เข้าสู่ระบบMaya’s POVThe heat of liquid fire pouring from the mountain’s core struck my face the moment I stepped onto the bridge planks. These were no ordinary flames—they burned with blinding solar white, devouring stone and metal alike, melting iron locks and warping the very gates.Lawrence caught me around the waist, pulling me hard against his chest—sweaty, blood‑stained, and unbreakable.“Kenneth’s trap is consuming the lower galleries,” he growled, nodding toward the tunnel mouth where the hooded priestess coughed through thick smoke. “The vault is fifty meters beneath us. If we go down, we could be buried alive.”“My mother died a fugitive because of what lies inside that vault, Lawrence,” I said, meeting his gaze with unyielding resolve. “I will not let her truth burn to ash.”He did not argue. He knew the wolf in me would not be moved. He nodded once, wrenched his greatsword from the wood, and took the lead, cutting through the choking smoke.We descended the spiral stairs carved int
Lawrence’s POVKenneth’s voice bounced off the basalt walls, carrying a poison far deadlier than the sulfur gas Maya had already burned away.The original contract.The sheer contempt in my uncle’s tone—spitting those words about my wife—shattered the last fragile hold of restraint. No tactics. No council. No honor. My beast tore free, ravenous for his flesh, demanding I tear the traitor apart with my own claws.“KAEL! SECURE THE EMPRESS’S CARRIAGE AND FLAY EVERY LAST HOWLER FROM THE MINE MOUTHS!” I roared, the vibration of my voice sending loose stones raining down the cliffs.“AT YOUR COMMAND, SUPREME!” Kael shouted back, leading the Imperial Phalanx into the attackers pouring down the ropes.I did not waste time searching for a path.I drove my boots into the rock face and launched upward in brutal, bounding leaps, using the mine timbers and stone ledges to climb fifty feet in less than ten seconds. Every step cracked the basalt, leaving a trail of gray dust in my wake.Kenneth’s t
Maya’s POVGeneral Vane’s severed head lay half‑buried in the freezing mud, eyes glassy and empty, blood crusted thick in his gray beard. The silence of the twenty thousand legions behind us hung heavy and suffocating—thick with the sour, held‑back roar of vengeance.Lawrence wasted no breath on speeches.In one fluid motion, without even drawing his sword, he seized the messenger by the throat before the man could turn his horse. He lifted him clear of the saddle with one hand and slammed him face‑first into the muck, the impact shattering his collarbone.“Tell Kenneth I do not need three days,” Lawrence snarled, inches from the man’s terrified face. “I will be at his gates before dawn. And when I break them down… no ice pit, no dungeon, no hell itself will be deep enough to save his bloodline.”He snatched the canvas sack holding the General’s official seals and safe‑conducts from the saddle, then tossed the broken messenger to the rear guards—chained him to a supply cart to be drag
Lawrence’S POVThe dry, sharp snap of the renegade leader’s neck beneath my boot was the only answer his confession received.My uncle. The Lord of the Eastern Mines.My own father’s younger brother—of my own bloodline—had paid the assassins who tried to slit my children’s throats while I sat upon the Council dais. The rage that rose in me was no blind, burning explosion. It was cold. Absolute. Venomous and sharp, freezing every corner of my mind into perfect, terrible clarity.I stepped away from the body and turned toward the ring of soldiers surrounding the smoking ruins of the pavilion. Hundreds of eyes watched me through the morning mist—no one daring to breathe until I spoke.“KAEL!” My command crashed against the cliffs like distant thunder.The Captain of the Guard pushed through the ranks, sword still drawn, breath held tight.“At your command, Supreme Alpha.”“Bring me the twelve Clan Lords who voted for Boran’s motion,” I said, flat and final. “Bind them with runic iron in
Maya’s POVThe crunch of Boran’s skull against the earth beneath Lawrence’s boot was drowned out by the war cry that exploded from the eastern sector of the camp.The old traitor’s confession never finished echoing. With one sharp, crushing stomp, Lawrence shattered his windpipe and left him lifeless in the ash. The Supreme Alpha turned toward me—and in his eyes there was nothing human left. Only the cold, killing emptiness of a predator whose most sacred ground had been violated.“KAEL! SECURE THIS PAVILION—AND KILL ANY NOBLE WHO SO MUCH AS MOVES!” he roared, yanking his sword free from the dirt and vanishing into the mist like a ghost.I did not stay behind to wait.I pressed the twins tight against my chest, wrapping them deep within the folds of my travel-lined arctic wolf cloak, and stepped down from the dais—fast, steady, and unyielding. Valia drew her short sword instantly, falling into place at my right flank alongside six remaining loyal guards of the Luna Real.“Your Majesty
Lawrence’s POVDawn mist drifted in ragged clouds through the slits of the main war pavilion. The air reeked of damp pine, old leather, and the suffocating, held breath of fifty Clan Lords—so thick it was hard to breathe.In the center, the fire pit carved into basalt barely chased away the cold seeping up from the coast. I wore no armor, no gala cloak—only combat trousers, my chest bare, every scar earned on the border laid bare for all to see. The Imperial Sword stood driven into the earth three paces before me, cold and untouched.To my right, upon a raised dais draped in arctic wolf furs, Maya presided. There was no hint of weakness in her bearing. Her emerald velvet gown fell in regal folds over her curves, and the gold‑and‑silver crown rested heavy upon her dark hair. In her lap, the twins sat perfectly still, watching the sea of sullen faces with a quiet gravity no one‑year‑old should possess.Before us, the Council of Alfas stood in a tight semicircle.At the front stood Boran







