Chapter 33: The Fifth Bloodline

“Too late.”

The child's voice echoed through the fortress.

It came from beneath the floor, from behind the walls, and from somewhere deep inside Kael's own chest.

For one terrible moment, nobody moved.

Then Lucien screamed.

He fell to his knees, both hands pressed against his chest. Black veins spread from his heart toward his throat, forming the same ancient symbols that had appeared on Kael's palm.

Kael dropped beside him.

“Lucien! Look at me!”

The Alpha's body convulsed.

His wolf roared, but the sound was wrong. It was not the furious cry of a creature fighting for control. It was the desperate howl of something being dragged away from its owner.

Kael gripped Lucien's shoulders.

“Fight it!”

Lucien lifted his head.

His eyes were black, but a thin silver ring remained around each pupil.

“I am trying.”

His voice sounded strained, almost distant.

“Kael, listen to me. If I lose control again, you have to—”

“No.”

“Let me finish.”

“No!” Kael shouted. “I have spent my entire life being told what I must sacrifice. My father sacrificed himself. My mother sacrificed her freedom. Rowan sacrificed his honor. And now you want to sacrifice your wolf?”

Lucien's lips parted.

Kael shook his head fiercely.

“I will not watch you destroy yourself because of a curse your father left behind.”

A bitter smile crossed Lucien's face.

“You make it sound as if I have a choice.”

“You do.”

“Do I?” Lucien whispered. “Because every time I look at you, I see the blade in my hand. I remember your blood on my fingers, even when I have not hurt you yet.”

His voice broke.

“I am afraid of what I will become.”

For the first time, Kael saw something in Lucien that no crown, title, or royal command could conceal.

Fear.

Not fear of death.

Fear of hurting him.

Kael pressed his forehead against Lucien's.

“Then be afraid,” he whispered. “Be afraid, but stay with me.”

Lucien closed his eyes.

For a heartbeat, the black veins stopped spreading.

Then King Draven's voice returned.

“The Moon heir must die.”

Lucien's eyes snapped open.

He seized Kael by the throat.

“LUCIEN!”

The chamber erupted into chaos.

Rowan lunged forward, but a wall of silver fire threw him backward. Darius grabbed the Crimson Queen and dragged her away from the blast. Seraphine began speaking an ancient incantation, her hands trembling as she tried to restrain the command.

None of it mattered.

Lucien's grip tightened.

Kael clawed at his wrist, struggling to breathe.

The Alpha's face twisted with agony.

“Run,” he forced out.

Kael shook his head.

“Run!”

“I won't leave you!”

“Kael, please!”

For a moment, Lucien's eyes cleared.

Kael saw him.

The real Lucien.

The boy who had rejected him in front of an entire kingdom because he believed cruelty was the only way to keep him alive. The man who had followed him into darkness, knowing that redemption might never be offered.

Then the blackness swallowed his eyes again.

Lucien raised his other hand.

A blade of shadow formed between his fingers.

Kael's vision blurred.

His lungs burned.

And then he heard the second heartbeat.

Not in his chest.

Beneath the fortress.

One beat.

The entire chamber shook.

A second beat followed.

The black blade shattered.

Lucien's grip loosened, and Kael fell forward, coughing violently.

Before anyone could reach them, the floor split open.

A column of silver light erupted from the crack, throwing dust and broken stone into the air. The walls groaned as the ancient fortress began to collapse around them.

At the center of the light stood a boy.

He appeared to be no older than ten.

His hair was silver at the roots and black at the ends. His skin was pale, almost translucent, and an unfamiliar symbol covered his throat.

Kael stared at him.

The boy had his face.

Not a resemblance.

Not a similarity.

The same eyes. The same mouth. The same small scar beneath the left eyebrow.

Even the way he tilted his head was identical.

Kael slowly rose.

“Who are you?”

The boy looked at him with an expression that seemed far too old for his face.

“You keep asking that question.”

Kael's stomach tightened.

“I have never seen you before.”

The boy glanced at the unconscious Lucien.

“You have seen me every night.”

Cold spread through Kael's body.

His dreams.

The white room.

The fifth door.

The child who had told him that he was the part of himself buried before birth.

“You're the boy from my visions.”

The child nodded.

“I am the part of you that survived.”

Seraphine made a strangled sound.

“No.”

The boy turned toward her.

“Hello, grandmother.”

Seraphine stumbled backward.

For the first time, she looked genuinely terrified.

“You cannot exist.”

“Yet here I am.”

“You were destroyed.”

The boy smiled without warmth.

“You destroyed the body.”

