LOGINI froze in the doorway of the servants' quarters, every human instinct I had screaming that something was wrong before my eyes even caught up. Thor was already a step ahead of me, his broad frame blocking my view for one unbearable second — then he shifted aside, and I saw.Clara was stretched across the narrow cot, her skin so pale it looked almost see-through in the candlelight. A makeshift bandage was pressed hard against her stomach, dark and soaked through. Two guards stood near the door, faces carved from stone."Move." Thor's voice came out low, more growl than word, and I felt it in my own chest.He didn't wait to see if anyone obeyed. He crossed the room in two strides and dropped to his knees beside the bed. I followed on legs that didn't feel like mine, my fingers knotted into the fabric of my skirt. I had no wolf to warn me of danger, no instinct to read the shadows crowding the corners. I was just Bella — human, breakable, afraid."Clara." I reached for her hand. It was c
The porcelain vase shattered against the wall, but the sound did nothing to burn the fire out of my chest."That fool!" I paced the length of my sitting room, my silk robe dragging behind me like a shroud. "That incompetent, bumbling fool!"Klaus sat in the armchair, watching me with that cool, detached look he always wore. He didn't so much as blink at the wreckage. He never did."The Moonstone trial was a disaster." His voice stayed calm, but his eyes were sharp as glass. "The council's sympathy turned the second they saw her memories. We lost our leverage.""We didn't just lose leverage." I stopped and turned on him. "We handed her a stage to play the victim on. Now the guards look at me like I'm the enemy. They whisper when they think I can't hear."Klaus leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Then we move faster. Before the King digs any deeper."I dropped into the chair across from him, my nails biting into the armrests. "Thor's distracted by Ronan's movements. He's barely sleepi
The catacomb floor was damp and unforgiving beneath my knees as I curled into myself, small, trying to disappear. This wasn't ordinary darkness — it had weight, a pressure that pushed against my skin like something alive. My breath came in ragged, shallow pulls as I fought to quiet the pounding in my chest.It was over. The story I'd told myself about Ronan — the noble rebel, the righteous fighter against a corrupt crown — had come apart in my hands, piece by jagged piece.I shut my eyes, but the images wouldn't leave. The war room. The ledger. Rows of mercenary payments, dated months before Bella had even set foot in the palace. Distraction. Fracture. Purge.He hadn't been fighting for the pack. He'd been building its funeral.A sob rose in my throat and I forced it back down, swallowing hard. I couldn't make a sound — not here, not with Ronan and that hooded stranger somewhere above me, hunting through the corridors.My hands flew to my ears, as if I could physically block out his v
Jesse ran, lungs burning with every breath. The darkness around her was total, swallowing whatever light her trembling torch managed to throw. Behind her, the heavy footsteps of Ronan and his hooded companion echoed off the narrow stone walls, closing in."Jesse!" Ronan's voice carried through the tunnel, calm in a way that terrified her more than shouting ever could. "Don't be foolish. Come back here."She didn't slow down. She scrambled around a corner, boots slipping against moss-slicked stone. She'd seen the truth back in that war room — the financial records, the coded plans, the horrifying realization that Ronan cared nothing for the rebellion or the throne. He wanted to break Thor by destroying Bella. And now he knew that she knew it too.A dead end rose ahead of her. Solid, ancient stone with nowhere left to run.Jesse spun, pressing her back flat against the cold rock, torch shaking violently in her grip. The shadows stretched longer as Ronan and the limping stranger closed t
Thor let out a breath he seemed to have been holding for days. He looked at Bella, a rare, genuine smile touching his mouth. "You did it," he murmured.Relief crashed over Bella so completely her knees nearly buckled. She pulled her hands back from the stone, palms still tingling. She caught sight of Kattie and Klaus, faces twisted in disbelief. Their plan had failed.But just as the relief settled in, the Moonstone flared again.This wasn't the bright white light from before. This was sickly, pulsing green. The stone burned hot beneath Bella's palms — searingly hot — but she couldn't pull away. The magic held her fast."Elder?" Thor's voice sharpened with alarm. "What's happening?"The Head Elder stared at the stone, eyes wide. "I... I don't know. The stone has more to say."The green light surged, and a new image formed above it. Not one of Bella's memories. Something else. Something foreign and terrifying.The image sharpened into focus.A dark, damp cellar. A man sat in a high-bac
The darkness beyond the window was thick, suffocating, and cold. It pressed against the glass like something alive, waiting for a way in.Bella sat on the edge of her bed, hands clenched so tightly in her lap that her knuckles had gone white. Dawn hadn't touched the sky yet. No birdsong. No rustle of leaves in the courtyard below. Only the silence of a palace holding its breath.Her eyes drifted to the parchment lying on the floor. She'd dropped it hours ago and hadn't been able to make herself pick it back up. The words were burned into her mind regardless.*Found you, Isabella.*A floorboard creaked somewhere in the hallway.Bella flinched, her heart slamming against her ribs like something trapped and desperate. Her breath caught. It was only the palace settling, old wood groaning under its own weight — she knew that. But to her ears, it sounded like footsteps. Heavy, dragging footsteps.*Elias.*She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shove the memory back down, but it surged forwar
I muttered against his lips, sounding breathier than I wished, "I'm not some fragile egg, you know." "You don't need to be so kind. I'm not easily broken.A slow smile pinched at the corner of the stranger's mouth as he withdrew just enough for me to see his eyes darken with astonishment and someth
Bella's POV I forced my legs up the stairs of the council house. It was the only place I could think of coming to, in order to unwind. In order to breathe without feeling like my chest was collapsing in on itself.I collided into someone, almost losing my balance, but a hand brushed over my back i
Bella's POV My father arrived in Ronan's pack. I rushed towards him, ready to tell him what I had seen.“Ronan cheated on me, father. He was even with his beta as well! He is a hypocrite!" I complained to him, my voice cracking with disbelief and anger.A new wave of murmurs began to spread in the
Bella's POV “My father's pack was wealthy when I came to yours, why would I depend on you??" I snapped at Ronan.My voice trembled with rage I could no longer contain.Surely he was looking for ways to make me stand back and not leave, because there was no reason we would have to depend on him, un







