Chapter 1

The blade took Elder Oberon in the middle of the funeral hymn. One second, he stood beneath the moonlit windows in his silver robe, hands raised for the Alpha Aspen Emberwood rite. 

Next, a black bone-handled knife bloomed from his chest, and blood hit the stone before anyone saw who threw it. The hall screamed. Rhae froze at the back wall with a tray of ceremonial cups balanced in both hands. The cups rattled once. Her fingers went numb. The knife wasn't steel. It pulsed faintly, as if it were breathing. 

Ritual blade, Elder Oberon choked. Then he fell. 

The Warriors drew their weapons. Children were pulled behind their mothers. Elders rose from their high seats. 

Beside their father's black coffin, the twin heirs turned. Kaelen Emberwood moved first. He’s the older twin, the one everyone had feared. He’s dressed in a mourning black suit, his shoulder locked with tension. His voice hit the stone like a hammer. Seal the hall.

Guards slammed the doors. Rhea flinched and made herself smaller. Omega survives by staying unseen, especially on nights when Alphas bleed. No one leaves, Kaelen said. 

Elder Greta stepped forward, her sharp eyes locked on the knife. This is not murder. This is old magic. The words rippled through the hall like a curse. Old magic meant forbidden power. Old magic meant danger no weapon can stop. Kaelen crouched and pulled the blade free from Elder Oberon’s chest. The minute his skin touched the black bone, every torch on the wall flickered blue. Gasps tore through the crowd. Valen was at his brother’s elbow in one stride, calm and controlled, his hand hovering but not touching. Kaelen, I felt it, Kaelen said low. 

Rhea felt it too—a cold streak dragging under her skin, like fingers made of ice. Greta lifted a chin. 

Everyone will be questioned. Panic rose in Rhae’s chest like a tide. Her palm sweated. The tray tipped. Her heel caught her hem. “No,” she breathed. The cups hit the floor and shattered. The crash rang like a second blade through the hall, loud, accusatory, final. Every head turned. 

Rhea stood among broken ceramic, heart hammering against her ribs so hard she thought it might break through. I’m sorry. I’ll clean it. Kaelen’s gaze snapped to hers. The world narrowed. Everything else faded: the blood, the screaming, the dead Elder, the chaos. There was only him.

Fire struck through her chest, hot and sudden, and yanked. She gaped and grabbed the tray to stay balanced, but her knees buckled anyway. The connection was so intense, so hungry that her breath came in short, panicked gasps. 

Kaelen stiffened. As if struck. His wolf surged behind his eyes, silver and gold and furious, and the warriors nearest him stepped back without thinking. The power radiating from him was suffocating. Then Valen looked up. The second was not fire, it was moonlight. Cold, deep, endless enough to drown in. It flooded her veins like ice water, pulled at something primal in her chest, something ancient. Her own wolf, silent her whole life, woke up with a roar inside her skull. MATE. MATE. MATE. Two of them. Both of them. The bonds snapped tight, and Rhae gasped like she couldn’t breathe. Her vision blurred. Every nerve in her body was on fire and frozen at the same time. What was happening to her? This wasn’t possible. Omegas didn’t bond to Alphas. Omegas didn’t matter enough. 

And certainly not to two heirs at once.

Whispers spread like poison through the hall. Whispers that dripped with accusation and disbelief. “The omega?” Which one? “She belongs to both?” Rhae’s skin crawled. Every eye in the hall pinned her where she stood among the broken ceramic. She tried to make herself smaller, invisible, but her body wouldn’t obey. Her wolf was screaming inside her skull, clawing at her insides, pulling her toward them. Toward both of them. Leave. This isn’t real… This isn’t happening. This is a nightmare. But it was. She could feel them feel Kaelen’s presence burning like wildfire through her chest, hot and demanding and consuming. And Valen was moonlight and ice water, deep and drowning, holding her up even from across the hall. Two bonds. Two mates. Impossible. Her hands trembled. Elder Greta’s face twisted, contorted with something between fury and disgust. Her eyes found Rhae’s like a predator locking onto prey. Something dark and ancient flickered in those eyes, but Rhae was too panicked to understand it. Bring her forward, Greta ordered. Two guards moved. Massive. Armored. Their shadows fell across Rhae like a cage closing in. She scrambled backward, her voice cracking with desperation. “Please, I didn’t. I swear, I don’t know anything about Elder Oberon, I didn’t do this, I……“. 

But no one was ready to listen. No one ever listened to Omegas. Valen stepped forward, placing himself between Rhae and the guards. His voice was low, even, and dangerous in its calmness. Do not touch her.

The command hung in the air like a blade. 

Kaelen's growl tore through the hall, raw, primal, a sound that vibrated through Rhae’s bones and made her omega instincts scream at her to submit to obey. But another part of her recognized him as hers wanted to run toward him instead. The guards froze. Every warrior in the room took an unconscious step back from the twins' heirs, sensing the danger radiating from them. But Kaelen’s eyes… they cut straight through the crowd. Straight to Rhae. And she felt it like a physical blow. He was looking at her with such intensity that her breath caught in her throat. His wolf surged behind his eyes, silver and gold and furious, and for one heart-stopping second, she thought he would come to her. She felt him want to come to her. She felt his wolf straining towards her through the bond like a beast on a chain. Then his expression went blank. Stone. Ice. 

His silence was worse than any blade.