登入AURORABy the time we reached the border of the Northern territories, the sun had already begun to set.The sky was painted in shades of gold and orange, but there was something unsettling about the beauty of it.Maybe it was because the closer we got to home, the less it felt like home. Every mile seemed to confirm what the scout had told us in the Hollow Lands.Malrik hadn’t conquered these territories.He had inherited them.That was the only explanation that made sense.I had expected destruction. Burned villages. Battlefields. Signs of resistance.Instead, what we found was order.The roads were occupied. Wolves moved freely between settlements. Merchants still traveled with their carts. Children still played near wells. Life hadn’t stopped.If anything, it looked more organized than before.That realization bothered me far more than a battlefield would have.A battlefield would have meant people fought him.This looked like they had accepted him.Darius seemed to be reaching the
AURORAThe journey back began before sunrise.Nobody slept.After everything we learned in the Hollow Lands, sleep felt impossible.The army Lucien had brought remained behind while preparations were made. The Hollow Ones weren’t joining us yet. According to Lucien, marching thousands of soldiers across the territories would only create panic and give Malrik time to prepare.For once, I agreed with him.The last thing we needed was another war before we understood what we were walking into.The sky was still dark when our group gathered at the edge of the Hollow Lands.My mother stood a few feet away from me.The distance felt strange.Not because she was a stranger anymore.Because she wasn’t. She was my mother. I knew who she was. I knew why she left. I knew why she stayed away and somehow everything still felt unresolved.Maybe some wounds didn’t heal just because the truth was finally revealed.Maybe twenty years was too much damage for a few conversations to fix.“You should take
AURORAFor a moment, nobody reacted.It wasn’t because they didn’t understand what the scout had said.It was because they understood it too well.The Northern Pack has fallen.Malrik has taken control.The words echoed through my head while the clearing around us descended into chaos. Wolves were speaking over one another. Questions flew in every direction. Even the Hollow soldiers standing behind Lucien looked unsettled.But all I could think about was Malrik.The note.The kidnapping.The trials.The traps.The way he always seemed one step ahead of everyone else.A sick feeling settled in my stomach.Because looking back now, there had been signs from the beginning.Too many signs.I just hadn’t known where to look.Darius was the first person to move.“What exactly happened?”His voice cut through the noise immediately.The scout turned toward him.His face was still pale.“The council tried to stop him.”The man’s throat bobbed.“It didn’t matter.”A cold silence settled over th
AURORANobody spoke for several seconds after my mother revealed the truth.Lucien carries the power to destroy.You carry the power to create.The words settled over the clearing, but instead of answering questions, they seemed to create even more.I stared at Lucien.He wasn’t looking at me.He wasn’t looking at our mother either.His gaze remained fixed on the ground as though he were replaying every moment of his life through an entirely different lens.For twenty years he had believed he was the Bloodline.For twenty years he had believed the power belonged to him alone.Now he was learning that everything the council told him had been a lie.I understood why he looked shaken.Honestly, I felt the same way.My mother slowly released a breath.“The power should never have been separated.”Lucien laughed softly.There was no humor in the sound.“And yet here we are.”His voice was quieter than before.Less angry.That frightened me more than the shouting ever could.The anger I und
AURORAFor the first time since this conversation began, Lucien looked genuinely caught off guard.The reaction lasted less than a second.Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed it.I did.Because until now, Lucien had seemed like the only person standing in this clearing who wasn’t surprised by anything. Every accusation, every revelation, every painful memory had rolled off him without changing his expression.This was different.The moment my mother said the Bloodline had split, something flickered across his face before he buried it again.And that terrified me more than all the stories about armies and prophecies.Because if Lucien didn’t know this then whatever came next was important.My mother noticed it too.I saw her watching him carefully before turning back toward me.“The council believed the Bloodline existed inside one heir. That was the foundation of everything they knew about the prophecy. Every record, every prediction, every ritual was built around that assumpti
AURORANobody interrupted after Lucien’s last words, and honestly, nobody could.The image he had painted was already sitting heavily in everyone’s mind.A frightened six-year-old boy was losing control of a power he didn’t understand, while the adults around him responded with fear instead of compassion.I could see it now—the council chambers, the panic, and the whispers.The moment people stopped seeing a child and started seeing a threat.Maybe that was what disturbed me the most. Not because it was difficult to imagine, but because it wasn’t. I had lived through something similar.The moment my powers surfaced, everyone had looked at me differently, too. The elders had talked about protection while preparing cages. They had spoken about safety while fitting collars around people’s necks.Fear always found a way to disguise itself as concern, and fear was usually where cruelty began.My mother lowered herself onto a fallen tree near the edge of the clearing. For the first time sin
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
AURORAI waited, holding my breath wondering if I would hear the howling sound I had heard before in my mind but no matter how long I held my breath the sound didn't return. I let out a breath and finally decided to look around the room. Malrik’s footsteps had faded down the corridor, the howling







