Chapter 8: THE SON THE QUEEN TRIED TO KILL

For several seconds, Elias could not understand what Queen Mother Isolde had said. The words seemed to hang above the throne like a death sentence, impossible to ignore and too terrible to accept. He stared at the woman who had ruled the palace beside her son, searching her face for some sign that she had misspoken, but the trembling in her hands and the fear in her eyes told him otherwise.

“You ordered them to kill me?” Elias asked.

His voice sounded strangely calm, and that frightened him more than if he had screamed. All his life, he had believed his troubles came from being ordinary, from having little money, and from falling in love with a man who could never accept him. Now he was learning that someone had wanted him dead before he had even taken his first breath.

Isolde pressed her fingers against the arms of her chair. “You do not understand what was happening twenty-three years ago. The kingdom was on the verge of civil war, and the prophecy warned that the return of the First Bloodline would destroy the Draven dynasty. I had a duty to protect my son and every wolf living under his rule.”

“By killing a newborn?” Elias demanded. “What kind of duty requires you to murder a child?”

“The prophecy said the first son would bring the ancient crown back to its rightful owner. It also said that the Draven king would fall when the lost heir awakened his blood. I believed that if you survived, Cassian would eventually lose everything.”

Cassian stood motionless beside the throne. Elias could feel the king's anger rolling through the room, but it was not directed at him. His gaze remained fixed on his mother, and for the first time since Elias had met him, Cassian looked genuinely uncertain of the woman who had raised him.

“You told me the First Bloodline was destroyed before Father became king,” Cassian said. “You said the survivors had fled the kingdom and died in hiding. You never told me there were newborn heirs.”

“Because you were a child, and I wanted to spare you the burden of the past.”

“You taught me to fear a bloodline you knew was still alive.” Cassian took a step toward her. “You allowed me to believe Elias was a threat to the kingdom, and you watched me reject my own mate because of a prophecy you never explained.”

Isolde's face tightened at the mention of the rejection. “I did what I believed was necessary.”

“No,” Cassian replied. “You did what you believed would preserve your power.”

The accusation silenced her.

Elias barely heard the exchange. His attention had shifted to Kael, who stood near the foot of the throne with his arms folded across his chest. Unlike Isolde, he did not appear surprised by the confession. If anything, he looked satisfied, as though he had waited years for someone to force the Queen Mother to admit what she had done.

“You knew,” Elias said to him. “You knew she ordered my death before you came here.”

Kael's expression remained hard. “I knew someone inside this palace had ordered the firstborn heir to be killed. I found records at the northern shrine, including the name of the royal household healer who carried out the order. Master Alaric was paid to make sure one of us never left the palace alive.”

“Then why did you say I was supposed to be the sacrifice?”

“Because that is what the records called you. The first son was marked for death, while the second was to be kept alive as a possible successor to the Draven throne.” Kael's gaze dropped briefly to Elias's pendant. “But the healer changed the plan. He took me away instead, leaving you with our parents and telling them I was dead.”

Elias struggled to follow the explanation. “If she wanted me dead, why was I allowed to grow up with my parents?”

“Because Alaric lied to everyone. He reported that the firstborn had died and that the surviving child had been placed in safe custody. Your parents were told that you were the surviving twin, while I was taken to the north and raised by people who believed the First Bloodline had abandoned me.”

Kael's voice grew sharper with every sentence. “I grew up hearing that my family had chosen a stranger over me. When I finally discovered the truth, I learned that the stranger was my own brother, living freely while I was trained to become a weapon against the people who had stolen my life.”

Elias felt the sting of those words, even though he knew he had done nothing to deserve them. Kael had suffered, and Elias could not pretend otherwise. But his brother was looking at him as if the years of loneliness and anger were debts Elias had personally created.

“I didn't know you were alive,” Elias said. “I didn't even know I had a brother. If I could have changed what happened to you, I would have.”

Kael laughed bitterly. “That is easy to say when you are the one who got a family.”

“You think my life was perfect? My father spent years hiding secrets from me. My mother cried whenever I asked about the child she lost. And when I finally discovered who I was, the man destined to be my mate rejected me in front of an entire kingdom.”

His voice broke despite his efforts to control it. Elias hated that Kael could make him feel guilty for surviving, but he hated even more that a part of him understood his brother's pain.

“I lost a brother before I ever knew his name,” Elias continued. “You lost your family before you could understand what family meant. We were both robbed, Kael. I will not accept the blame for something neither of us chose.”

For a moment, Kael's expression changed. His eyes lingered on Elias's face, and something almost resembling grief passed through them. Then he looked away, burying the emotion beneath the same coldness he had worn since entering the chamber.

“You can tell yourself that if it helps you sleep,” he said. “But the kingdom cannot have two heirs, and I will not spend the rest of my life standing behind you.”

Cassian moved closer to Elias. “No one is asking you to stand behind him. If the First Bloodline has a legitimate claim, the matter can be settled through the old laws rather than threats.”

Kael turned toward the king. “The old laws? Your family destroyed the records that proved my claim, seized the territories that belonged to my ancestors, and murdered everyone who could challenge the coronation. Do not speak to me about laws written by thieves.”

“If you have proof, present it to the council.”

