Chapter 34: The Brother Who Wore Another Face

Kael could not look away from the figure beyond the mountains.

It had Lucien's face.

The same sharp jaw. The same dark hair. The same cruelly beautiful eyes that had once watched Kael stand alone beneath the full moon while an entire kingdom laughed at his rejection.

But the figure wore no crown.

It did not need one.

The world itself seemed to bend around it.

“That's impossible,” Lucien whispered.

He had managed to stand, though his legs trembled. One hand remained pressed against his chest, where the five interlocking circles glowed beneath his skin.

Kael turned toward him.

“Do you know who that is?”

Lucien shook his head.

“No.”

His answer came too quickly.

Kael noticed.

So did the boy standing beside him.

“You're lying,” the child said.

Lucien's gaze snapped toward him.

“Be careful what you accuse me of.”

The boy laughed bitterly.

“You always say that when you remember something you don't want anyone else to know.”

Lucien went still.

Kael looked between them.

“What does that mean?”

Neither answered.

Outside, the white sky began to darken. A long crack spread across the clouds, revealing a vast darkness beyond them. Five silver stars appeared inside the opening, arranged in the same pattern as the circles on Lucien's chest.

Then a sixth star ignited.

The boy seized Kael's hand.

“We need to leave. Now.”

“Not until someone explains what is happening.”

“There's no time!”

“I'm tired of hearing that!”

Kael pulled his hand free.

“Every time I ask a question, someone tells me to run. Every time I discover a secret, another secret appears. My father hid the truth. My grandmother hid the truth. My mother hid the truth. Even you”—he pointed at the boy—“appeared out of nowhere and expect me to trust you because you claim to be my brother.”

The boy's expression faltered.

For a moment, he looked painfully young.

“You're right,” he whispered.

Kael had expected another argument.

Not that.

The boy lowered his head.

“My name is Caelan.”

The name settled into the chamber like a forgotten memory.

Caelan.

Kael repeated it silently.

“Why didn't Mother tell me about you?”

Caelan looked toward the Crimson Queen.

“Because she believed I was dead.”

The Queen covered her mouth.

“I carried you both,” she whispered. “I felt you move. I heard your heartbeats. I held you after you were born.”

She reached toward Caelan, but he stepped away.

“I remember,” he said.

Her hand fell.

“I remember your voice. I remember you singing when the storms frightened us. I remember you promising that nobody would ever take us away from you.”

His eyes filled with tears.

“And then I remember waking up beneath a crown while you held my brother and told the kingdom you had lost one child.”

The Queen collapsed.

Kael caught her before she struck the floor.

“Mother.”

She clutched his arm, sobbing.

“I thought they had taken your brother's body. Your father told me there was nothing left to save. He said the Moon Crown had consumed him.”

Caelan's expression hardened.

“And you believed him.”

“I was grieving!”

“So was I!”

The force of his voice shook dust from the ceiling.

For a moment, the darkness around Caelan flared. His eyes turned silver, then black, then a color Kael had never seen before.

White.

Not the silver of the Moon Kingdom.

Not the black of the Shadow Court.

A pure, terrible white.

Seraphine recoiled.

“Caelan, control yourself!”

The boy turned on her.

“You don't get to command me anymore.”

The white light vanished.

Caelan swayed.

Kael caught his shoulder.

The child looked surprised by the gesture.

“You believe me?” he asked.

“I believe that you're hurting.”

“That isn't the same thing.”

“No,” Kael admitted. “It isn't.”

He held Caelan's gaze.

“But if you really are my brother, I'll hear your story. I won't promise to trust you before you've earned it.”

For the first time, Caelan smiled without bitterness.

“That's fair.”

Then the fortress doors exploded inward.

A blast of cold air swept through the chamber. The remaining shadows scattered, and a procession of figures appeared beyond the ruins.

They wore white armor.

Their faces were hidden behind smooth masks, each marked with five interlocking circles.

At their head stood a man with Lucien's face.

He stepped over the broken stones as though he had entered a familiar home.

Lucien moved in front of Kael.

The stranger's eyes flicked toward him.

“How touching,” he said. “You still protect him.”

Lucien's jaw tightened.

“Who are you?”

The stranger smiled.

“You really don't remember?”

He lifted his hand.

The five circles on Lucien's chest answered with a violent flash.

Lucien dropped to one knee.

Kael rushed toward him, but Caelan grabbed his arm.

“Don't touch the mark!”

The stranger watched them with amusement.

“Ah. The lost child has returned.”

Caelan's face drained of color.

“Stay away from him.”

“From which one?”

The stranger looked at Kael.

