Sophie's POV
The moonlight danced across the surface of the pool, silver threads unraveling in ripples where the waterfall met stone. But I wasn't watching the water.
I was watching Kael.
He stood at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed, gaze distant. Tense. Caged. As if the weight of what he had to tell me might break him before the words ever left his mouth.
I gave him time.
I'd learned by now—Kael didn't speak quickly, not unless battle demanded it. He chose silence like armor. But tonight, I needed more than silence.
I needed truth.
"You said she sent it," I finally said. "The Hollow Wolf."
He didn't turn, but I saw the tightness in his jaw.
"The creature isn't loyal to her," he said after a long pause. "But it was forged in her image. In her blood. It serves only to remind me what she's capable of."
I stepped closer. The grass was cold under my bare feet, the scent of moss and mountain water fresh and sharp.
"Who is she?"
Kael closed his eyes briefly.
"When my father was still Alpha King, the lands beyond the Ashen Peaks were forbidden. Cursed, they said. But he didn't care. He thought the answers to the prophecy lay beyond them."
He looked at me now. Really looked. The firelight in his eyes was dimmer tonight—haunted.
"He found her there. The woman who called herself the Moon Queen. Beautiful. Powerful. Eternal. She offered him knowledge in exchange for blood. He agreed."
I inhaled sharply. "He gave her… someone?"
Kael nodded, his expression hollow. "He gave her his warriors. Twenty men and women loyal to the crown. She bled them under the moon, and in return, she whispered truths into his ears."
"Truths about you?"
"No. About me… and about the one who would break me."
My breath hitched.
Me.
She knew about me.
Before I was born.
"She told him a girl would come. Not royal. Not wolf. Just… flame. That she would pass through trial after trial and either bind the curse or tear the last heir apart with love."
I swallowed, throat dry. "And your father believed her?"
"He built my entire life around it," Kael said bitterly. "Trained me to kill feeling. To reject love. Because he feared that when the girl came… I would fall."
He turned away, shoulders tight. "And I did."
I stepped toward him, heart aching at the sorrow in his voice.
"I'm not here to destroy you, Kael."
"I know," he said softly. "But that doesn't mean she won't try to use you to do it."
We sat beneath a crooked tree, the silence between us finally easing into something less sharp.
I stared into the flames, feeling both stronger and more fragile than ever.
"What does she want now?" I asked.
Kael's voice was low. "The same thing she's always wanted—control of the Moonbound bloodline. If she can corrupt it, she can rule through it. The Ancients sealed her out centuries ago, but the curse weakened that seal. My exile… helped her. And now that you've passed the Rite… you've reopened the gates."
I flinched. "So I made it worse?"
"No," he said quickly, his hand reaching for mine. "You're the reason we still have a chance. The Ancients wouldn't have chosen you otherwise."
"But she knows about me now. She'll come for me."
Kael's grip tightened. "She already has."
I blinked. "What?"
He stood and moved to his pack, pulling out a piece of cloth. Unfolding it slowly, he revealed a charm—silver and black, shaped like a wolf's fang twisted around a flame.
"She left this at the edge of our trail."
I stared at the object. Cold gripped my spine.
"What does it mean?"
"She's watching."
Sleep didn't come easily that night. I lay beside Kael beneath the broken canopy of stars, listening to the wind whisper through the trees. Every rustle felt like a warning. Every owl's cry sounded like a threat.
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe.
But dreams found me anyway.
Not the peaceful kind.
This one bled in silver and black.
I stood in a great hall made of mirrors, each one reflecting a version of me—some younger, some older, some cloaked in flame. They whispered things I couldn't hear. Behind them stood a throne of bone.
And on it sat a woman.
Her hair was white as moonlight, skin like frost, eyes endless and cruel.
She smiled.
"You think you've passed the trial?" she asked, voice echoing like broken glass. "Child… that was the beginning."
I tried to move, but my body wouldn't obey.
"You belong to him now," she whispered. "And by him… you belong to me."
She raised her hand.
A silver flame erupted from the floor.
I screamed—
And woke in Kael's arms, breath ragged, heart pounding.
He held me, whispering my name over and over again.
"Sophie… Sophie… it's just a dream."
But it wasn't.
Not just a dream.
She had touched my mind.
Marked it.
Claimed it.
And I didn't know how to fight something I couldn't see.
Later that morning, as we walked again, I held Kael's hand tighter.
I no longer feared the wolves.
I feared what hunted them.
What hunted me.
And for the first time, I understood something bone-deep:
This curse wasn't just about Kael.
It was about me.
About what I might become… if I let the wrong voice lead me.