All Chapters of The Debt of the Unmarked : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

And the banner blowing in the wind was A cut reopening.Black.A crescent of silver cut in the middle.Elara had numb fingers where she was kneeling in the ruined passage. The connection was the burning of her eyes. She knew that mark. Before going to war, she had observed her father rearing it. she had seen it sink in fire.And beneath it--A tall wolf transformed himself to a human being. Broad shoulders. Dark hair tied at the nape. A scar cut across one of the eyebrows.Alive.The voice of Silas was deep within her head. "You know him."The smoke swept the northern ridge. The wolves in the background of the banner started to move down towards the broken wall closely in line. Not wild. Not rogue. Trained."Yes," Elara whispered. Her throat felt scraped raw."Who?"She swallowed. Her heart beat so hard it hurt."My cousin," she said. "Ronan."Silas stood motionless on the tower roof. Her brother stood chained at the wrists and was trembling beside her.Your pack was destroyed, as you

Darkness swallowed her whole. Elara didn’t even have time to scream. The ground gave way beneath her feet, and she fell into cold air and dust. Stone scraped her shoulder. Her palms burned as she tried to grab something...anything. Then she hit water. The shock stole her breath. Icy black water closed over her head. The sound of the courtyard disappeared. No wolves, no shouting, no Silas. Only silence and the rush of bubbles around her ears. She kicked hard, fighting the weight of her soaked dress. Her lungs screamed. Her fingers found rough stone, and she pulled herself upward until her head broke the surface. She gasped. The space was narrow and underground. Faint silver light pulsed along the walls like veins beneath skin. The bond. It flickered inside her chest—wild and unstable. She could feel Silas above. His panic, his rage, his voice calling her name, but it sounded distant, like it came through water. “Elara!” The sound echoed faintly down the stone shaft. “I’m h

The stone cracked beneath her feet, and water rushed in like it had a mind of its own. Elara gripped the edge, her heart racing. Above her, Silas fell through the broken ceiling, the bond transmitting his panic directly into her chest. “Hold on!” she shouted, but he couldn’t hear her. Not here. Not yet. The first Alpha’s roar echoed through the cavern. It was deafening and shook loose pieces of stone and debris. Its eyes burned bright, fixed on Silas, relentless, a predator that had waited centuries for this moment. Elara’s breath caught in her throat. Every instinct told her to run, but the bond kept her rooted in place. Her hands tingled, the pulse of her power coursing through her veins. She could guide him, but could she reach him in time? “Silas!” she forced the command into the bond. “Move left!” His muscles tensed. She felt him react, not perfectly, but enough to dodge a falling shard that would have crushed his shoulder. Relief twisted in her chest, but the first Alpha wa

The water exploded upward. A line of silver radiance flashed through the cave as a sword. It caused Elara and Silas to fall backwards when the earth shook under their feet. Silas had his hand around her. Instinct. Protection. What the hell is that, he said in a low yet strained voice. Elara didn’t answer. She couldn’t. The water underneath surged furiously as it gleamed in an increased intensity till the whole room had the appearance of having been drained in moonlight. Then something began to rise. Slowly. Massive. The Alpha, who had just been a mountain, was conscious of having stepped aside. Its nails tore the rock when it drew its head down; less in fear than in acknowledgement. The animal that hatching out of the pool was not altogether wolf. Not fully human either. It was higher than either of the forms, and its body consisted of changing silver light and shadow. It had long misty-coloured hair floating about its shoulders. And its eyes were bottomless and dark, And

The word came out of the mouth of Elara before she could restrain herself. “Brother?” The man who was standing in the opening of the collapsed tunnel grinned. But the smile was wrong. Too calm. Too cold. The boy she recalled would have dashed down to her. He would have called her name, enquired whether she was hurt, grumbled about the black hole. This man simply watched her. The silver daylight was flickering at his eyes. Silas acted without a moment, and before Elara, leaped forward. His hand was moving slightly, all prepared to fight. Accept on my part, I am not telling you I am wrong, Elara, that you look back. She couldn’t. The fact that the bond within her chest was made to ache painfully when she looked at her brother once more. Something in him was different. Out of the way, Alpha, her brother told her. His voice was like polished stone on ice slipping down the cavern. Silas didn’t move. Silas, you should not stand there, he replied coldly. Your last word was, y