The police station smelled of coffee and regret. Lilith sat on a plastic chair, her wet sweater draped over the back, watching Officer Grady pace behind his desk. Outside, dawn painted the sky in streaks of violet, but inside, the fluorescent lights cast everything in a sickly green hue.
"You're sure this is Ella's mother?" Grady tapped a photo from the client list—Ella's mother, Elena, shaking hands with Mike. Her diamond earrings caught the light, even in the grainy image.
Lilith nodded, tracing the sigil on her wrist. It glowed faintly, as if reacting to the name. "Her signature's on the bank records. Same as the royal charity documents."
Grady scrubbed a hand over his face. "Royal family's untouchable, kid. Especially with the king's visit tomorrow. This'll get buried." He slid the folder across the desk. "Best case, Sister Margaret takes the fall. Elena walks."
Lilith's fingers curled into fists. She'd known it wouldn't be easy, but hearing it aloud stung. "What about the kids? The ones already sold?"
"Interpol's tracking the boat. But Bahrain doesn't extradite for… this." Grady's voice dropped. "Look, I'll file the report. But watch your back. Elena's people don't play nice."
A sharp knock cut him off. A uniformed officer poked his head in. "Chief wants you, sir. Says it's about the orphanage raid."
Grady sighed, grabbing his jacket. "Stay here. I'll be back."
Lilith waited until the door closed, then slipped the folder from her bag. The system hummed to life, highlighting a post-it note stuck to the last page—"Moonstone locket. Safe deposit 37, First National."
New mission: Retrieve the locket. Reward: Enhanced memory recall, royal lineage confirmation.
Her breath caught. A locket. Could it be her mother's? The memory from last night flashed again—the silver rattle, the lullaby, a necklace glinting at the woman's throat.
Fetal soul resonance: 32%. "Close."
Lilith tucked the folder away as Grady returned, his face tight. "The chief's… delaying the investigation. Says we need 'royal clearance' to question Elena." He tossed a business card on the desk. "My sister's a social worker. She'll place you with a foster family until this blows over."
"Foster family?" Lilith's laugh was bitter. "Elena'll find me before sundown."
Grady's jaw tightened. "Then run. But take this." He pressed a key into her palm. "Evidence locker. Your file's in there—birth certificate, old photos. Maybe it'll help."
The key burned in her hand. A birth certificate. For twelve years, she'd wondered who she really was.
System alert: Host is being tracked. Thermal signature detected—two individuals approaching the station.
Lilith stood, grabbing her sweater. "Thanks for trying, Officer."
He nodded, already reaching for his radio. "Door on the left leads to the alley. Go."
She slipped out as sirens wailed in the distance—too loud, too sudden. A diversion. Elena's move.
The alley was empty, but her thermal vision picked up two figures on the roof across the street, their heat signatures pulsing like predators. Wolf shifters. Kane's men, sent to finish what Mike started.
Lilith ran, the key jabbing into her palm. First National Bank was six blocks away. If she could reach the safe deposit box before they caught her—
A howl split the air, low and menacing. She skidded around a corner, nearly colliding with a newspaper stand. The vendor shouted, but she didn't stop, weaving through the early-morning crowd.
Memory recall triggered. Touch the key.
The system's voice jolted her. She pressed the key to her forehead, and the world exploded in light.
A hospital room. Her mother, pale but smiling, pressing a locket into a nurse's hand. "Promise me it stays with her. The moonstone—"
"Your Highness, the king forbids—"
"Then hide it. Please. If she ever needs proof…" The memory fractured, but Lilith caught a glimpse of the locket—silver, shaped like a crescent moon, with a tiny wolf engraving.
She tripped and bumped into a lamppost. The key clattered to the ground. When she grabbed it, the vision vanished, leaving a throbbing in her temples.
Locket contains genetic marker confirming royal lineage. Priority retrieval.
Lilith sprinted faster, the bank's glass doors glinting ahead. Inside, a security guard eyed her as she rushed to the safe deposit counter, but she barely noticed—her focus was on the two shadows lingering across the street.
"I need box 37," she told the teller, slamming the key down.
He raised an eyebrow. "ID, please?"
Lilith froze. She didn't have ID. The foster papers were still at the station.
The bell above the door jingled. She turned—Mike's two associates, their leather jackets unzipped to reveal wolf-head tattoos.
"Just browsing," one said, his gaze locking on hers.
The teller frowned. "Ma'am, I can't—"
"It belongs to my mother." Lilith blurted, then cursed. She'd slipped into her mother's native tongue. But the teller's eyes widened.
"Moonstone?" he whispered. He nodded at a back room. "Follow me. Quick."
They hurried through a metal door as the bell jingled again—more footsteps. The teller spun the combination lock on box 37, his hands shaking. "My grandmother was your mother's maid. She told me to watch for a girl with your eyes."
The box clicked open. Inside, a velvet pouch. Lilith pulled out the locket—exactly like the one in her memory, with a tiny wolf etched into the silver. When she touched it, the sigil on her wrist flared.
Royal lineage confirmed. Mother: Amara, Princess of Valtoria. Father: King Alden.
A flood of memories hit her—her mother singing in Valtorian, a crown hidden in a jewelry box, whispered arguments about "wolf blood" and "the prophecy."
"Take it." The teller pushed a back door open. "The sewers connect to the subway. Go!"
Lilith hugged the locket to her chest. "Why help me?"
He smiled sadly. "Your mother saved my sister during the famine. This is the least I can do."
She slipped through the door as shouts erupted in the lobby. The sewer air hit her like a fist—rot and rainwater—but she ran, the locket burning against her skin.
System update: Elena has ordered a citywide manhunt. King's visit is in 24 hours. New mission: Deliver evidence to the king.
Lilith skidded to a stop. The king. The man who'd ignored her for twelve years, who'd let Elena poison his household against her. Why would he listen?
Fetal soul resonance: 35%. "He'll see."
She thought of the memory—her mother, begging the nurse to protect her. Of the locket, a bridge between two worlds. Maybe the king didn't know. Maybe he'd been lied to, same as everyone else.
A wolf howled, closer this time. She peered through a storm drain, seeing a black SUV skid to a stop at the bank entrance. Kane's second-in-command, his face set in a scowl, gestured toward the sewers.
Lilith ran deeper into the tunnels, water sloshing over her ankles. The locket's chain tangled in her fingers, and she unclasped it, tucking the moonstone into her cheek, under her tongue—a trick she'd learned in her past life, when hiding things from Kane.
Thermal vision: 10 hostiles closing in.
She turned down a side tunnel, pressing herself against the wall as boots thundered past. One man paused, sniffing the air. "She's close. Smells like moonstone."
Lilith held her breath. Moonstone—wolf kryptonite. The old texts had been right.
When they were gone, she exhaled, the locket's edge cutting her tongue. Blood filled her mouth, metallic and hot. But she smiled. They were scared of her. Of what she represented.
Up ahead, a faint light glowed—the subway tunnel. She ran toward it, the locket pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
The king would see her. He had to.
Because tomorrow, when he visited St. Agnes', she was going to be there. And this time, she wouldn't be the forgotten girl in the corner.
She'd be the storm.