold and aching straight through my chest. And then to hear them… Damien and the disciple, talking like I was never supposed to know. Like I wasn’t even part of this.The betrayal tasted like ash in my mouth.I stormed out of the room, my vision blurring with tears. I could hear Damien calling after me, his boots slapping the stone floors of the shrine, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. If I turned back, if I let him catch up to me, I might break completely.“Mira! Please, just listen!”“Don’t!” I snapped, spinning on my heel just as I reached the carriage. “Don’t you dare speak to me!”He stopped short, his chest rising and falling with effort. The look in his eyes was soft—regretful. But
Mira POV I stood in the courtyard, surrounded by the soft murmurs of the guards and the quiet tension that buzzed in the air like a taut string waiting to snap. Everyone was waiting for Adela to return. The amulet swap needed to happen perfectly, silently. One wrong move and Councilman Baylor would vanish into the shadows like smoke. We had one chance to use his connection to the witches to find them, and I couldn’t shake the anxiety tightening around my chest.Adela was brave, no doubt, but this was different. Dangerous. I tried to keep a calm expression as I stood beside Kai, Damien, and Rowan, but my thoughts were far from steady. My mind kept drifting back to the voice I heard last night. The moon goddess. Her words still echoed in my head like a steady drumbeat.You were born for this.The weight of her voice still lingered in my chest. Heavier than armor. More binding than any promise.If I was truly the bridge between the three factions, then I had to start walking that