The moon hung low in the sky, casting pale ribbons of silver light across the quiet forest. Arielle stood in the ruins of what used to be her family's cabin — a small, crumbling structure now overrun by vines and decay. It had once been a place of warmth, filled with laughter and the scent of pinewood burning in the fireplace. Now it was a shadow of its former self, like the hollow ache in her chest.
She stepped over a collapsed beam, heart hammering as she ran her fingers along the soot-stained wall. "There has to be something here," she whispered.
After the vision in the woods, something had shifted in her. The face — cloaked and hidden — the whisper of betrayal that pulsed in her memory like a wound refusing to close. She needed answers. She needed the truth.
Hidden beneath the floorboards, exactly where her mother had always kept their family secrets, Arielle found it: a sealed box carved with the old crescent sigil of their bloodline. Inside were letters. Dozens. Bound in silk, and some burned at the edges as if someone had tried to destroy them in haste.
She sat on the dirt floor, reading in silence. Her mother's handwriting spilled across the pages — warnings, dreams, fragments of history, and one name repeated over and over: Alira. The name of the ancient seeress from the Eastern Ridge. The woman Arielle had seen in her dream. Her ancestor.
"I'm not just a girl who left," Arielle whispered. "I'm something... else."
Kael paced outside the elder's council chamber, fury vibrating through his bones. The sealed letter he had pulled from Rowan's private chamber was now in his pocket, and it burned like fire. He didn't know what scared him more — the implications of what it said, or the way Rowan had reacted when Kael confronted him.
"This pact," Kael muttered under his breath. "Between the Blackthorn heir and the Eastern Ridge... It was real."
Rowan's eyes had been unreadable. "It was protection. It was necessary. You don't understand the kind of enemies we were facing then."
"But to seal it with blood? With a child? With her?"
"She is the key, Kael. She was always meant to be. That's why she was hidden. That's why she was brought back."
The words echoed in Kael's skull. Not returned. Brought back.
Who brought her back?
He stormed out of the hall and found Ronan leaning against a tree, watching him with wary eyes. "You look like you're about to burn the whole forest down."
Kael exhaled sharply. "Maybe I should."
"You're letting this get too personal. I know what she means to you, but you need to keep your head on straight."
"She means everything to me," Kael snapped. "And that's exactly why I can't let this go."
Arielle barely noticed her scraped palms or the dirt clinging to her skin. She had gone from letter to journal to symbol, connecting fragments of her bloodline, unlocking memories she didn't even know were hers.
The visions were getting stronger. Last night, her window had frosted over despite the summer heat. When she touched it, the frost had shaped into runes — runes she could now understand.
She wasn't just remembering. She was awakening.
A knock startled her. She turned, ready to fight, but it was Leif. For once, his eyes were not cold. "You shouldn't be here alone," he said.
"I had to come," she said. "My family kept something from me. My whole life was a lie."
"I know," he said quietly.
She froze. "What?"
"I knew there was more to your return. I didn't know all the details, but... Rowan tasked me with watching you. Protecting you. Making sure you didn't remember too soon."
"Why?"
"Because if you did... the ancient bloodline would awaken, and nothing would be the same."
That night, Kael found her by the lake. The moonlight kissed her skin, and for a moment, she looked like something out of a dream — or a prophecy.
"I read the letter," he said softly.
"So did I."
They stood in silence, the air thick with unspoken pain.
"You were meant to marry into the Ridge," Kael said. "To keep peace. To save us from war."
"And yet I ended up here. In your pack. In your heart." Her voice cracked.
He took a step closer. "What does this mean for us?"
"I don't know," she said. "But I know I won't be used. Not again. Not by them. Not even by fate."
The wind shifted. In the trees behind them, a figure stepped out.
It was the old healer, Mira. Her face pale, eyes wide. "Arielle... I remember something. The night you were taken — I saw who gave you up."
The chapter ends with Mira whispering a name.
Someone they both trusted.
Someone from the inner circle.
And everything changes.