Chapter 6: THE BROTHER WHO WANTED ME IN CHAINS

The message lay on the table between Elias and Cassian, its black seal broken and its final sentence echoing through the silent room. Elias had read it three times, hoping the words would change, but they remained the same. Somewhere beyond the northern border, a young Alpha carrying the Vale name had declared himself the rightful heir of the First Bloodline, and he wanted Elias delivered to him in chains.

For twenty-three years, Elias had believed he was an only child. He had grown up with the quiet grief of parents who refused to speak about the baby they had lost, never imagining that the missing child might still be alive. Now that his brother had finally appeared, Elias should have felt relieved, but the demand for his imprisonment turned that relief into something darker.

“Perhaps the man who sent this message is lying,” Cassian said, watching Elias carefully. “He could be an impostor using your family name to gain access to the palace or challenge my throne. We cannot assume he is your brother simply because he possesses the name Vale.”

Elias lifted his gaze. “Then why would he demand to see me in chains? If he wanted to challenge your throne, he could have summoned you to the northern border. Why does he care whether I am free?”

Cassian's expression hardened as he considered the question. “Because he may believe you are a threat to his claim.”

“His claim?” Elias repeated bitterly. “I did not ask to be born into some ancient bloodline. I did not ask for a crown, and I certainly did not ask you to reject me in front of an entire kingdom. Yet everyone seems determined to decide what I deserve before I even understand who I am.”

The words struck Cassian harder than Elias expected. For a moment, the king looked less like the ruthless ruler who commanded seven kingdoms and more like a man who had made a terrible mistake and was only beginning to understand its cost.

“I know I have no right to ask you to trust me,” Cassian admitted. “But I will not allow anyone to take you in chains.”

Elias gave a humorless laugh. “You already made it clear to the entire kingdom that you wanted nothing to do with me. You rejected our bond before everyone, Cassian. Do not expect me to believe that you suddenly care because another Alpha wants to claim me.”

“I rejected you because I believed your existence would get you killed.”

“And you thought breaking my heart would protect me?”

“No.” Cassian lowered his eyes briefly. “I thought I could control the danger. I was wrong.”

The admission left Elias without an immediate response. He had imagined Cassian defending his decision, hiding behind royal duty, or insisting that the rejection had been necessary. He had not expected the king to acknowledge his failure so plainly. Still, regret could not undo the humiliation Elias had endured, and he refused to let the pain of their bond make decisions for him.

Before he could answer, the door opened, and Adrian Draven entered without waiting for permission. The king's younger brother looked from Cassian to Elias, then noticed the message spread across the table.

“I heard about the northern visitor,” Adrian said. “The guards are already discussing it. Apparently, he defeated three border commanders in a challenge and forced them to recognize his authority before he even reached the fortress.”

Cassian's face darkened. “Who told you that?”

“Your commanders have terrible secrets and even worse discipline.” Adrian pulled out a chair and sat down. “More importantly, the man reportedly carries an ancient silver mark on his shoulder. The same crowned wolf symbol found on Elias's pendant.”

Elias's hand instinctively moved toward the pendant beneath his shirt. “You have seen the mark?”

“No, but two soldiers witnessed it when the stranger removed his armor after the challenge. They said the symbol glowed when he entered the old northern shrine.”

A strange sensation stirred beneath Elias's skin. The pendant against his chest had been cold since the attack on his family's estate, but now it seemed to grow warmer, as though it had heard Adrian's words and recognized something beyond the room.

He pressed his palm against it.

For an instant, the room disappeared.

Elias saw a hall illuminated by lights. A boy stood in the center of the chamber, his face streaked with blood, while men wearing silver masks knelt around him. Beyond the boy, a woman in a white gown screamed as guards dragged a newborn away from her. A man wearing a crowned wolf ring stood beside the throne, watching without attempting to stop them.

Then the boy raised his head.

His eyes were the same shade of grey as Elias's.

You were supposed to die with the rest of them.

The voice entered Elias's mind with such force that he staggered backward, knocking the chair behind him onto the floor.

Cassian caught him before he fell. “Elias! What happened?”

Elias gripped the king's arm, struggling to steady his breathing. The vision had lasted only seconds, but the terror in the boy's eyes remained painfully clear in his memory.

“I saw him,” Elias whispered. “I saw my brother.”

Adrian rose from his chair. “What did he look like?”

“Like me.” Elias swallowed, forcing himself to describe what he had seen. “He was standing in a hall filled with people wearing silver masks. Someone told him he was supposed to die with the others, but he survived. I think he was there when the First Bloodline was destroyed.”

Cassian's grip tightened around Elias's arm, though he released him when Elias glanced down at his hand.

“Did he see you?” the king asked.

“I don't know. It felt as if he was looking directly at me, even though I wasn't really there.”

Adrian exchanged a troubled glance with his brother. “The northern shrine was built before the Draven dynasty took the throne. If the mark reacted to him there, he may have awakened the same power Elias has. That would explain how he defeated trained commanders so easily.”

