CHAPTER 16 : UNDER HIS COMMAND

The eastern gate rattled again—another удар of the enemy’s battering ram. Dust drifted from the ceiling. Somewhere outside, men screamed, steel rang, and the warning horns blared through the chaos.

I gripped the war table so hard my knuckles ached.

“They’re not here for the kingdom. They’re here for you.” Darius’s words wouldn’t leave me alone.

Three thousand soldiers were parked around Bloodmoon, but they’d barely bothered our best defenses. They ignored the northern watchtower. The western road was untouched. They focused everything on the eastern gate.

Forget conquest. This was about me.

I turned to Darius. “Why do they want me alive?”

He stood at the open window, his dark coat snapping in the wind. His face was unreadable, but his fingers dug into the stone ledge.

“You heard what the scout said,” he answered. “The High Council ordered you taken alive.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“It’s all I’ve got right now.”

“Then get more.”

He looked at me sharply—finally a reaction.

We said nothing while the officers bustled around, barking orders and swapping reports. My hands hovered over a map covered in red and black markers.

Darius stepped closer. “You’re going to the inner fortress.”

I tried not to laugh. “Seriously?”

“The eastern wall might fall. The inner fortress has thicker defenses, fewer doors, direct tunnel access. It’s safer.”

“Safer from your army that doesn’t want me dead?”

His jaw flexed. “Seren, this isn’t the time to fight me.”

“Then stop giving me reasons.”

An officer pretended he wasn’t listening.

Darius dropped his voice. “I won’t trade your life for a point.”

“And I won’t lock myself up while people die to protect me.”

“I’m not asking for your permission.”

“Don’t expect my obedience then.”

His eyes darkened. I felt the Alpha command—silent, heavy, forcing everyone but me to submit.

I raised my chin.

“You can send your soldiers wherever you want, Darius. Haul me to that fortress if you’re ready to humiliate yourself in front of your command. But I’m not standing aside in a battle about me.”

His face flickered—anger? Or fear? I couldn’t tell anymore.

“Why are you so set on risking your life?” he asked.

“Because the enemy’s decided my life is worth more than three thousand soldiers. I need to know why.”

A messenger burst in.

“Alpha! Another report from the eastern gate.”

Darius turned. “Go on.”

“The enemy stopped advancing.”

Everyone froze.

“For how long?” Darius asked.

“Less than five minutes, my lord. They pulled archers back and left a gap. We thought it was another assault, but nothing happened.”

“Did they send a negotiator?”

“No, Alpha.”

“So what are they waiting for?”

The messenger shrugged. “We don’t know.”

I stared at the map.

Three thousand troops. Untouched west road. A mysterious pause at the east gate. And a demand I be taken alive.

Something was off. Maybe this wasn’t a battle at all.

“Show me the latest positions,” I said.

The messenger looked at Darius instead of me. I had to bite back a laugh—some men really couldn’t think for themselves.

Darius spoke up. “Answer her.”

The messenger fumbled a smaller map onto the table.

I leaned in. “Where did enemy scouts show up first?”

He pointed north.

“And their main force?”

“East road.”

“Anyone on the western road?”

“No, my lady. Not that we’ve seen.”

I traced routes with my finger.

“They’re leaving this passage open,” I said.

Darius stepped closer. “The western ravine?”

“Right. Narrow, but it leads straight to the old hunting grounds. From there—someone could slip into the inner territory, dodging the eastern gate altogether.”

“It’s watched.”

“How many soldiers?”

“Two dozen.”

“Against three thousand?”

“It’s a ravine, Seren. They can’t send their whole army through it.”

“They don’t need an army if they’re after one person.”

He went quiet.

I pointed at the eastern gate. “Every time they threaten breakthrough, you shift forces east. That leaves the other routes thin.”

“You think this is a distraction.”

“I think the eastern gate is the loudest part of their plan—not the most important.”

Darius studied the map, weighing it all. I expected him to argue, but he waved over his captain.

“Six scouts to the western ravine. No banners, no torches. Eyes on every exit.”