“Your precious brother?”

Then at Lucien.

“Or the prince who was never supposed to exist?”

Kael's stomach twisted.

“Explain yourself.”

The stranger tilted his head.

“You want the truth? Very well.”

He walked farther into the chamber.

“My name is Aurelian. I am the first heir of the fifth bloodline, the bloodline your ancestors erased because they feared what we could become.”

Seraphine shook her head.

“The fifth bloodline was never meant to have an heir.”

“And yet here I stand.”

Aurelian turned toward Lucien.

“Tell me, little brother. Has Father finally stopped speaking to you from the grave?”

Lucien's face went white.

Kael looked at him.

“Lucien?”

The Alpha struggled to his feet.

“I don't have a brother.”

Aurelian sighed.

“Of course. They took that memory, too.”

He touched two fingers to his temple.

“Let me help you.”

Lucien suddenly screamed.

Images flashed across the chamber.

A palace of white stone.

Two infants lying side by side.

A woman wearing a crown of five stars.

A man standing over the cradles, his face hidden by a hood.

Then a voice.

One child will inherit the kingdom. The other will become the lock.

The vision vanished.

Lucien staggered.

Kael caught him.

“Look at me. You're here. You're with me.”

Lucien gripped Kael's arm as if the touch were the only thing keeping him anchored to the present.

“I remember the palace,” he whispered.

Aurelian's smile widened.

“Good.”

“I remember the woman.”

“Better.”

Lucien lifted his head.

“And I remember what she did.”

For the first time, Aurelian's smile disappeared.

Lucien's eyes turned silver.

“You killed her.”

Silence fell.

Then Aurelian laughed softly.

“Did I?”

He glanced at Caelan.

“Perhaps you should ask your brother what happened to the woman who gave birth to us.”

Caelan's breath caught.

Kael felt him trembling beside him.

“Caelan?”

The boy stared at Aurelian as if he were looking at a nightmare he had spent his entire life trying to forget.

“No,” Caelan whispered.

Aurelian approached him.

“Yes, little prince.”

“That's not possible.”

“You were there when she died.”

Caelan backed away.

“I was a baby.”

“You were more than a baby.”

Aurelian crouched until they were eye to eye.

“You were the weapon they created to kill me.”

Caelan shook his head violently.

“Stop.”

“They put the fifth bloodline inside you, just as they put the fourth inside your brother. They divided the power between two children and hoped the world would never discover what they had done.”

Kael's blood ran cold.

Two children.

Two bloodlines.

Two hearts.

He looked at Lucien.

“Is that why you have the fifth bloodline's mark?”

Lucien said nothing.

Aurelian answered for him.

“Because Lucien Draven was never meant to be merely the heir of Black Fang.”

He rose and extended his hand toward Lucien.

“He was born in our kingdom. Stolen as an infant. Given another name, another family, another destiny.”

Lucien's breathing became ragged.

“No.”

“Your father knew the truth. That is why he ordered you to kill Kael. He feared what would happen if the fourth and fifth bloodlines awakened together.”

Aurelian's eyes gleamed.

“And now both have awakened.”

The five circles on Lucien's chest blazed.

Across the chamber, Caelan's white eyes ignited.

Kael felt the second heartbeat inside him answer them both.

Three different powers.

Three different destinies.

And one ancient command connecting them.

Aurelian spread his arms.

“Come home, Lucien.”

The Alpha took a step backward.

“I am not your brother.”

“Then why does your heart recognize me?”

Aurelian reached toward him.

Lucien's body moved before he could stop it.

One step.

Then another.

Kael seized his hand.

“Lucien, don't!”

Lucien stopped.

For a moment, he stood between them, trembling with the effort of resisting whatever called to him.

Then he turned toward Kael.

“I choose you.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Aurelian's expression changed.

The stranger's smile returned, but this time it was filled with something cold and merciless.

“Then you've made your choice.”

He snapped his fingers.

Lucien's body went rigid.

A black chain erupted from the five circles on his chest, wrapped around his throat, and pulled him violently toward Aurelian.

Kael caught Lucien's wrist.

Caelan seized Kael from behind.

But the chain continued to drag Lucien across the broken floor.

Aurelian watched them struggle.

“You can keep him, Kael Ashwyn.”

His eyes burned white.

“You can keep your mate, your crown, and your precious little family.”

The chain tightened.

“Or you can discover why the fifth bloodline was willing to destroy three kingdoms to get him back.”

Lucien's fingers slipped from Kael's grasp.

And as Aurelian pulled him into the darkness, Lucien shouted one final warning.

“Kael, whatever you do, don't let them open my heart!”