5

ASHKA’S POV

I arrived at the neutral territory with only a small group of people I trusted.

The meeting place was quiet and far from any main roads, so I had taken my time to choose it carefully.

If Rurik ever found out I had met with the Alpha of Nightfall, he would call it treason without bothering to ask me any questions.

I planned to reveal only what was necessary until I knew whether Vasik Draugir could be trusted at all.

Vasik arrived not long after me. He stopped a short distance away and looked at me directly.

“Luna of Silvercrest,” he said. “I know who you are. What I don’t know is why you requested a private meeting with me.”

“I need information,” I answered. “And I cannot look for it inside my own pack.”

He studied me for a moment. “You are Rurik Solmane’s Luna. Approaching his greatest rival in secret is either very brave or very foolish. Which one is it?”

“I overheard a conversation,” I said. “Two people discussing a seal and a suppressant connected to me. They spoke about whether the emotional pressure from a recent event could weaken the seal and whether they needed to make the suppressant stronger.”

Vasik’s expression didn’t change. “And you believe they were talking about you specifically?”

“They said if the seal breaks, everything they have protected falls apart. They mentioned reinforcing it through Morrigast. There is no record of any seal or suppressant in my father’s documents, I searched the restricted archives myself.”

“People mishear things,” he said. “Especially when they are already under strain.”

“I didn’t mishear,” I told him. “They were clear. After that I found an old letter among my father’s personal records. It claims he approved binding me to Rurik. The handwriting looks close enough that most people would accept it, but the signature looks forged and the wording is off.”

Vasik held out his hand. “Show me the letter.”

I hesitated, giving him something from my father’s private records meant trusting him with more than I wanted to.

Still, I had come this far. I handed it over.

He read it slowly, then looked at the signature again. “This deserves investigation. I’m not going to pretend I already know who forged it. I don’t, but it doesn’t look clean.”

Some of the tension between us eased.

“What do you actually want from me?” he asked.

“I need someone outside Silvercrest,” I said. “Someone who is not connected to Rurik’s council. I’m not asking you to start a war or attack my pack. I only need information and a measure of protection while I dig further. I cannot trust the people around me right now.”

Vasik was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ll help. But understand this clearly. I will not blindly trust you either. You are still the Luna of my rival’s pack. Until we both know exactly what we’re dealing with, neither of us reveals this arrangement to anyone.”

“Agreed.”

We spent the next stretch of time going over what little I already knew.

I told him the parts of the overheard conversation that mattered.

He asked practical questions about how the records were stored, who still had access to the archives, and whether Morrigast, the pack witch, still moved freely inside Silvercrest.

He listened without interrupting and never pushed me to say more than I was ready to give.

I noticed that he was nothing like the man Rurik had always described.

Rurik spoke of him as ruthless and hungry for power.

The man in front of me asked reasonable questions, kept his word about not demanding more information, and treated the matter like a problem that needed solving rather than an opportunity to exploit.

For the first time since everything fell apart, I felt I might have found someone I could actually work with.

Before I left, we settled the rest of the details.

“I’ll look into the seal and the forged records through contacts outside your territory,” Vasik said. “You continue searching from inside. If you find anything useful, you send it through the channel we just agreed on. Nothing written that can be easily traced back to either of us.”

“I’ll do that,” I said.

“And Ashka,” he added, using my name for the first time. “Be careful who you trust inside those walls. If someone went to the trouble of sealing whatever they sealed and forging your father’s hand, they won’t stop just because you started asking questions.”

I nodded once. “I know.”

I left the meeting with the first real sense that I had taken a step toward the truth.

My people were waiting a short distance away.

As soon as I reached them, one of the warriors stepped forward with an urgent look.

“Luna, please I need a word privately.”

I walked a few paces with him, already bracing myself for news about the meeting somehow leaking.

“What is it?” I asked.

He hesitated. “Alpha Rurik made an official announcement while you were away.”

“What announcement?”

He looked uncomfortable. “ Lady Ivy is pregnant. The Alpha announced that the child will be the heir to Silvercrest.”