LOGINAURORAFor several long seconds after Lucien spoke, nobody said a word.The clearing had become so quiet that I could hear the wind moving through the dead trees beyond the border. The army remained motionless behind him, stretching endlessly into the mist, but somehow they felt less important than the conversation unfolding in front of us.I couldn't stop looking at my mother.When I first saw her standing beyond the border, I imagined a hundred different explanations for why she disappeared. Maybe she had been trapped. Maybe she had been running. Maybe she had sacrificed everything to keep me safe.Now I wasn't sure what to believe because every answer seemed to come wrapped in another secret.Lucien watched her with an expression that made my chest ache. There was no love left in his eyes. No hope. Whatever relationship had existed between them had been worn away over the years until only resentment remained."You still haven't told her the truth."His voice was calm, but it carrie
AURORANobody spoke after Lucien's accusation.The clearing had gone unnaturally quiet, as though even the Hollow Lands were listening.My mother's face was pale, her eyes shining with tears she refused to let fall. Across from her, Lucien stood with his hands folded behind his back, his expression unreadable again, but the damage had already been done. The anger I'd seen moments ago was gone, replaced by something colder. Something far more dangerous.Resentment.Not the kind that exploded and disappeared.The kind that sat inside a person for years until it became part of who they were.I couldn't stop staring at him.Everything about him felt wrong and familiar at the same time.The shape of his face.The dark hair.The eyes.Moon Goddess, the eyes.Every time I looked at him, it felt like I was staring at a distorted version of myself.Not because we looked identical.Because there was something recognizable beneath the surface.Something that shouldn't have been there.Something
AURORANobody spoke.Not because there was nothing to say.Because nobody knew what to say after that.Every time he lost control, people died.The words settled over the clearing like a curse.I looked at Lucien.Really looked at him.Not the army behind him.Not the resemblance we shared.Not the strange connection twisting inside my chest every time I looked at him.Just him.He stood motionless beyond the border, his expression unreadable.No guilt.No anger.No shame.Nothing.That bothered me more than if he had laughed.Because if someone accused me of killing innocent people, I would react.I would deny it.Defend myself.Feel something.Lucien just stood there.Like he'd heard the story so many times it no longer meant anything.The realization made my stomach turn.My mother was staring at him too.Not with hatred.That would've been easier to understand.What I saw in her eyes was heartbreak.The kind that never really heals.The kind people carry for decades."You promised
AURORAThe silence that followed felt suffocating.You wanted me.The words hung in the air between them, sharp enough to cut.I looked at the woman standing in front of me.My mother.Or at least the woman claiming to be my mother.She hadn't moved.She hadn't denied it.She hadn't immediately shouted that he was lying.And somehow that hurt more than if she had.The man saw it too.I watched satisfaction flicker across his face.Not because he'd hurt me.Because he'd hurt her.The realization unsettled me.This wasn't about me.Not really.At least not entirely.This wound existed long before I was born.Long before wolves.Long before the Hollow Lands.Long before any of this.The man folded his arms across his chest.For the first time since arriving, he seemed completely relaxed.Like he'd stepped onto familiar ground.Like he'd finally reached a conversation he'd been waiting years to have."Tell her."His voice wasn't loud.It didn't need to be.The woman flinched.Only slightl
AURORAThe pain hit so suddenly that my knees almost gave out beneath me.It wasn't physical.Not exactly.Nothing was cutting me. Nothing was attacking me.Yet it felt like something inside my chest had been grabbed by an invisible hand and squeezed.Hard."Aurora."Draven's voice sounded distant.I felt his hand tighten around my arm.Felt Darius step closer.But neither of them could stop what was happening.Because whatever this was...It was coming from the bond.No.Not the bond.Something deeper.Something older.The figure continued walking through the mist.Slowly.Deliberately.The army behind him remained completely still.Thousands of soldiers standing in absolute silence.Watching.Waiting.The sight should have felt impossible.Armies weren't silent.Not armies this large.There should have been movement.Conversation.The sound of armor shifting.The nervous energy that always existed before a battle.Instead there was nothing.Just silence.And the approaching figure.
AURORAThe horn echoed across the Hollow Lands. The sound was unlike anything I had ever heard before.It wasn't loud in the traditional sense. It didn't shake the ground or split the sky. Instead, it seemed to vibrate inside my chest.It sounded deep, ancient, and wrong. The moment it sounded, every horse behind us reacted.Several reared violently. One nearly threw its rider. Even the wolves looked unsettled.The woman standing across the border had gone completely still.For the first time since we'd met her, the calm certainty she'd been carrying cracked.Real fear flashed across her face. Not concern or caution but fear. My stomach tightened immediately.Because if this frightened her, then whatever was coming was worse than I imagined."They found us."The words had barely left her mouth when movement appeared behind her.At first, I thought it was the mist, then I realized the mist wasn't moving. Something was walking through it.Dozens of shadows emerged between the twisted t
ELIJAHThe house smelled of herbs. It clung to the walls, seeping into the cracks of the floorboard and settling into the fabric of the curtains that hadn't been replaced since the invasion. I gagged at the horrible smell of the herbs I had prepared, grateful I didn't need it. Since I couldn't aff
DARIUSSomething was wrong with the packhouse. I knew it before I even crossed the boundary line of Malrik’s territory.The moment my foot stepped past the wards, my wolf stirred uneasily beneath my ribs like he’d caught a scent that didn’t belong.The packhouse was never silent at night. Even in t
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







