The letter arrived at dawn, bound in black wax and sealed with a claw mark instead of a crest.
Theron read it twice before passing it to Aria, his expression unreadable.
She took it with steady hands. Kael stood beside her now, no longer lingering in shadows.
To the Alpha Council of Everpine:
We do not recognize the authority of an unclaimed female who claims divine birthright. We do not answer to prophecy.
The Hollow Fang wolves were lawless and weak. Absorbing them makes you the same.
Should your Sacred Luna set foot near Blackspire territory, she will not leave it.
—Alpha Bastian, Blackspire Pack
Aria read it again, jaw clenched. "He's afraid."
"Worse," Kael said softly. "He's being fed fear."
That night, the wind changed.
Everpine's outer scouts reported strange howls in the northern woods—feral, distorted, unnatural. Gamma Nessa led a scouting party and came back pale-faced.
"They weren't wolves," she said. "Not anymore."
"What then?" Aria asked.
Nessa's voice dropped. "Hollowed. They shifted with no moon. Eyes black. No scent. Like the bond had been… eaten."
Kael stiffened. "It's begun."
Later, in the temple ruins, Aria stood before the altar where her mark had first burned. The stones beneath her feet thrummed with Selene's power—but something else bled in beneath it.
A whisper. A shadow. A promise.
Break the circle. Take the bond. Devour the moonlight.
She stepped back, heart pounding.
Kael was already at her side. "Did you hear it?"
Aria nodded. "It wants more than me."
He looked toward the north. "It wants to unmake the Luna line. And if Blackspire's Alpha turns against us… the Hollow won't need to rise."
"It'll already have a door."