LOGINEve’s POV JOURNAL ENTRY: Dear father, So much has happened since you’ve been away and sometimes I wonder if maybe, just maybe in another world, I had an identity different from the daughter of a traitor, but a traitor is everything you are not to me. I write your name slowly on this page like if I rush it, it might break and so might my memories of you, I wonder if it feels the weight of you the way I do. If it understands that every word I place here is an attempt to speak to a ghost who never truly left me. They killed you on the grounds of loyalty and that to me will forever be the cruelest irony. They said you betrayed the pack, turned your back on everything sacred, they said your blood was unclean, that your death was necessary, but they never said your name the way I did or the way I do now. They never knew the way you knelt to my height so your eyes met mine, they never saw how easily you laughed around me, they never saw how kind you were because they were always lookin
Dorian’s POV Blackthorn had always been more than a place, it was on its own alive, a living breathing thing aside the drama and full blown struggle to stay alive, there was the little things that made it a home, footsteps echoing through corridors, guards trading shifts, the low murmur of council debates but tonight the halls felt held, as though the pack itself was waiting to see what I would do next but I didn’t. I turned the corner hard, my boot striking stone and there I saw Astrid, standing near her own chamber, her posture relaxed with fingers trailing lightly along the wall as though she belonged to the place by right. She turned when she sensed me. “Dorian,”she said softly, turning towards me. “You seem…restless.” “Funny,” I replied, stopping a few steps away. “I was thinking the same about you.” Her smile didn't falter, but something flickered behind her eyes, defenses sliding quietly into place. “You’ve been quite busy.” I continued in a low voice. “You are at every co
Astrid’s POVI had spent weeks and months working carefully, planting doubts like seeds, I never really settled for outright accusations, I didn’t make demands either,I just asked questions, made observations, and gave gentle reminders of history that I had twisted well enough to sound like concern. They did most of the heavy lifting, I just stayed in their midst, such gullible elders.I whispered things I knew they wanted to hear. “The forest has known no peace since she returned.” Over and over and over again and now the elders sat straight in their chairs, their conclusion inevitable…execution.They had not said it outrightly to anyone outside of the council, not even me, but it was my seed and I knew what fruit it was supposed to yield. They dressed up what they were doing as a necessity, as protection but I knew better I could feel my whole system dance in celebration, it was really working. I had endured so much to get to this point, I had smiled through too much, sat still whe
Eve’s POV I stopped shrinking when I realized the forest was still listening, it wasn’t listening the way a prey listens for danger or the way wolves listen for orders, it was listening in the way a father would listen to a child,it listened in the way the ancient listens when it recognizes its own name spoken aloud after centuries of silence.I had spent a long time trying so hard to be quiet, to be the definition of perfect for a world that would end me without baiting an eyelid I tried to stay quiet in the way I breath, the way I walked through Blackthorn, the way I walked through Blackthorn, in the way I held the power folded tightly inside my ribs like a dangerous secret, I learned early that survival depended on how little space I occupied, I existed gently, I apologized for things that were never my fault. I apologized for being cursed, I remained sorry for being alive, for appearing too much but tonight it all ended, I was totally done. The decision did not come in a blaze
Malik’s POV “We cannot afford to wait…”The words slipped through the narrow crack in the council chamber doors, I stopped mid-step, one hand still on the iron handle, my body reacting fast. The corridor was empty, torchlight trembling along stone walls smooth by centuries of decisions that had only bed people dry. They had not said it yet, but with how things moved here, you had to pay attention to every gathering, you could be the next meat they are discussing on how to kill. “For the pack’s safety,”Elder Rowan said. “I think we have indulged in uncertainty long enough.”“Indulged?” Anders scoffed quietly. “We’ve only barely survived.” Of course it had to be the two scheming elders. Another voice joined them. “I’m not sure we can still call what we are facing a curse but whatever we decide to call it we can’t deny the fact that it responds to her emotions, we have all seen it happen, patrols vanishing, magic warps and her unnecessary blacking out the other day. Whether or not sh
Eve’s POV I was on my feet before Malik reached for me, the cup in my hands shattering against the floor as it slipped from numb fingers. The sound of it breaking felt small compared to the roaring in my ears. “Eve,” Malik said sharply The bells began to ring, low and frantic peaks that set every nerve on edge. Wolves poured from doorways, half-shifted, weapons half-drawn, smoke drifted over the treetops to the north, thin and black against the grey sky. We weren’t sure it was fire but that was the safest guess we had We didnt speak as we ran, the ground felt wrong, it was warm as though it had been wounded from below. I could feel the magic long before we reached the clearing,I felt it twisting against my skin like a living thing.The patrol markers ended abruptly at the tree line, no blood or bodies, the earth was scorched in a perfect, uneven ring, the soil fused into blackened glass that cracked beneath our boots. Trees leaned away from the center as if it was recoiling, bark