“Or it means someone has taught him how to use it,” Cassian replied. “Either possibility makes him dangerous.”

Elias stepped away from both brothers. “He is still my brother. I will not let you call him a monster simply because he might be powerful.”

“No one is calling him a monster,” Adrian said gently. “But power does not make someone innocent, and blood does not guarantee loyalty.”

“Then I will find out for myself what he has become.”

Cassian immediately shook his head. “You are not going to the northern border without protection.”

“I did not say I would go alone.”

“You are not going at all until I know who is waiting for you.”

Elias stared at him. “You cannot keep me locked away for my own good. That is exactly how people like your council control others. They hide the truth, make decisions without permission, and then claim they are protecting everyone.”

The king fell silent. Elias could see the struggle in his face, the instinct to command fighting against the knowledge that he had already taken too much choice away from his fated mate.

Finally, Cassian turned to Adrian. “Prepare a small escort. We leave for the northern border before dawn.”

Adrian looked surprised. “You are taking him there?”

“I am going with him,” Cassian answered. “If this stranger truly is Elias's brother, I want to hear what he has to say before the council can interfere. If he is an impostor, I want him exposed before he gathers more followers.”

Elias did not thank him. The decision was what he wanted, but he refused to mistake cooperation for forgiveness. Instead, he returned to the table and picked up the message, studying the unfamiliar seal pressed into its black wax.

There was something wrong with it.

The crowned wolf had been engraved backward, as though the person who made the seal had copied the symbol from a mirror rather than an original. Elias remembered the pendant, the ring, and the vision of the silver-masked men. Each image had shown the crowned wolf facing the same direction.

“This seal is a fake,” he said.

Cassian came to stand beside him. “What makes you certain?”

“The symbol is reversed. Whoever made this knows the design, but they do not understand what it means.” Elias turned the paper toward the light. “Someone may be trying to convince us that my brother has claimed the northern border when the real threat is somewhere else.”

Adrian examined the seal, his expression growing serious. “That is possible, but it could also be an intentional alteration. Some of the old royal records mention a reversed crown used by the faction that betrayed the First Bloodline.”

“Where did you read that?” Cassian demanded.

“In the restricted archive. The section you ordered sealed after Father died.”

The room grew quiet.

Cassian's father had been dead for eight years, and the king had never spoken openly about the records he had locked away after inheriting the throne. Elias looked between the brothers, recognizing another secret hidden behind the royal walls.

“You knew about the betrayal,” Elias said to Cassian. “You knew there were records about my family, and you never told me.”

“I knew the council had concealed the truth,” Cassian replied. “I did not know the details of what happened to your family. Those records were incomplete, and every attempt I made to investigate them was blocked by the Queen Mother and the council.”

“Your own mother?”

Pain flickered across Cassian's face. “My mother has always insisted that the First Bloodline died because its heirs became dangerous. She believes the kingdom would collapse if their descendants ever returned.”

“And now that I have returned, you expect me to trust a king whose family benefited from their deaths?”

“No,” Cassian said quietly. “I expect you to judge me by what I do next.”

Before Elias could answer, a sharp knock interrupted them. A royal guard entered and bowed to the king, looking as though he would rather be anywhere else.

“Your Majesty, the Queen Mother requests your presence immediately. She has heard about the northern Alpha and insists that the prisoner be brought to the palace before the council convenes.”

Cassian frowned. “What prisoner?”

The guard hesitated. “The messenger from the northern border, Your Majesty. He arrived less than ten minutes ago.”

Adrian stood unshaken. “You said the message came from the border. You never said the messenger was here.”

“I assumed he had been detained at the outer gate,” the guard replied. “But he was admitted under the Queen Mother's personal authority.”

Cassian's eyes turned cold. “Where is he now?”

“In the old audience chamber.”

Elias felt the pendant grow hot against his skin again. A low whisper slipped into his mind, so faint that he almost mistook it for his own thoughts.

The first son belongs to the crown.

Then another voice followed, deeper and filled with hatred.

Bring me my brother.

Elias stumbled as the vision struck him again, but this time there was no burning hall and no silver-masked crowd. He saw a young man standing behind the bars of a dark chamber, wearing a black uniform marked with the crowned wolf. The stranger lifted his head, revealing a face so similar to Elias's that the resemblance was unmistakable.

Only one thing was different.

A long scar crossed the stranger's throat, and his grey eyes held no warmth at all.

The young man smiled directly at Elias through the vision, as if he knew Elias was watching.

“Tell the king,” he said, “that if he brings my brother to me alive, I will spare his kingdom.”

The vision vanished.

Elias gripped the edge of the table, his heart pounding as Cassian caught his shoulder.

“What did you see?” the king demanded.

Elias looked at him, unable to hide the fear rising inside him. “My brother is not waiting at the northern border.”

He glanced toward the open doorway, where the guard still stood.

“He is already inside your palace.”