로그인~KAIROS’ POV~The palace felt dead.Not quiet. Not peaceful. Just… empty. Like something inside it had already died.I walked through the long stone halls, my boots hitting the floor in slow, heavy steps. The sound echoed too loudly, like the walls were listening. Every servant I passed lowered their head so fast it almost looked painful. None of them dared to look at me.They were scared.They had seen me in the arena. They had heard me roar. They had watched me stand against the High Priest like I had nothing to lose.But I didn’t want fear.I wanted answers.I stopped a young Omega maid carrying a basket of laundry. The moment I stepped in front of her, she froze. The basket shook so badly I thought it would fall from her hands.“The night before the trial,” I said, keeping my voice low. Steady. Controlled. “Did you see anyone near the High Temple? Any visitors? Healers?”“N-no, Alpha,” she stuttered, her fingers tightening around the cloth. “The Temple was forbidden. No one would
~GENEVIEVE’S POV~I wanted to scream until my lungs bled out.I was here pacing in the hall of the North Wing, my breathing was rough and uneven, like I couldn’t even get enough air no matter how hard I tried to fucking breathe!And my beautiful blue silk gown, the one that was supposed to be my victory dress, was now damp with sweat and dust. When I looked down at the hem, I saw a smear of dirt from the arena, clinging like a reminder of everything that had gone wrong.Of my failure!"I am supposed to be wearing a crown right now!" I hissed with my already cracked voice. "I should be sitting at a banquet, listening to the Council call me Luna. But instead, I’m here…here hiding in a hallway like a common thief!"High Priest Malphas was standing by the window, his face was a color of a dead man's skin. He wasn't the arrogant and untouchable holy man anymore. He was now actually shaking. Every time a floorboard made a sound, he jumped like a scared rabbit."You said she would die!" I t
~KAIROS’ POV~“Move!” Kael’s voice cracked, raw and desperate. He kept hitting Elara’s chest, over and over, his hands trembling and his face drenched in tears.“Elara, please breathe. Don’t do this. Don’t leave me here.”I pushed him aside, harder than I meant to actually. But I didn’t care if he hated me for it. Nothing else mattered right now.I pulled Elara into my lap, holding her like if I let go, she’d disappear. My burnt hands stung as I lifted her face, but I barely registered the pain.She was cold… so cold it scared me.Not the kind of cold from the night air, this was different. Like the mirror had drained the last trace of warmth out of her body.I swallowed, my chest tightening as I stared down at her.“Why……why do you even care so much about a girl everyone calls useless?”I looked up. Genevieve stood at the edge of the arena, her blue silk gown catching the sunlight. She looked beautiful, but her eyes… they were full of something ugly and cold."She’s an Omega, for fu
~KAIROS’ POV~The bond in my chest didn't just hurt anymore. It snapped.I stood there, staring through the glass. Elara’s hand slammed against the mirror. I saw it clearly. The dark shadows, thick and oily, slid up around her neck like a snake. They tightened. Slow and cruel. Squeezing the breath out of her.And when she whispered my name… it wasn't a sound, it was a scream inside my soul.I didn't think. I didn't care about the Council or the law.A roar ripped out of my chest. It sounded wild. Raw. More wolf than man.Then I jumped. I didn't use the stairs. I didn’t even look at them. I leaped straight from the royal box. Twenty feet down. The wind rushed past my ears before my boots smashed into the dirt of the arena.The landing shook my whole body. My injured shoulder screamed in pain.But it didn’t matter.That pain was nothing compared to the fire burning in my gut."Kairos! Stop!" High Priest Malphas shouted, stepping into my path. He held up his silver staff, his face tigh
~ELARA’S POV~The air inside the Labyrinth of Mirrors was ice cold. It didn’t smell like the arena anymore. The scent had changed. Now it smelled like wet dirt and old graves that had been forgotten for years.I stood in the middle of the maze. My hand shook as I slowly reached toward the silver crown resting on the pedestal. This was the moment. One touch. That was all it would take. Then I would become the Luna of the Dual Throne. The woman who saved her people.But my hand stopped.I couldn’t move at all.Because in the mirror behind the crown, I wasn’t seeing my own face. I was staring at a woman with long dark hair and eyes that looked just like mine.“Mother?” I whispered. My voice came out soft and weak, like a little girl lost somewhere deep in the woods.She wasn’t dead.Inside the glass, she was alive. She sat on a cold stone floor, her wrists chained to the wall behind her. She looked so thin. Her cheeks were hollow and pale. Slowly, she lifted her hand and reached towar
~ELARA’S POV~The silver bars of my cell didn’t only lock me inside. They hummed. A low, steady vibration that crawled under my skin. The sound pressed against my shadows like invisible hands squeezing tight around their throats.I sat on the cold stone floor. My back against the wall. My fingers curled in my lap.My breath kept catching.A thin line of dawn slipped through the tiny window high above me. Pale light crept slowly across the floor like it was scared to come inside.Today was the day.Today I would walk out of this cell as a Queen… or I wouldn’t walk out at all.The iron door groaned open. I braced myself, expecting guards. But the face that stepped through made my chest jump.“Lila?” I whispered, pushing myself to my feet.She rushed toward me at once. Her eyes were swollen and red like she had cried all night. In her arms she carried a plain white tunic made of rough linen. Her hands shook so badly the fabric almost slipped from her grip.“I begged the head cook,” Lil







