Silver eyes

Chapter Five

Silver Eyes

Ariana’s heartbeat stumbled.

“Silver eyes?”

The council woman kept staring at her without blinking.

Ariana frowned slowly. “I don’t know.”

The older man beside the woman immediately spoke. “Enough.”

But Kael stepped forward before the conversation could end.

“No,” he said calmly. “I think we’re continuing this discussion.”

The atmosphere inside the hall turned dangerously tense.

The female council member straightened slightly. “There are things better left buried, Alpha Kael.”

“That stopped being true the moment assassins entered my estate.”

Nobody answered immediately.

Kael’s patience was visibly thinning now.

“You recognized her,” he continued. “Why?”

The woman hesitated.

Then...

“She resembles someone.”

“Who?”

Ronan moved subtly closer to Kael.

Even the guards looked uneasy now.

Finally the woman answered quietly.

“Queen Selene.”

The name hit the room heavily.

Ariana frowned immediately. “Who?”

Kael’s expression darkened slightly.

“You’ve never heard that name before?”

“No.”

The council members exchanged another look.

Kael noticed.

And hated it.

Because everyone in this room suddenly knew more about Ariana than Ariana herself did.

The older man cleared his throat. “This conversation should remain private.”

Kael crossed his arms slowly. “Then start explaining.”

The woman looked back toward Ariana again.

“Queen Selene ruled one of the original Moonborn territories before the kingdom wars.”

Ariana’s chest tightened strangely.

The name sounded familiar.

Not in memory.

In feeling.

Like hearing a song she forgot years ago.

“She disappeared twenty years ago,” the woman continued. “Most believed her entire bloodline died with her.”

Kael’s gaze shifted toward Ariana.

“She would’ve been around Ariana’s mother’s age.”

“Yes.”

Ariana shook her head slightly. “I don’t understand any of this.”

The older councilman finally lost patience.

“Because she shouldn’t be involved.”

Kael’s voice turned colder. “That decision stopped being yours.”

Tension thickened instantly.

The councilman stared back evenly. “You’re playing with dangerous things, Alpha.”

Kael stepped closer.

“I buried dangerous things years ago. Yet somehow they keep returning to my doorstep.”

The female council member looked troubled now.

Then suddenly...

“What color are your eyes during a shift?”

Everyone looked toward Ariana again.

“I told you, my wolf barely works.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

Ariana swallowed carefully.

“I… I don’t know.”

The woman studied her face quietly.

Then she whispered something that made the entire room colder.

“Then pray they never turn silver.”

---

Hours later, Ariana sat alone inside the library trying to process everything she heard.

Queen Selene.

Moonborn bloodlines.

Silver eyes.

Nothing felt real anymore.

The large room smelled like old paper and cedarwood. Massive shelves stretched toward the ceiling while rain clouds gathered again outside the tall windows.

Ariana rubbed her temples tiredly.

Every answer only created more questions.

The library door opened softly.

Kael entered.

Ariana immediately straightened. “Did the council leave?”

“Yes.”

“What did they want?”

“To see whether the rumors were true.”

“And?”

Kael walked toward one of the shelves slowly.

“They’re afraid of you.”

Ariana laughed softly. “That makes no sense.”

“It rarely does.”

She watched him carefully.

For someone supposedly full of hatred, Kael spent an unusual amount of time around her lately.

Ariana lowered her voice slightly. “Who was Queen Selene?”

Kael remained quiet for a moment before answering.

“One of the last Moonborn rulers.”

“Were they really that powerful?”

“According to legends.”

“And you believe legends?”

Kael pulled an old book from the shelf.

“I believe kingdoms don’t destroy entire bloodlines without reason.”

That answer unsettled her deeply.

He handed the book toward her.

Ariana looked down.

Ancient Symbols of the Old Kingdoms.

“You’re giving this to me?”

“You should understand why people are suddenly terrified.”

Ariana slowly opened the book.

Most pages contained faded drawings, old maps, and symbols connected to different wolf territories.

Then she froze.

Her fingers stopped on one page completely.

The symbol.

The same silver crescent surrounded by wolves.

Her breathing slowed.

Below the symbol were two words written in faded ink.

House Lunareth.

A sharp pain stabbed through her head immediately.

A woman laughing softly.

A little girl running through snow.

Silver banners moving in cold wind.

“Ariana.”

Kael’s voice sounded distant.

Then another image flashed.

Blood everywhere.

Fire climbing massive walls.

The laughing woman screaming now.

“Take her and run!”

Ariana gasped sharply and nearly dropped the book.

Kael caught her arm instantly.

“What did you see?”

Ariana stared at him, shaken.

“There was a woman.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

But deep down, something inside her whispered otherwise.

You know exactly who she was.

Ariana stepped away quickly.

“No.”

Kael frowned slightly. “No what?”

“I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“These memories. These visions. It feels like I’m losing my mind.”

Kael watched her quietly.

For the first time, there was no mockery in his expression.

Only focus.

“Your memories are trying to return.”

“And what if I don’t want them back?”

That question lingered heavily between them.

Kael’s answer came softer than expected.

“That won’t stop them.”

---

That night, thunder shook the estate.

Heavy rain crashed against the windows while guards doubled patrols around the mansion.

Kael stood in the training hall alone, punching hard against a hanging sandbag.

Over and over.

Ronan entered carefully.

“You’ll destroy it eventually.”

Kael ignored him.

Ronan leaned against the doorway. “You’re bothered.”

“No.”

“You punched through the last sandbag too.”

Kael finally stopped.

Sweat darkened his black shirt while tension radiated from him heavily.

“She’s connected to House Lunareth.”

“Possibly.”

“The council looked terrified.”

“That part worries me more.”

Ronan sighed quietly.

“You’re thinking about Lyra again.”

The room became still instantly.

Kael grabbed a towel slowly.

“I always think about Lyra.”

His former mate’s death remained an open wound inside him.

Years later, he still remembered:

her laugh,

her voice,

the blood on his hands when he found her too late.

And now Ariana appeared carrying pieces of a story that suddenly no longer fit together properly.

Ronan spoke carefully. “If Ariana truly isn’t responsible...”

Kael’s voice sharpened immediately. “Someone in her family was.”

“But maybe not her.”

Kael looked away.

That possibility angered him more than it should.

Because if Ariana was innocent…

then he had chained an innocent woman into a nightmare built on lies.

A guard suddenly burst into the hall.

“Alpha!”

Kael turned instantly. “What happened?”

“The Luna collapsed.”

---

Ariana’s body burned.

That was the first thing she felt.

Heat everywhere.

Pain twisting through her chest violently.

Martha held her shoulders carefully while several servants stood nearby looking frightened.

“She won’t stop shaking,” one whispered.

Ariana barely heard them.

Another vision tore through her mind.

This time clearer.

A massive throne room.

Silver wolves kneeling.

A crown placed carefully onto someone’s head.

Then...

Blood splattering across white stone floors.

Screaming.

Fire.

Ariana cried out suddenly as sharp pain spread through her spine.

The bedroom door slammed open.

Kael entered immediately.

“What happened?”

Martha looked terrified. “She suddenly collapsed.”

Kael approached the bed quickly.

Ariana’s breathing sounded uneven now.

Her skin burned beneath his touch.

Then her eyes opened.

Kael froze instantly.

Silver.

Her eyes had turned completely silver.

The servants gasped.

Martha stepped backward in shock.

Ariana stared upward blindly, tears sliding down her face.

Then a voice escaped her lips.

But it didn’t sound fully like her own.

“They killed my mother.”