جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 70

Ashton’s POVEverything in the chamber felt like it was closing in. The soft glow of the moon made me uneasy.It had been days since I left this room. Days since the last time the baby’s power had reacted violently. Since then, nothing had happened. The baby had been quiet, and that was what scared me more than the pain.I had not seen Zeth. Xander made sure of that.He was in the room every morning and every night, sitting in the same chair, watching me with eyes that were careful and distant in a way they had not been before.Ever since I said Zeth’s name in my sleep, something had shifted between us. He still said he loved me. He still kissed me, but he did not look at me the same.The guards outside the door did not move. Mara came twice a day with tea and with food and with the same soft smile that did not reach her eyes.I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed my hands to my stomach. The baby was there. I could feel him, but underneath the weight of him there was something else

The Empty BedXander’s POVI walked out of the war room exhausted. There had been too many meetings, too many maps spread across the table, and too many voices telling me where the Crescent wolves had been seen and where they had not.I had not spoken to Zeth in any of them. He sat across from me and kept his mouth closed, and I let him. It pleased me to watch him silent. When he stepped out, it felt like a weight was taken off my heart.I moved through the corridors toward my chamber with my steps even and my hands steady.Then I saw them. Both guards asleep on the floor outside my door.I did not say anything. I stepped over their bodies and pushed the door open.The room was empty. The fire had burned down to red coals, and the bed was cold.I walked the perimeter once. The window was closed. His black cloak was gone. There was no sign of Ashton.Something in me went very still. I turned and went back into the hall. I reached down and took the first guard by the front of his coat a

Lord Void’s POVThe blood on the stone had gone cold an hour ago.Twelve men stood in a circle around me with their heads bowed and their breath coming out in white clouds that vanished into the dark.We were deep in the catacombs beneath my keep where no light reached except the black fire burning in the iron bowl at the center of the room.“Look at me,” I told them.They lifted their eyes. Fear was better than faith, and I saw plenty of it.I raised both hands and the air turned heavy.Shadow peeled away from the walls like skin and pooled in my palms until it was thick enough to hold. It pulsed against my skin and wanted to be fed.“Dark Shadow God,” I called. My voice did not echo. The stone swallowed it. “Come through me. Come through them.”I began the incantation. The words were old and they cut my tongue as I spoke them, but that was part of the price.The shadow in my hands split into twelve threads and shot forward. Each one forced itself between the lips of the men standing

Ashton’s POVThe halls to the east wing were quiet. Every guard who saw me dipped his head and looked away. Xander had ordered them not to stop me. Let him make his mistakes. I hated that it worked. I kept my hands in my coat pockets and walked until the stone turned to dirt and the palace turned to tents. Zeth and his men were camped just outside the palace walls. The moment I stepped into the camp, the boy saw me. He was sitting by the fire with a piece of bread in his hand. He dropped it and ran. “Uncle Ash!” He hit me at the waist and threw his arms around me. He smelled like smoke and pine. I knelt and hugged him back. “Hey,” I said. My voice cracked. “I missed you.” Zeth stood from where he had been sharpening a blade. He didn’t smile. He just looked relieved.“Ashton,” he said. He came closer and reached out without thinking. His hand went for my stomach. I caught his wrist before he could touch me. His eyes flicked up to mine. For a second we just stood there like

Brenda’s POVYou would want to ask me how I got the Book of Wolves. Well... we are no ordinary family, and my father is no ordinary noble man.The key was cold in my palm. It was iron, old, and it bit into my skin the way secrets always do. Father kept it on a chain around his neck, but he was careless when he slept. Or maybe he wanted me to take it. Men like him always want someone to blame when the world falls apart.I opened the secret door that father never allowed anyone access. The wood was aged and swollen from years of damp. It cracked before opening, a sound like bones shifting.Inside was a small room. No windows. The air smelled like dust and old leather and something metallic that I couldn’t name.There were totems, artifacts, books, and bowls carved with runes stacked on shelves that bowed under their weight. This was where Noctaryn kept the things it was too afraid to burn and too dangerous to use.And my father was the Noctaryn keeper. The keeper of the secret books, t