Kael looked between them.

“What is he talking about?”

Seraphine shook her head.

“Kael, do not listen to him.”

The boy's expression hardened.

“Of course. You would rather keep lying.”

He lifted his hand.

The silver light surrounding him transformed into a series of images.

A nursery.

A cradle.

A woman screaming.

And a newborn child lying perfectly still beneath a silver blanket.

Kael could not breathe.

It was the same room he had seen in his vision, but the woman on the bed was not Elaris.

It was his mother.

The Crimson Queen.

She looked younger, her hair loose around her shoulders, her face twisted with pain.

Beside her stood Kael's father.

In his arms was a newborn baby.

Kael.

But another cradle stood nearby.

Empty.

The boy's voice softened.

“You were not born alone.”

Kael turned toward his mother.

She had gone completely white.

“No,” she whispered.

The boy looked at her.

“Tell him.”

The Queen shook her head.

“Please.”

“Tell him what you did.”

Tears streamed down her face.

Kael stepped toward her.

“Mother?”

She covered her mouth.

“I had twins.”

The words seemed to drain the air from the chamber.

Kael stared at her.

“Twins?”

She nodded helplessly.

“You were born first. Your brother came minutes later.”

Kael looked back at the boy.

His brother.

The word felt impossible.

He had spent his entire life believing he was alone, believing the secrets surrounding his birth concerned only the crown and the ancient powers fighting to possess him.

But there had been another child.

Another heir.

Another life.

“What happened to him?” Kael whispered.

The Queen broke down.

“Your father believed the second child would inherit the power of the fifth bloodline. He thought that if both of you lived, the ancient pact would break before either of you could control your powers.”

“So he took him away?”

“No.”

Her voice was barely audible.

“He died.”

Kael's heart stopped.

The boy laughed.

It was a small, hollow sound.

“She believes that.”

Kael turned toward him.

“What do you mean?”

The boy stepped closer.

“I died when I was born. Your father buried my body beneath the Moon Crown and sealed my soul away. He told everyone that the second child had never survived.”

His eyes darkened.

“But souls do not disappear simply because kings command them to.”

The silver light pulsed.

“And when your father divided Azrael's heart, something else awakened inside the crown.”

Kael felt the second heartbeat answer.

The boy pressed a hand against his own chest.

“Me.”

Silence swallowed the chamber.

The Queen sank to her knees.

“I thought you were gone.”

The boy looked at her.

“You never came looking.”

“I didn't know!”

“You never asked.”

The accusation cut through her.

Kael moved between them.

“Enough. He is a child.”

“No,” the boy replied. “I am the brother you forgot.”

“I did not forget you.”

“Then why does your heart only beat for one of us?”

Kael froze.

The boy's eyes shifted toward his chest.

“Your second heartbeat isn't Azrael's heart anymore.”

Kael felt the black mark on his palm burn.

“What is it?”

The boy took another step forward.

“Mine.”

At once, Lucien gasped behind them.

The black veins on his body began retreating. His eyes cleared, and his wolf's howl faded into a weak, exhausted whimper.

Kael rushed toward him.

“Lucien!”

But the boy raised his hand.

“Don't touch him yet.”

Kael stopped.

“Why?”

“Because the command has changed.”

The boy looked toward the ceiling.

Far above them, the Moon Crown appeared again, its silver points spinning around a dark center.

The command that had bound Lucien to his father's final order was dissolving.

But something far worse was taking its place.

A new symbol appeared across Lucien's chest.

A symbol Kael had never seen before.

Five interlocking circles.

The boy's face went pale.

For the first time, his composure cracked.

“No,” he whispered.

Kael turned toward him.

“What is it?”

The boy backed away.

“They found him.”

“Who?”

The boy stared at Lucien.

Then he looked at Kael, and all the anger in his face gave way to terror.

“The fifth bloodline.”

A sound rolled across the ruined fortress.

It was not a roar.

It was not a howl.

It was the sound of thousands of voices speaking the same name.

“The lost prince has awakened.”

Beyond the broken walls, the sky turned white.

Every wolf in the kingdoms fell to its knees.

Every crown split down the middle.

And far beyond the mountains, on the throne that had waited centuries for its rightful heir, a figure opened its eyes.

It wore Lucien's face.

But it had no shadow.

And when it smiled, the Moon Crown above Kael's head shattered into five pieces.

The boy seized Kael's wrist.

“We have to leave.”

Kael stared at the impossible figure in the distance.

“Who is that?”

His brother's answer came in a whisper.

“The brother Lucien was supposed to be.”