LOGINAURORAThe 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
AURORABy the time we reached the outer territories, the sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains.The journey from the Hollow Lands had given me far too much time to think, and unfortunately, thinking rarely made anything better. Every answer we had uncovered seemed to create two more questions, and every road somehow led back to the same person.Malrik.The further we traveled into the territories under his control, the more obvious it became that whatever he was building had started long before any of us realized it.I had expected tension when we crossed into his lands.I had expected frightened villagers, nervous warriors, maybe even signs of resistance.Instead, everything looked… normal.People were working.Merchants were traveling.Children were running through village squares while their parents watched from nearby doorways.Nobody looked oppressed.Nobody looked afraid.If anything, the territories seemed more organized than when we left.That realization bothered me
AURORAI didn’t sleep that night.Even after we left the village and made camp beyond the tree line, my mind refused to settle.The villagers’ words kept replaying in my head.He talks about you.He always said you would come back.You should talk to him.None of it made sense.Every time I thought about Malrik, I remembered the council chamber. I remembered him smiling while the elders turned against me. I remembered him separating me from Draven and Darius. I remembered the way he seemed to know things he shouldn’t know.Nothing about that man suggested kindness.Nothing about him suggested loyalty.And yet everywhere we went, people spoke about him differently.Not with fear.Not with resentment.With respect.I hated how much that bothered me.The fire crackled quietly in the center of camp while most of the others slept. The night was cool, but I barely noticed. My thoughts were too loud.A blanket settled over my shoulders.I looked up to find Darius standing beside me.“You’re
AURORAThe twig snapped again. It wasn't loud but it might as well have exploded inside my skull. Ever since I woke up I've been hearing everything a little too loud. I could even hear the wind threading through the trees, the faint rustle of leaves under distant feet, the scrape of leather agains
LUNA“Not like that.”The maid froze, fingers tightening around the silver clasp at my throat.“I said tighten it,” I repeated, slow and cold. “Do you think I enjoy things hanging crooked around my neck?”“I… I’m sorry, Luna,” she stammered, hands shaking as she tried again but the clasp pinched my
AURORA“What do you mean you don't know?” Darius asked. I could see the worry in his eyes. It was a bit weird getting used to Darius who didn't see me as a sex toy, I could also feel his worry deep in my heart. The dream or vision… I honestly don't know what to call what I'd seen and how I'd seen
AURORAI woke up choking on heat but it wasn't the type that came from fire or fever alone, it was something deeper than that, like something was pulling me from inside, stretching, and burning like my body was being torn in opposite directions. I heard the voices before I opened my eyes. I heard







