With its deep stone vaults filled with antiquated scrolls, faded books, and artifacts too old to recall where they came from, the Silverwind library was a haven of silence. Deep in the archives, Serafina and Roman knelt under the flickering light of a torch, parchment lying on a weathered marble table.
Deciphering coded messages, ripped prophecies, and ancient war documents left by those who had faced the Hollow Alpha generations before had taken up their days as they combed through forgotten scrolls.
Roman said, carefully unfolding a piece of charred parchment, "This one's damaged." "The original archive chamber must have been destroyed in the fire decades ago."
Leaning closer, Serafina traced the edges of the fragile paper with her fingers. Old magic rippled across the ink in an odd shimmer. A spell of protection.
Gisele taught Serafina the incantation, "Revela lignem verum," which she whispered while pressing her palm to the page and taking a deep breath.
The scroll shifted, then pulsed.
An elaborate map of the Northern Territories was created as the faded ink bled into new lines, with Whitedawn, Tailwind, and Nightwind all highlighted in red. Three sharp black lines, however, were superimposed; they converged in a wooded valley that had long since been removed from contemporary maps and wound like scars between the three regions.
"The Black Root," whispered Serafina. "Before the pacts were made, they called it that."
Roman furrowed his brow. "These pathways aren't roads." They are ancestries.
The paths were indeed lined with small sigils, clan crests, some of which were long extinct and others of which were uncannily similar. One had the old Whitedawn nobility's mark on it. Another, barely perceptible, bore the sigil of the now-extinct Duskfangs, who had been Nightwind's allies before their exile and shame.
Serafina muttered, "These lines trace the Hollow Alpha's influence through blood." "Families that were subject to his control—some intentionally, others cursed."
Near the bottom of the map, Roman indicated a name that had faded. "This one—'Virellan'... wasn't that the name of Susanna's mother?"
Serafina gasped in surprise. Indeed. That supports her suspicion that she might be descended from a corrupted noble line.
The map's center, a black circle with just one rune—an inverted crescent over a bleeding eye—was what frightened them the most, though. central to the Hollow Alpha's strength.
Roman remarked, "We've been looking at this wrong." "War is not the only issue. It has to do with infiltration. corruption.
"And heritage," Serafina continued. "From the outside, he is not attempting to destroy the packs. For generations, he has been sowing seeds from within.
Her fingers shaking, she slowly rolled the map. "We must present this to the council and Leah. Prior to it being too late.
Roman gave a nod, but his gaze remained fixed on a sigil that he knew well. The crest of his own family, twisted into a shadowed version.
As Serafina collected the scroll, he remained silent.
Because a question gnawed at the back of your mind: Was he also one of the seeds?