Chapter 40: The Awakening

The moon hung low over Crescentra, casting a molten silver glow across the high cliffs as Serena and Elias emerged from the secret chamber. The wind howled through the craggy edges like a warning, chilling her skin, but Serena didn’t shiver.

She was no longer the same girl who had been dragged into the palace under false pretenses. No longer the orphaned daughter of an unknown bloodline. She had tasted power—and it had tasted her back.

They moved swiftly through the lower tunnels, hidden beneath the ancient library, before emerging into the far wing of the castle. Elias had cloaked their exit with his residual magic, but the air felt tense. Watchful.

Someone knew.

“Word will spread,” Elias muttered as they slipped into a deserted hallway. “The moment that Shadowhound didn’t return to its master, the Council would have felt it.”

“Let them,” Serena said, her voice low and calm. “I’m done hiding.”

Elias glanced at her, surprised—and maybe a little impressed. “You’re really stepping into it, aren’t you?”

She paused, her fingers brushing the dagger at her side. “I’ve run my whole life. For my mother, for myself. But now I know who I am. Or at least... who I’m becoming. If I don’t take the lead now, they’ll write the story for me. And I refuse to be their villain.”

A flicker of something unreadable passed through his eyes, but he nodded. “Then we need allies. Not just mine.”

Serena looked at him sharply. “You mean—?”

“Your people. The Nightfangs.”

Her breath caught. “I don’t even know where to find them. My mother never spoke of them.”

“She didn’t have to,” Elias said. “Because I know where they are.”

Serena blinked. “What?”

“I didn’t tell you earlier because I wasn’t sure you were ready to hear it. But the Council didn’t just chase the Nightfangs into extinction. They banished them—to the Cursed Valley beyond the Shadow Pass. No one goes there. Not without bleeding.”

Serena’s jaw clenched. “Then that’s where we go.”

By morning, they were already halfway to the valley.

Serena had barely slept. Her dreams had been thick with smoke and wolves—visions of battles yet to come, of faces she didn’t recognize calling her name.

But one voice echoed louder than the rest.

“You must choose what kind of queen you’ll become.”

Now, as the sun rose over the horizon, bathing the rocky cliffs in a fiery glow, Serena found herself at the edge of the Shadow Pass. The terrain was harsh—scarred from old wars, twisted trees and blackened soil marking where blood had soaked deep.

“This was once sacred ground,” Elias said quietly. “Until the Council turned it into a graveyard.”

Serena touched a tree whose bark had split open like a wound. The magic here was thick and bitter, like smoke in her throat. Her wolf stirred uneasily.

Then, a sound—distant, sharp, like a howl cut short.

Elias raised his head. “They know we’re here.”

A growl rumbled through the rocks.

And then—they came.

Dozens of eyes appeared in the shadows. Wolves, dark and scarred, emerging one by one from between the dead trees. Not wild. Not mindless. But cautious. Watching.

One stepped forward—a massive she-wolf with streaks of silver in her coat and one ear torn clean off. She shifted before their eyes, revealing a tall, fierce woman with deep brown skin and glowing violet eyes.

“You carry the scent of betrayal,” she said, voice sharp as a blade. “Why have you entered the sacred exile?”

Serena stepped forward, heart hammering, but her voice clear. “Because I’m one of you. Daughter of Talia Nightfang. And I’m here to bring our people back.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

The older woman’s eyes narrowed. “That name hasn’t been spoken in two decades. Prove it.”

Serena hesitated—then drew the dagger from her belt.

Light shimmered down the blade, dancing with a violet glow. The runes on it pulsed, and the wolves surrounding them dropped to their knees, howling low.

“She bears the Flame Sigil,” one murmured. “The rightful blood.”

The elder woman slowly stepped back. “Then the prophecy is true.”

Elias stood silently behind her, not interrupting. This moment was Serena’s.

“You were hidden,” the elder woman said. “But you have returned. And not a moment too soon. War is coming. The Council knows. They’ve already begun mobilizing.”

Serena looked around at the clan—scarred, beaten, cast aside by history. But they were still strong. Still loyal.

And they were hers.

“I will not ask you to kneel,” she said, her voice echoing off the rocks. “But I will ask you to rise. To fight. To reclaim what they took from us.”

Silence. Then—

The elder woman knelt.

Followed by the rest.

One by one, the Nightfangs bowed their heads to Serena.

Elias stepped beside her and whispered, “You just raised an army.”

She didn’t respond.

Her wolf was fully awake now.

And for the first time, she felt truly whole.