FAZER LOGINDamien’s POV“Tell Ariana not to rescue me. The person who took me is protecting her.”The words kept ringing in my head.I stared at the guard.“What did she mean?”His lips moved, but no sound came out.I leaned closer.“Who took her?”He swallowed.“I do not know.”“You saw them.”“I saw the woman who came for her.”My heart stopped.“A woman?”He nodded.“She was not afraid. Your Queen’s mother knew her.”I stepped back.That made no sense.Ariana had spent years searching for her mother. Now someone had taken her, and her own mother had left a warning not to save her.I found Ariana and Kael in the palace hall.Ariana looked at me the moment I entered.“What happened?”I looked at Kael, then back at her.“The guard survived.”Her face changed.“What did he say?”I forced the words out.“Your mother left a message.”Ariana moved closer.“What message?”I looked into her eyes.“She said, ‘Tell Ariana not to rescue me. The person who took me is protecting her.’”Ariana stared at me.
Ariana’s POV“Your mother has been taken.”The words hit me harder than any blade.I stared at the captain.“No.”He lowered his head.“My Queen…”“No!” I grabbed his arm. “Tell me you are wrong.”His eyes filled with fear.“I wish I was.”“Who took her?”“We do not know.”“Then find out!”My voice shook through the throne room.“How did they enter the prison? How did they pass the guards? That prison was guarded day and night!”The captain swallowed.“They did not fight the guards.”I stared at him.“What?”“They found every guard alive.”Damien stepped closer.“Alive?”“Yes.”Kael’s face hardened.“What happened to them?”“They were under a spell.”I felt my stomach turn.“What kind of spell?”“We don’t know. They could not move. They could not speak. Their eyes were open, but they could not respond.”Kael turned toward the royal guards.“Seal every gate.”The guards moved at once.“No one enters the palace. No one leaves. Search every room, every passage, every servant quarters.”H
Ariana’s POVI screamed as the relic burned in my hand.Kael caught me before I fell.“Ariana!”I could not answer.Silver light rushed through my body. My knees gave way, but Kael held me against his chest.“Look at me,” he said. “Ariana, look at me.”I opened my eyes.He was there.His face was the first thing I saw.But then the room disappeared.I was somewhere else.I saw my father.He stood inside a dark room, younger than I remembered him.He looked afraid.I had never seen fear in his eyes before.A man stood in front of him.His face was hidden beneath a hood.My father held a small bundle against his chest.A baby.Me.“If they discover she is the child, they will kill her,” my father said.My heart stopped.The hooded person moved closer.“You cannot hide her forever.”“I only need enough time.”“Time will not save her.”My father looked down at the baby in his arms.“She is innocent.”“So was your family.”My father looked up sharply.“What do you want from me?”The person
Ariana’s POVThe blood was still wet.I stared at it beneath Kael’s bed, unable to breathe.The silver relic sat in the middle of the blood.For one second, nobody moved.Then Kael stepped beside me.“What is that?”I pointed.“That.”He looked down.His face changed.“No.”Damien came closer.“What?”Kael pulled his sword.“I have never seen that before.”I bent down.“Do not touch it.”Kael stopped.The relic looked like a small silver disk, but strange symbols moved across it. They seemed to breathe.My Moonborn mark burned.I pulled my hand against my chest.“It knows me.”Damien frowned.“How?”“I don’t know.”Kael looked around his room.“Search everything.”The guards rushed inside.“Under the bed. Behind the walls. Inside every cabinet.”I stood up.“Wait.”Everyone stopped.I looked at the blood.“This was placed here recently.”Damien crouched beside it.“There is blood on the floor too.”Kael’s eyes narrowed.“Whose?”Damien touched one finger near the blood.“Not enough to
Damien’s POV“Your true enemy is not Kael.”I froze.The voice had come from inside me.Not from Ariana.Not from Kael.From my wolf.I pressed my hand against my chest.“What did you say?”My wolf growled again.“Your true enemy is not Kael.”Pain tore through my body.I dropped to one knee.“Ariana!”I heard her voice, but I could not answer.My fingers dug into the floor.Something moved beneath my skin.A sharp line of fire ran across my chest.Then another.I looked down.Dark silver marks had appeared across my skin.Kael moved toward me.“Stay back.”I raised my hand.He stopped.His eyes narrowed.“Damien, what is happening?”“I don’t know.”My voice sounded strange.Lower.Rougher.Ariana stepped toward me.Kael immediately moved in front of her.“No.”She looked at him.“Move.”“Ariana, his wolf is changing.”“I know.”“You don’t know what he can do.”She pushed past him.“Neither do you.”Kael grabbed her arm.She turned sharply.“Let go of me.”He released her at once.Ari
Ariana’s POVThe words on the treaty made my heart stop.“When the Queen chooses her King, the rejected mate will awaken the second bloodline.”I read the line again.Then again.I looked at Kael.He was staring at the ancient paper as if it had just turned into a weapon.Damien stood behind us, silent.“What does that mean?” I asked.Nobody answered.“Kael?”His eyes moved to mine.“I do not know.”Damien stepped closer. “It means the Moonborn Queen choosing a King was only the beginning.”My stomach twisted.“The rejected mate,” I whispered.Damien looked away.I knew what he was thinking.He was the rejected mate.He was the man who had once rejected me.And now the ancient treaty was saying something inside him would awaken because I had chosen another man.Kael reached for my hand.I let him take it.His fingers closed around mine.“We will find out what it means,” he said.Damien gave a bitter laugh.“You say that like this is another problem you can solve with a sword.”Kael lo







