LOGINCHAPTER 108: A QUESTION OF TRUST
DANTE’S POVI call the meeting before Mira even knows I'm calling it, gathering Corran and two other councilors I trust enough to speak honestly in front of, and I feel the weight of what I'm about to say settling heavy in my chest even before anyone else arrives."You want to discuss Auren without my sister present," Luna says, arriving first, studying my expression with the particular sharpness decades of partnership has taught her toCHAPTER 107: WHISPERS OF A SECOND GOLDEN EYEMIRA'S POV Isolde and Auren bring their discovery to us just after midnight, both of them too energized by what they've found to wait for morning, and I feel hope building carefully in my chest as they explain the binding, the partnership, the possibility that Selene's ability might actually solve this instead of just endangering her.But before I can fully process what that hope might actually mean, Dante arrives with news that cuts straight through it."There's a problem," he says, and I recognize immediately the particular tension in his voice that means whatever he's about to share isn't going to let any of us rest easily tonight. "Sera's contacts in the southern territories just confirmed something. There's a second Solarii moving through supernatural communities that have historically sympathized with Corvinus ideology."I feel my stomach drop, looking toward Auren, watching his expression sh
CHAPTER 108: A QUESTION OF TRUSTDANTE’S POV I call the meeting before Mira even knows I'm calling it, gathering Corran and two other councilors I trust enough to speak honestly in front of, and I feel the weight of what I'm about to say settling heavy in my chest even before anyone else arrives."You want to discuss Auren without my sister present," Luna says, arriving first, studying my expression with the particular sharpness decades of partnership has taught her to read easily. "That's not like you.""I want to discuss him without Mira present because I know exactly what she'll say if I raise this in front of her," I say, pacing the small meeting room in ways I haven't paced in years. "She'll defend him. She already trusts him, and I understand why, but trusting someone quickly has cost us before.""Vera," Luna says quietly."Vera," I confirm. "And Matthias. Both of them earned exactly the kind of trust that let them manipulate e
CHAPTER 105: HOLLOW GROUNDMIRA'S P.O.V The call comes in at dawn, three days after Selene's connection nearly broke apart in my hands, and I know before I even answer that whatever's happened, it's going to confirm every fear Auren's spent the last week trying to make us understand."A settlement near the old northern border," Isolde says, her voice carrying the particular flatness she uses when she's trying to stay professional despite something clearly shaking her underneath. "Small. Mixed community, wolves and a handful of witches who settled there generations ago. Someone finally checked in on them after three weeks of no contact.""And?" I ask, though I already feel dread pooling in my stomach."They're all alive," Isolde says. "Every single one of them. Physically unharmed.""That's good news," I say, though something in her tone tells me I'm about to learn exactly why it isn't."They don't remember anything," she say
CHAPTER 106: OLD TEXTS, OLDER NAMESISOLDE'S POV Auren brought three boxes with him when he finally agreed to let me examine what remained of his people's records, and I feel my hands trembling slightly as I lift the first fragile page free, understanding I'm holding something that predates every text I've spent decades cataloging as ancient."Careful," Auren says, watching me with the particular tension of someone protecting the last physical remnants of an entire vanished civilization. "Some of these pages have survived longer than your species has existed. They won't survive careless handling.""I've handled Ondine's records," I say, though I keep my movements deliberately slow regardless. "I understand fragility.""This is different," he says quietly. "Ondine's people preserved their history because they chose to remain visible. Mine hid everything, including our own writing, specifically so nothing would ever draw attention toward what w
CHAPTER 103: THE SOLARIIMIRA'S P.O.V We move to a smaller room once the full Council session finally breaks, just Auren, Selene, Dante, Elric, and myself, and I feel the weight of everything Selene just admitted settling over all of us differently now, no longer abstract warning but something with actual roots reaching into my own daughter's life for years without any of us noticing."Tell us everything," I say, once the door closes behind us. "Not the careful version you gave the Council. All of it."Auren settles into a chair like someone bracing for something he's rehearsed but never actually had reason to say aloud before."My people called ourselves guardians long before we called ourselves anything else," he begins. "Before your Moonborn bloodline existed, before the ancient councilors your history remembers, before whatever founding wars shaped the world you actually know. We existed for one purpose. Holding closed something that shou
CHAPTER 104: THE CRACK IN THE VEILSELENE'S POV I've done this connection thousands of times now, enough that it usually feels as natural as breathing, reaching outward until I feel every Moonborn scattered across the world settle into place like notes in a chord I've spent twenty-five years learning to play. But this morning, barely an hour after Auren's warning finally sinks fully into my chest, I reach for that familiar chord and something screams back at me instead.Pain rips through my skull so suddenly I drop to my knees before I even understand what's happening, my vision fracturing into static that isn't static at all, more like something pressing against the edges of my perception hard enough to leave marks."Selene!"I hear Auren's voice before I feel his hands catching my shoulders, and I want to tell him I'm fine, want to push through this the way I've pushed through every difficult connection since childhood, but the pa
CHAPTER 6: ASHES AND SECRETS We had to keep moving because this place we're staying isn't safe anymore. I pressed harder against Elric's side, trying to ignore how much of his weight I was carrying. Blood soaked through his shirt where that packleader had torn his fang into him. The wound looked
CHAPTER 5 – BLOOD IN THE MOONLIGHT The Bloodfang charged in full motion against the trio. The forest erupted in chaos. Elric unsheathed his sword. Snarls broke through the air. The Bloodfang warriors charged like shadows unleashed. Elara threw her cloak aside, her hands glowing with wind magi
CHAPTER 4 – “WE WERE HOPING YOU'D SAY THAT.” They led me through the woods at dawn. I walked between Elric and Elara, silent, my pulse beating like a drum. My thoughts were heavy with what I’d read in that hidden book: Mira of the Lost Line. The girl who could either save or destroy. Was that
CHAPTER 3 – “WE NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT A DESTROYER.” The Wasted Vale stretched for miles—silent, decaying, endless. I walked for two days without food, my body trembling, my thoughts looping the betrayal like a curse. I was Framed, Casted out and Forgotten. Only Nelly’s words kept me goi







