SHADOWS OF THE PAST

Maya barely slept. Every time she closed her eyes, Ethan’s words echoed inside her head.

Your dorm room was attacked.

Students hurried between buildings carrying books while the royal guards continued their patrols.

Maya and Ethan walked side by side toward the dining hall.

“So…” Ethan yawned. “Now that I’m here, did you sleep better?”

She shook her head. “You?”

“I snored like a king.”

She laughed quietly. “I hate you.”

“I know.”

The whispers started the moment they entered the cafeteria. Maya lowered her head.

Ethan looked around the room. “Do these people ever mind their business?”

They collected breakfast and sat near one of the windows.

Before Maya could take her first bite, Ethan reached into his backpack.

“I almost forgot.” He placed an old photograph on the table between them. “You left one of your pictures at Mooncrest.”

Maya carefully picked it up. A young woman stood beneath a flowering tree. She was smiling brightly. Her long dark hair moved gently in the wind.

Maya’s chest tightened.

Standing beside her was a tall young man dressed in royal training clothes. His arm rested comfortably behind Claire’s back. He was smiling too.

Maya’s breathing slowed. “It…”

She swallowed. “It’s not mine.”

“It’s not yours?” Ethan asked.

“Yes. Ant that man looks like The Alpha King.”

Ethan nodded. “I know.”

“What does this mean?” Maya whispered.

“I don’t know.”

She looked at the building behind her mother and Damien. “I have seen this place before.”

Ethan leaned closer. “Where?”

“It’s in our history book.” she slowly pointed at the carved silver wolf above the doorway. “It’s the old royal house.”

Ethan frowned. “So, your mother was inside the royal estate.”

Maya stared at the photograph. Her grandmother had always spoken about Claire as though she had lived a simple life.

They had never been rich. So why was her mother standing inside the royal estate? And why was she smiling beside a man who looked like Alpha King Damien Blackwood?

She traced the edge of the picture with her thumb. “My grandmother never mentioned that.”

Maya looked at Claire’s smiling face again. “If my mother knew the royal family…” Her voice became quieter. “…why did I grow up with nothing?”

“My grandmother worked every day just to feed us. There were nights when she skipped dinner because she said she wasn’t hungry.”

Maya smiled sadly. “I didn’t realize until years later that she was lying.”

Ethan looked away. He remembered those days in high school.

Whenever he visited Maya’s tiny house after school, her grandmother always welcomed him with tea even when there was almost nothing left to eat.

If Claire truly had connections to the royal family… Why had nobody helped them?

The moment breakfast ended, Maya stood up. “I’m going.”

“Where are you going?”

“To see Alpha King.”

Ethan sighed. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“I need answers.”

“I’ll come with you.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Maya…”

“I think I should go alone.”

He studied her face for a moment before finally nodding. “Fine... But just this time.”

As Maya walked out of the dinning hall, Ethan searched for Old Blackwood Estate on his phone.

Dozens of pictures appeared showing the renovation that had taken place over the years. One of the images caught his attention.

His eyes narrowed “The tree…”

He enlarged the image. “It really is the royal estate,” he mused immediately saving the image.

****

Damien’s office door was half open.

Maya knocked gently.

“Come in.”

She stepped inside.

Damien stood beside the large window overlooking the academy. His hands rested behind his back. Stacks of reports covered his desk.

He turned when he heard the door close. “Maya.”

His expression softened slightly. “How are you feeling today?”

“I’m fine.”

He looked at her for a moment. “You don’t look fine.”

“I couldn’t sleep.” She reached into her bag and placed the photograph on his desk. “I found this.”

The moment Damien looked down, color drained from his face. His eyes widened.

He picked up the photograph. His thumb brushed across Claire’s smiling face. Then it moved toward the young man beside her.

For several seconds he said nothing and just stared.

“You know the man,” Maya said quietly.

Damien slowly looked up. “Where did you get it?”

“A friend found it.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

His jaw tightened. “It does.”

She met his eyes without backing down. “Were you friends with my mother?”

Damien said nothing.

“Were you family?”

Damien looked away toward the window. “It’s complicated.”

“I deserve to know.”

“Yes,” his voice became quieter. “But this isn’t the right time.”

Frustration rushed through Maya. She took a step forward. “I was attacked.”

“I know.”

“My room at Mooncrest was ransacked.”

His eyes immediately snapped back toward her. “What?”

Damien’s expression darkened.

“That means they started looking for me at Mooncrest. Please. Now is the right time to explain.”

Damien looked exhausted like a man carrying a burden that had become too heavy. “I am trying to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?”

He became silent again.

Maya’s disappointment returned. “You still don’t want to tell me.”

She picked up the photograph from his desk. “If you are not ready to tell me…” Her voice trembled slightly. “…I’ll find out myself.”

She turned and walked out.

Damien didn’t stop her. The office door closed quietly behind her. He sank into his chair.

“Claire…” he whispered.

Old memories surfaced. He remembered Claire laughing beneath blooming trees and the long conversations they had beneath the moon.

Damien’s breathing became uneven. He forced the memories away. He reached toward the drawer and brought out a sketch of Claire surrounded by silver light.

“This cannot be happening again.”

****

Maya sat alone inside her dorm room. Rain tapped gently against her window. The photograph rested beneath the desk lamp.

She looked at her mother, smiling. Claire looked happy and peaceful unlike the tired woman Maya barely remembered from childhood.

“What happened to you?” Maya whispered

She slowly turned the photograph over. She saw a faint handwriting.

“I…”

She leaned closer. The ink had almost disappeared with age but she could still read the sentence.

“I promise I will keep you safe.”

Who wrote those words? Her mother? Or the man beside her?

Another thought suddenly struck her.

If someone had promised to keep Claire safe… then Claire must have been in danger.

Maya’s heartbeat quickened.

Is her mother connected to the attack?

None of what had been happening mad sense alone. It all felt connected.

Outside, thunder rolled across the mountains. Maya looked out through the rain-covered window with determination to uncover the past, no matter what it cost.