The captain hurried off.

Darius faced me. “All right, you proved your point.”

“No, I found a possible route. We still don’t know why they want me.”

“And we won’t if you’re caught.”

“Then don’t let them catch me.”

For the first time since the invasion, the corner of his mouth twitched—not quite a smile.

“You make everything sound easy.”

“No. I make it sound doable.”

Outside came a huge crash. The room shook. Officers ran to the windows.

The eastern gate held, but one support was gone. Soldiers rushed to prop up the damage. Arrows turned the sky black.

Darius barked orders. His people scattered.

He turned back to me. “You’re moving to the inner fortress.”

I opened my mouth.

He cut me off. “Listen. You’ll have access to all the command reports, maps, everything about this attack. Question scouts. Help us figure out what the enemy wants.”

“And?”

“And you get guards.”

I groaned. “I don’t need bodyguards.”

“You’re the reason an unknown army’s here. You’ll have guards.”

“Your territory?”

His eyes narrowed. “Bloodmoon is under my protection.”

“Protect it by figuring out why the enemy’s willing to lose so many just to reach me.”

Silence. Then a nod.

“Fine.”

I blinked—too easy.

“Fine?”

“You’ll work from the inner fortress. With access to reports and any investigation that doesn’t risk defense.”

“And the guards?”

“They stay.”

I sighed. “Three.”

“Four.”

“Two.”

“Seren.”

“Three, and they obey unless there’s immediate danger.”

He stared, trying to figure out if he was furious or impressed.

“Three,” he said finally. “If the situation changes, I move you.”

“You can ask me.”

“I’ll keep you alive.”

“And I’ll remind you I’m not one of your soldiers.”

He looked at me a long time.

“I know exactly what you are.”

Something in his tone chilled me.

Before I could ask, he barked for the captain. “Prepare the inner fortress. And find out why the enemy stopped.”

The captain saluted.

Darius held out his hand.

I looked at it. Then him.

“I can walk.”

“I never said you couldn’t.”

“Then why?”

His face stayed straight. “The floor’s shaking. I’d rather not explain why the woman we’re protecting landed on the stairs.”

Even now, he could pull a laugh out of me—as much as I hated it. I hated even more that, just for a moment, I wanted to take his hand.

Instead, I walked past him.

“Try to keep up, Alpha.”

Behind me, his quiet reply. “Always.”

The inner fortress was carved into the oldest part of Bloodmoon—thick walls, narrow windows, nothing fancy, just survival.

Three guards followed me inside—big Rafe, a scarred young woman, and an older soldier who barely spoke. Darius trusted them, I guessed. Either to protect me or to keep me trapped.

“Your room’s upstairs,” Rafe said. “Command room’s beside it. Alpha says you stay in the fortress.”

“My orders—you tell me whenever a messenger shows up.”

He hesitated.

I lifted a brow.

He cleared his throat. “Of course, my lady.”

“And if anyone comes into my room?”

“We stop them.”

“Unless it’s Darius.”

The young guard squinted. “Even the Alpha?”

“Especially him.”

She almost smiled.

I stepped into the command room—maps everywhere, notes, markers. A narrow window faced the western ravine.

I went straight to it.

The forest was eerily calm. Too calm, considering an army watched from behind the trees.

On the table, a map showed the eastern gate, western ravine, old hunting grounds. I studied the enemy's positions.

The formation was odd.

Three groups—the biggest by the eastern gate, a smaller force on the northern ridge, another group tucked among the trees.

They weren’t surrounding us evenly. They were controlling movement.

But whose?

I shifted a marker from east road to the ravine. Then another.

A path appeared, narrow but clear.

They had left a corridor open. Not for their soldiers—for someone.

My stomach twisted.

Were they planning to take me somewhere? Where?

“Something bothering you?” Darius stood in the doorway. I hadn’t heard him approach.

“Their formation. Look.”

He crossed over. I pointed at the gap.

“They control the roads, but haven’t blocked them. If they wanted to storm us, they’d close everything down. Instead, they left a slim corridor.”

