Se connecterAURORAThe attack began just after dawn.I woke to the sound of horns echoing through the fortress.For a second, I didn’t know where I was. Then reality came rushing back all at once. The fortress. The army. The war that had been marching toward us for days.Someone pounded on my door before I could even sit up properly.“Aurora!”It was Darius.I was already moving before he called my name a second time.The moment I opened the door, I found him standing there fully armed. Draven stood beside him, his expression grim enough to tell me everything I needed to know.“They’re here,” Draven said.My stomach tightened immediately.Neither man waited for a response. We moved through the corridor together, joining the flood of warriors rushing toward the fortress walls.The atmosphere was completely different from the night before.The nervous anticipation was gone.This was real now.Warriors shouted orders as they ran through the halls. Messengers carried reports from one section of the f
AURORAI should have gone to sleep after that.The sensible thing would’ve been to leave the balcony, find my room, and get whatever rest I could before the battle that was waiting for us at sunrise.Unfortunately, nothing about my life had been sensible for a very long time.The three of us remained on the balcony long after the conversation ended. Below us, the fortress continued preparing for war.Warriors crossed the courtyards carrying weapons and supplies while scouts arrived through the gates with fresh reports from the border.Every few minutes, another horn sounded somewhere in the distance.The enemy was getting closer. Everyone knew it. Nobody wanted to talk about it; maybe that was why none of us moved.The approaching war sat between us like an uninvited guest, and ignoring it felt easier than acknowledging what it might take away.Darius eventually leaned back against the stone railing and tilted his head toward the sky.“You know what’s annoying?”Draven immediately sig
AURORAThe fortress never truly slept.Long after midnight, warriors were still moving through the courtyards carrying weapons, supplies, and messages. Torches burned along the walls, illuminating the constant flow of activity below. Every few minutes, another patrol arrived through the gates while another departed into the darkness beyond the territories.The army approaching us hadn’t arrived yet, but everyone could feel its presence.It lingered over the fortress like an approaching storm.I stood on one of the upper balconies overlooking the grounds and watched the preparations unfold beneath me. The sight should have reassured me. Hundreds of warriors were preparing for battle. Defenses were being reinforced. Scouts were returning with reports. Every person inside the fortress seemed focused on surviving what was coming.Instead, all I felt was guilt.The army marching toward us wasn’t here for territory.It wasn’t here for Malrik.It wasn’t even here for the fortress.It was com
AURORANobody moved for a long time after Malrik finished speaking.The courtyard remained crowded, but the tension had changed. The hostility that had existed when we first arrived was gone, replaced by something much more complicated.Understanding but not completely, and not forgiveness either. Just enough truth to make hatred difficult. I looked at my mother.She stood several feet away from Lucien, tears still shining in her eyes, but she wasn’t trying to approach him anymore.Maybe she finally understood that twenty years of pain couldn’t be fixed in a single conversation.Maybe Lucien understood it too.Because despite everything that had been revealed, he hadn’t walked away.He hadn’t shouted.He hadn’t demanded answers that no longer existed.Instead, he stood there silently staring at the woman who had spent two decades regretting a choice she could never take back.The sight hurt in a way I couldn’t explain.For most of my life, I had imagined finding my mother.I had imag
AURORANobody spoke after Malrik’s last words.Not because the courtyard had fallen into one of those dramatic silences people liked to talk about. The truth was simpler than that.Everyone was waiting for him to finish.For the first time since arriving at his fortress, nobody cared about the territories he had conquered or the warriors standing around us.Nobody cared about the armies gathering beyond the borders.They wanted the same thing I did.The truth.The actual truth.Not another prophecy.Not another riddle.Not another secret buried beneath five more secrets.Just the truth.I folded my arms and looked directly at him.“Then stop talking around it.”My patience had completely run out.“You were there. You knew my mother. You knew Lucien. You knew about the Bloodline before anyone else. Fine. Great. Now explain why.”Malrik studied me for a moment before letting out a slow breath.For the first time since I’d met him, he looked tired.Not physically tired.The kind of tired
AURORAThe courtyard remained silent after Malrik’s revelation, but it wasn’t the same kind of silence as before.Earlier, people had been shocked.Now they were trying to make sense of what they were hearing.I knew I was.For years, the story had been simple. My mother abandoned her life, disappeared into the Hollow Lands, and left everything behind. It wasn’t a pleasant story, but at least it made sense.Now every version of that story seemed to be falling apart.I looked at my mother and found her staring at the ground.She wasn’t arguing with Malrik.She wasn’t denying anything he had said.That alone told me enough.“What really happened?” I asked.My voice sounded calmer than I felt.My mother closed her eyes briefly before looking at me. There was a defeated look in her expression that hadn’t been there before, as though she was finally realizing she couldn’t avoid this conversation anymore.“The council decided Lucien was too dangerous to live.”No one reacted.Not because th
AURORAThe strange warmth and emotions I had been feeling since last night seemed to be the only thing keeping me sane as I did the chores Malrik had allocated to me. This was the hardest and longest I've ever worked since I was sold to the wolves. I blushed as I recalled that most of my work had
DRAVENI didn’t mean to shift, it just happened.One moment I was in the training room taking out my anger and frustration at the punching bag because Malrik hadn't allowed me or Darius to see Rory since the courtyard.Then the next thing I knew I was in the woods behind the packhouse, tearing thro
AURORANo matter how I tried to stay awake I dozed off. I drifted into a dreamless sleep as the warmth I felt wrapped around me like a cozy blanket. But I had barely closed my house when I heard the thunderous sounds of boots before my cell door was harshly opened. Six guards stepped in, sneers on
AURORAThe moment I knelt it felt like a part of me had died. A part of me that I had shielded and protected in that dungeon for days. But I knew I couldn't watch Mimi get hurt for something she had no hand in. Despite how badly I hated my father for what he did I still didn't want to see him get







