Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 161 - Chapitre 168

It was the word I have been hearing for some time now as my stomach twisted into something small and cold. I thought of Edwin's message, the words I'd read so many times they'd worn smooth in my memory, the way the pendant had worn smooth in someone's hand for years before mine.‘Your mother is alive. Come to me. Surrender, and she will be released.’It had sounded, at the time, like a simple trade. My life for hers. But maybe that had never been the offer at all. Maybe my surrender wasn't the thing he wanted, maybe I was. My father hadn't spent all these years hunting me down out of vengeance. He needed something only I possessed.I stepped back from the table as if putting distance between myself and the thought might make it less true. "He wants to use me to open the gate."No one contradicted me.Mason's hands curled into fists at his sides. "That changes everything."Alvin nodded slowly. "If Edwin knows what you are, your transformation was never just a threat to him.""He needed

POV: Letty's Mother*Darkness had a sound. I have learned that years ago, back when I still measured time in days instead of the slow erosion of stone. It wasn't the absence of noise people imagined it to be, darkness had its own language, one I have become fluent in without ever meaning to. The distant drip of water threading through rock, the scrape of chains shifting against the floor when I moved in my sleep, the low, patient groan of the mountain settling around whatever it was built to hold.And beneath all of it, my own breathing, slow, careful and measured. I had learned to breathe quietly, because in this place even fear had to be silent to survive.I sat against the cold stone wall of my cell, knees drawn to my chest, fingers curled around the small piece of scavenged metal hidden in my sleeve, a fragment I had broken off the ritual chamber itself, years ago. The guards thought it was nothing but they were wrong. Everything in this mountain had a purpose. Every stone, every

POV’s MasonI knew Letty was going to disobey me. I just didn't know how yet, that was always the trouble with loving someone like her. You learned to read the silence before the storm instead of the storm itself, and she had been far too quiet all morning for my liking.I stood at the edge of the western courtyard, tightening the last strap on my armor while the first group of warriors saw to the horses. The sky hadn't lightened yet. We had chosen the earliest hour on purpose, black Ridge sat several hours west, and I wanted us moving before Edwin had any chance to notice.This wasn't the confrontation, not yet. We weren't marching with banners or announcing ourselves at his gates, we were going to scout, quietly. Six warriors, two First Blood trackers, one Pusher, and me. That was the plan, at least."You're going."I turned. Letty stood beneath the stone archway, arms crossed, chin already set in the way that meant an argument had already been decided in her own head.My jaw tighte

Letty's povWe went further down the old passage, then on the wall, an inscription caught my eye and it wouldn't leave my mind.‘The White Wolf does not inherit the crown. She chooses who deserves it’He studied the inscription more closely, running a hand along the edge of it. "This has to be hundreds of years old.""I know."Something about that was very wrong.Mason turned toward the passage behind us. "We need to find Alvin."I nodded, but before either of us could move, a sound rolled through the tunnel, it was footsteps, slow and deliberate, drawing closer with no attempt at concealment. Mason stepped in front of me without a word. The warriors around us raised their weapons in unison, and I felt my wolf stir beneath my skin, alert and waiting.The footsteps stopped somewhere just beyond the torchlight then a voice followed them out of the dark."There's no need for that."Mason went rigid beside me. I recognized the voice before the man himself stepped into view Elder Corvin, e