جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 70

*Chapter 61: *Word count*: ∼1715 words. Noon came too fast. The Blackthorn Pack moved like a machine Kael had forged in three days. Scouts in the trees, wolves in formation, mothers and pups hidden in the old tunnels beneath the keep. Elena stood on the wall with her mother, watching it all. “You built this,” Lyra said quietly. Elena shook her head. “We built this.” Lyra smiled, tired but proud. “Same thing.” The bond hummed in Elena’s chest. Kael was below, checking the last of the barricades. Even without looking, she felt his focus—sharp, cold, ready. “Eyes up,” Ryn said, dropping down beside them. Her red hair was tied back, blades strapped to her thighs. “They’re here.” Elena didn’t need to ask who. The air had changed. It was heavier now, like a storm rolling in. Through the trees, banners appeared. Black and silver. The Dravok crest, but fractured. Three blades crossed over a broken crown. The heirs. Three of them rode at the front. The first was a wom

*Chapter 63: *Word count*: ∼1730 words.They didn’t ride back to Blackthorn Keep in silence. Not because the pack was loud—most of them were too tired, too bloodied, too wired from the fight to speak. But because the air itself felt different. Lighter. Like the weight that had been sitting on every wolf’s chest for twelve years had finally cracked. Elena walked beside Kael, her shoulder brushing his with every step. The bond between them was steady now, a low hum under her skin that didn’t scream for attention anymore. It just… was. Ryn jogged ahead, already shouting orders to the scouts about cleaning up the Hollow Gate and dragging Sera’s broken body back to the keep. “Alive,” Elena had said. “I want answers.” Ryn had grinned. “Fine. But if she starts casting again, I’m cutting her tongue out.” Lyra walked with Mara, the two women quiet, heads close. Mara hadn’t said a word since killing Kara. Her face was pale, eyes hollow, but she hadn’t tried to run. That counted fo

*Chapter 65: The Secret Alliance*Word count*: ∼1720 words. Sixty days.That’s what the clans gave Blackthorn. Sixty days to prove they were worth keeping alive. The keep didn’t sleep for most of them. Walls got higher. Traps got laid. Pups who’d never held a blade were learning to run silent through the woods. Gareth ran drills at dawn. Mara took the night shift, pushing the older wolves until they collapsed from exhaustion. Ryn disappeared for days at a time, coming back with maps, supply routes, and a grin that meant trouble for someone. Elena ran it all. She was in the war room by dawn, on the training yard by mid-morning, in the infirmary by afternoon, and in the tunnels by night checking the old wards Lyra had rebuilt. The bond with Kael kept her standing. Without it, she’d have collapsed a week in. Kael ran the outer defenses. He didn’t argue with her anymore. Not about risk, not about staying behind. He just made sure she had eyes on her at all times and that

*Chapter 67: What the Mage Remembers**Word count*: ∼1725 words. The dungeons under Blackthorn Keep weren’t meant for torture. Lyra built them for prisoners who needed to stay alive long enough to talk. Cold stone, damp air, iron cuffs that dulled magic. No windows. No mercy. Sera Dravok was awake when Elena walked in. She sat against the far wall, wrists chained above her head, violet eyes dulled but not broken. The burns from the Hollow Gate had scarred into pale lines across her jaw and neck. She looked smaller without her magic. Human, almost. Elena stopped three steps away. Kael stayed by the door. He hadn’t spoken since they brought Sera in. He didn’t need to. His presence was enough. “You’re alive,” Sera said first. Her voice was hoarse. Elena nodded. “So are you. For now.” Sera smiled faintly. “Generous.” Elena didn’t sit. “Orin broke the truce,” she said. “Bloodpeak moved with him. Rurik attacked the keep two days ago. Why?” Sera tilted her head.

*Chapter 69: The Fall of Bloodpeak**Word count*: ∼1730 words. Bloodpeak didn’t fall in a day. It fell in an hour. The night before, Silvermaw’s riders took the western ridge. Blackthorn’s wolves moved through the eastern passes like smoke. No horns. No banners. Just twenty years of silence breaking all at once. Elena stood on the overlook at dawn, looking down at Korr’s stronghold. Stone walls, black banners, smoke from a hundred fires. It should have looked strong. It didn’t. The supply line was gone. The mercs had deserted. Half the warriors were hungry, and the other half were wondering if Korr had lied to them. “Ready?” Kael asked, coming up beside her. Elena nodded. Her shoulder still pulled where Orin’s blade had caught her in the pass, but the bond dulled it to a dull ache. “Ready,” she said. Kael didn’t ask if she was sure. He never did anymore. Below, Ryn raised her hand. The attack started with silence. Silvermaw archers took out the watchmen on t