LOGINElara POVI used to think history was quiet.Dust. Stone. Names carved so deep into time they no longer bled. I was wrong.History screamed.Maelis led me through a narrow passage beneath the western wing of the palace, far from court halls and listening ears. The walls were raw stone here, not polished marble. Old. Forgotten. Torches burned low, their flames steady, as if even fire had learned to keep secrets in this place.“You shouldn’t be down here,” I said softly.Maelis didn’t slow. “Neither should the truth.”Behind us, Kael followed in silence. Not looming. Not commanding. Just present. His awareness brushed the back of my neck like a warning and a promise all at once.We stopped before a heavy iron door marked with symbols I didn’t recognize, but my mark did.It pulsed once. Hard.The beat went straight through my bones, like a second heart knocking from inside my chest.I sucked in a breath.Maelis noticed. Her steps faltered for the first time since I’d met her. “It reacts
Elara POVThe hallway smelled of old stone and burning oil. Shadows clung to the corners, flickering with every step I took. My mark beneath my collarbone pulsed softly, as if it knew something I didn’t.The doors opened silently. Inside, a figure waited. Not seated, not pacing, just standing. Calm. Immovable.She was taller than I expected, thin but solid, every movement deliberate. Hair black as ink fell straight past her shoulders. Her eyes were pale silver, sharp, assessing, like they could see through my skin to the blood beneath.“You are early,” she said, her voice smooth, low, commanding attention without effort.“I… I wasn’t sure I should come,” I admitted, voice tight. My pulse had picked up. The mark beneath my collarbone flickered, warm, insistent.“Good,” she said, a hint of amusement brushing her tone. “Curiosity is dangerous. But necessary.”Something about her made my blood hum. Not like Kael’s pull, this was different. Older. Wiser. Hungry in a careful, controlled way
Elara POVI woke to the sound of steel singing.Not clashing.Not screaming.Singing.The sound slid through my dreams and pulled me upward, slow and insistent, like fingers brushing the inside of my skull. I opened my eyes to dim morning light and a strange tension in the air.The room felt alert.The wards around Kael’s chambers hummed softly, tighter than before. I could feel them now, not just sense them, but feel them, like invisible threads wrapped around my bones.That was new.I pushed myself up slowly. My body still ached from the poison, but the weakness was different now. Sharper. Focused. As if something inside me was awake and paying attention.The mark beneath my collarbone pulsed once.Warm.Hungry.I pressed my fingers to it and forced a slow breath.“Easy,” I whispered to myself.The door opened.Kael stepped inside, already dressed for court, black leather, silver fastenings, the weight of command settled easily on his shoulders. His gaze locked onto me instantly, sh
Kael POVThe palace smelled different after a failed assassination.Fear had a scent, sharp and metallic. It clung to the stone halls and settled into the lungs of everyone who passed through them. Servants walked softer. Guards stood straighter. Conversations died the moment I entered a room.Good.They should be afraid.Elara lay unconscious in my chambers, wrapped in wards older than the palace itself, guarded by wolves who would die before letting anyone near her. Maelis had done what she could. The poison was gone, burned out by the mark, but its shadow lingered in the air like smoke after fire.Someone had tried to stop her heart.Inside my walls.Inside my rule.That was unforgivable.I stood at the high balcony overlooking the inner court, hands clasped behind my back, gaze fixed on the crowd assembling below. Nobles in rich cloaks. Council members with careful faces. Captains rigid in armor. Servants pressed to the edges, pretending they belonged there.Every one of them want
Elara POVThe first sign was not pain. It was cold.Not the kind that brushed skin or crept in from an open window, but the kind that slid beneath it, quiet, deliberate, like something had found a way inside me and was settling in.I noticed it while pouring tea.The cup trembled slightly in my hand. Just enough to disturb the surface, a small ripple spreading across the amber liquid. I frowned, annoyed with myself. The night had been restless. Sleep had come in fragments, stitched together with dreams that refused to fade, ancient wolves bowing their heads, blood singing through my veins, Kael’s voice calling my name as if from very far away.You’re tired, I told myself. That’s all.I lifted the cup.The scent was familiar. Calming herbs. A faint sweetness beneath the bitterness. Comfort in a cup. Maelis had left it on the tray outside my door, a neat note tucked beneath the handle reminding me to drink something warm before the morning council briefings.I trusted Maelis.Everyone d
Elara POVSleep came like a lie. It wrapped around me gently, pretending to be rest, pretending to be mercy. I remember thinking, as my eyes closed, as the weight of the day loosened its grip.Then the blood began to sing.I stood on a vast plain of ash-gray stone beneath a sky without stars. No Moon. No sun. Just an endless dark that breathed slowly, as if it were alive. The air tasted metallic, sharp on my tongue, and every breath felt borrowed instead of owned.I wasn’t afraid yet. I felt… expected.The ground beneath my bare feet was warm. Not from heat, from life. I looked down and saw thin cracks spreading through the stone, glowing faintly red, like veins beneath skin.My veins.The understanding settled deep in my bones.This is not a place, something inside me whispered.This is a memory.A low sound rolled across the plain.Not thunder.A breath.I turned.They came out of the darkness one by one, wolves, enormous and ancient, their bodies shaped from shadow and bloodlight.







