Chapter 44: The Inspection

 

The dust of the Whispering Woods had barely settled when the first golden carriage of the Lycan Council appeared at the gates of the Forbidden Wing.

They didn't come alone. They brought a "Sanctity Squad"—twelve high-level trackers equipped with crystals designed to detect even a drop of corrupted magic.

"They felt the ripple," Killian said, standing by the nursery window as he watched the delegation dismount. His hand was resting on the hilt of his sword, his face a mask of cold fury. "The blast Nyx released... it was like a lighthouse in the dark."

"Can we hide it?" I asked, frantically checking Nyx's new suppressor bracelet. It was made of the same silver as before, but Vance had added a drop of Lucian’s golden blood to the core to act as a 'masking agent'.

"We don't hide it," Killian said, turning to me. "We rebrand it. If they ask about the energy, it wasn't the girl. It was me. A breakthrough in my Alpha evolution. Or a rogue witch attack that I suppressed."

"And Nyx?"

"Nyx needs to be... a toddler," Killian said, his voice softening as he looked at our daughter, who was currently trying to feed her black teddy bear a piece of plastic broccoli. "No shadows. No violet eyes. Just a princess who’s afraid of the scary old men."

---

The High Elder, a man named Silas who had always looked at Killian with a mix of fear and envy, walked into the drawing room with his trackers. The air immediately grew heavy with the hum of their detection crystals.

"Alpha King," Silas bowed, but his eyes were darting around the room like a snake. "We heard a disturbance. A massive discharge of... unorthodox energy coming from your territory."

"A rogue Coven attempted to breach my borders," Killian lied, lounging in his throne-like chair with an air of bored arrogance. "I dealt with them. My power flared during the execution. Surely the Council isn't questioning my right to defend my home?"

"Of course not," Silas said, but the crystals in his trackers' hands began to glow a faint, agitated green as they approached the children. "But the energy felt... ancient. Dark. We simply wish to ensure the Heirs haven't been affected."

Lucian, ever the little star, ran up to Silas with a bright, golden giggle. He grabbed the Elder’s robe with his sticky, glowing hands.

"Look! I made a sun!" Lucian chirped, a small orb of pure golden light dancing between his fingers.

Silas flinched, but the crystals turned a brilliant, peaceful white. "The boy is... pure," Silas muttered, clearly disappointed. "And the girl?"

My heart hammered against my ribs as I brought Nyx forward. She was wearing a fluffy white dress, looking like a literal angel. She clutched my hand, her eyes a dull, harmless blue thanks to the bracelet.

One of the trackers stepped forward, holding a large, jagged crystal inches from Nyx's face.

The crystal stayed dark.

"She seems... remarkably ordinary," the tracker reported, frowning.

"She is a Princess," Killian growled, the temperature in the room dropping. "Not a lab rat. Remove that stone from her face before I remove your hand."

Silas wasn't convinced. He knelt in front of Nyx, his eyes narrowing. "Tell me, little one. Did you see the shadows in the woods? Did they speak to you?"

Nyx looked at Silas. For a second, I saw a flicker of violet in the depths of her pupils. I held my breath.

"Shadows are scary," Nyx whispered, her lower lip trembling perfectly. She looked up at Killian. "Daddy, the mean man is scaring me."

Killian was on his feet in a heartbeat. He didn't use magic. He used his sheer, physical Alpha presence to shove Silas back.

"The inspection is over," Killian declared, his voice like grinding stones. "Get out. Before I decide that the Council is a bigger threat to my children than the Coven was."

Silas scrambled to his feet, his face pale. He looked at the dark crystals, then at the golden boy, and finally at the 'ordinary' little girl hiding behind her mother's skirts.

"Our apologies, King," Silas muttered, gesturing for his men to retreat. "We will report that the territory is... secure."

As the carriage rolled away, the silence in the room broke.

Nyx let go of my hand. Her blue eyes bled back into a deep, swirling violet.

"Mommy?" she asked, her voice returning to that eerie, calm tone.

"Yes, shadow?"

"Can I keep the shiny man’s shadow now? I caught it while he was kneeling."

She opened her tiny hand. Inside her palm, a small, wriggling piece of black silk—literal shadow-matter—was trapped. It was a piece of Silas’s soul.

Killian let out a sharp, surprised laugh, picking her up and kissing her forehead.

"Keep it, Princess," he grinned. "Consider it a souvenir for your first successful lie."

We had fooled the Council. But as I looked at the stolen shadow in my daughter's hand, I realized that Nyx wasn't just hiding from the world.

She was starting to hunt it.