“For a messenger?” he asked.

“Maybe. Or a prisoner.”

His eyes shifted to me.

I held his gaze. “Or for me.”

Darius’s face hardened. “No one’s taking you anywhere.”

“That’s not a strategy.”

“It’s a promise.”

“Promises don’t stop arrows.”

“No,” he murmured. “They don’t.”

I caught something raw in his eyes—remembered that nightmare, the way he begged me not to die again.

I wanted to ask what haunted him. But I didn’t.

I turned back to the map. “We need to see if the enemy changes formation when I move.”

He studied me.

“You want to use yourself as bait.”

“I want to test a theory—without leaving.”

“And if they respond?”

“Then we know their orders track my location.”

He shook his head. “You’re not bait.”

“Use a decoy. Move my guards. Announce I’ve been sent to the southern wing. See what the enemy does.”

He stared at me. Then called for Rafe.

“Prepare a false transfer. Make it look real. No one outside this room hears the plan.”

Rafe nodded and left.

Satisfaction flickered in my chest. Stubborn, but not stupid, Darius.

We waited. The minutes dragged—constant updates from the eastern wall. Gate damaged, but holding. The enemy hadn’t moved.

Then a scout burst in, panting. “Alpha, movement at the western ravine.”

Darius straightened. “What kind?”

“Three riders. They approached, turned back when our men shifted positions.”

I looked at Darius.

“They saw the transfer?”

The scout nodded, hesitating. “We believe so. Enemy sent a signal soon after.”

Darius leaned over the map. “Where?”

The scout pointed to the third group.

I placed the marker. “They’re watching for me,” I said.

Darius’s face was grim.

“Not just ‘apparently,’” I said. “They changed when they thought I moved.”

I looked at the corridor.

“They aren’t pushing an attack. They’re waiting until we bring me somewhere they can reach.”

Darius froze.

Another guard appeared. “Alpha, we have a prisoner.”

“Enemy?”

“Yes, my lord. Caught near the western ravine, carrying a concealed weapon.”

“Bring him here.”

The guard hesitated. “He asked to speak with you privately.”

Darius’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Says he has a message for you.”

Two soldiers dragged a man in. He was battered, bloody, gagged. They took the cloth from his mouth.

The prisoner looked at Darius—then at me. He stopped struggling.

Something flickered in his face. Not surprise. Recognition.

Chills ran through me.

“Who sent you?” Darius demanded.

The man stayed silent.

Darius stepped in. “You crossed my territory during an attack. Answer.”

He laughed, weak. “You still think this is your battle, Alpha?”

Darius’s face turned ugly.

The prisoner spat blood, reached into his coat.

Guards grabbed him, but he already held a small black envelope sealed in dark red wax.

He offered it to Darius.

“For you.”

Darius didn’t take it. “Who gave you that?”

“The one who knows what happened to her.” He looked at me.

My pulse thundered.

“What happened to me?” I demanded.

He smiled, thin. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Darius snatched the envelope. Its seal matched my mother’s records—the same symbol tied to the women before me.

He broke it. Inside, a strip of parchment.

Darius read it once. Again. His face paled.

“What does it say?” I asked.

He folded the paper. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

I stared. “Don’t.”

Our eyes met.

“Seren—”

“Don’t tell me what I need, not after all this.”

He hesitated. Finally, he unfolded the parchment, set it out on the table.

Seven words in careful script.

“The girl must reach the altar alive.”

I read it twice.

The altar.

The same word from every enemy message. The hidden reason behind the army, the formation, the demand I be kept alive.

My mother’s prophecy wasn’t about the future—it was a roadmap.

Someone sent an army to make sure I followed it.

I looked at Darius. “Where is this altar?”

He didn’t answer.

That scared me more than anything else.

The Alpha who could stare down three thousand soldiers now looked at me as though he’d just found the one threat he couldn’t defend me from.

And somewhere outside, the horns blared again.

They weren’t announcing an attack this time.

They were calling for me.