“The council is filled with the same families that benefited from the massacre. You expect me to place my life in their hands and trust them to judge fairly?”

“I expect you to stop threatening my mate.”

The word escaped Cassian before he could take it back.

The room went still.

Elias turned toward him, his heart reacting to the word even as anger rose in his chest. Cassian had rejected him publicly and then spent days behaving as though their bond gave him the right to protect him. Now he was claiming Elias as his mate in front of the Queen Mother and a rival heir, as if the bond were a title he could reclaim whenever it suited him.

Kael noticed the change in Elias's expression and smiled without warmth. “Your mate? I heard you rejected him at the Moon Ascension Ceremony. The whole kingdom witnessed it.”

Cassian's jaw tightened. “That does not concern you.”

“It concerns me if you intend to use my brother to secure your throne. You rejected him when you believed he was powerless, but now that his blood has awakened, you suddenly want him beside you. Tell me, King Cassian, do you love him, or have you simply realized that the last heir of the First Bloodline would make a useful queen?”

Elias flinched at the insult, although he knew Kael had chosen the words to provoke him. He looked at Cassian, waiting to see whether the king would defend their bond or hide behind the same excuses that had destroyed it.

Cassian did not look away.

“I made a terrible mistake when I rejected Elias,” he said. “I will spend as long as it takes proving that my feelings for him are real, but I will not demand his forgiveness, and I will not use his bloodline to strengthen my rule.”

Kael studied him with open suspicion. “Words are cheap.”

“Then judge me by my actions.”

“Gladly.” Kael turned back to Elias. “You have until tomorrow's moonrise to decide whether you will come with me. If you do, I will show you the records that prove what happened the night we were born. If you refuse, I will take the throne without your help, and anyone who stands in my way will be treated as an enemy.”

“You are asking me to abandon everyone I know and follow a man I met less than an hour ago,” Elias replied. “You may be my brother, but that does not mean I trust you.”

“I would not trust me either,” Kael said. “But I am the only person here who knows what was done to us.”

He turned toward the doors, but before he could leave, Isolde rose unsteadily from her chair.

“You cannot take the throne,” she said. “The ancient crown was destroyed.”

Kael stopped.

For the first time since entering the chamber, genuine surprise crossed his face. He slowly turned back toward the Queen Mother, and the silver mark beneath his collar began to glow.

“You told the kingdom the crown was destroyed,” he said. “You even had the royal records altered to support that lie. But you know where it is, don't you?”

Isolde said nothing.

Cassian's eyes narrowed. “Mother, what is he talking about?”

Kael stepped closer to the throne, his voice lowering until every word carried a dangerous certainty. “The First Bloodline did not rule through strength alone. The ancient crown was the source of the bond between the royal bloodline and every wolf kingdom. Whoever wore it could command the loyalty of the seven territories, but only a true heir could awaken its full power.”

Elias felt his pendant grow hot against his chest.

Kael noticed. “There it is. The crown is calling to you.”

“I don't know anything about a crown,” Elias said, pressing his hand against the pendant.

“Your blood knows more than you do.”

Kael raised his wrist, revealing the silver mark beneath his skin. Elias's pendant answered with a sudden pulse of light, and a wave of power swept through the chamber. The guards stumbled, several dropping to their knees as the old magic filled the room. Cassian reached for Elias, but the king was forced to brace himself against a pillar.

Only Kael remained standing.

He watched Elias with an expression that mixed triumph with something dangerously close to desperation.

“You feel it now, don't you?” Kael asked. “The crown is waking because both of its heirs are alive.”

Elias struggled to control the strange energy rising through his body. He had felt something similar at his family's estate, when the attackers had fallen before him, but this power was stronger. It seemed to reach beyond his skin, searching through the palace walls for something hidden far beneath the stone.

Then a sharp crack echoed from the eastern side of the chamber.

One of the marble pillars split down the middle.

A guard screamed as the floor beneath the throne began to tremble, revealing a narrow line of silver light between the stones. Cassian seized Elias's hand, and this time Elias did not pull away. The power was becoming too strong to control alone.

From somewhere beneath the palace, a deep, ancient voice rose through the floor.

“The heirs have returned. Bring the crown to the first son, and let the second son bleed.”

The silver light vanished.

Silence swallowed the chamber.

Kael's face had turned pale, but his gaze remained fixed on Elias.

“You heard it,” he whispered. “The crown has chosen you.”

Before Elias could answer, the Queen Mother sank to her knees and covered her face with both hands.

“No,” she sobbed. “Not again. I buried the first crown beneath this palace because I thought it would never awaken. If it has chosen Elias, then the prophecy has begun.”

Cassian looked down at his mother, his expression filled with horror. “What prophecy?”

Isolde slowly lifted her head, tears running down her cheeks.

“The prophecy that says one heir will wear the crown, the other will die by his hand, and the Alpha King who stands between them will be the first to fall.”

Elias stared at Kael, who was no longer smiling.

For the first time, his brother looked afraid.

And then Kael reached for the dagger at his waist, drew it from its sheath, and pointed it directly at Cassian.

“Then I suppose,” he said, his voice shaking with rage, “we should find out whether the prophecy can be changed.”