The wheels of the carriage shrieked against the frozen stones, each turn of the axle rattling through the wooden frame and into Aria's bones. She sat pressed tight against the farthest corner of the bench, hands curled into fists on her lap, though her knuckles trembled no matter how hard she willed them still.
The satchel beside her weighed heavier than iron, though it carried only scraps: a change of clothes, a half-blunt knife, a leather-bound book that had belonged to Dorian once, and the necklace tucked against her chest. Her mother's crescent pendant was the only thing she had left of her bloodline, and even that she kept hidden beneath her blouse.
Her blood.
She dragged her hood lower, shadowing her eyes from the faint glow of moonlight seeping through the cracks in the carriage wall. Her blood was the reason she was here. Her blood was the reason she could never be known.
Aria Vale is dead.
She whispered the mantra in her mind as the carriage groaned up another steep incline.
You are Aria Gray. Daughter of no one worth remembering. Too weak to be a threat. Nothing but another forgotten girl trying to survive the academy's tests.
The lie was a second skin now, but it still rubbed raw. Every time she said it, even in silence, her throat ached with the effort of swallowing her name.
The driver spat out of the side window. He hadn't spoken a word to her since they'd left the valley road. That suited her just fine. He smelled of wolf blood, not pure Alpha, but enough that his eyes flashed faint gold when they caught the moon. Mercenary type. Paid to drive her through the mountains, not to ask who she was or why her voice shook whenever she tried to breathe too deeply.
Still, silence in the mountains had its own weight. The further they climbed, the sharper the air turned, pine resin cutting her nose, damp stone clinging to her tongue. She pressed a sleeve over her mouth to warm each breath. Her stomach twisted with every jolt, as though the road itself was trying to shake her secrets loose.
Somewhere high above, snow glittered faintly on the peaks. Clouds bruised the sky into shifting grays, smothering most of the stars. And then, from the forest below, a sound shivered the air.
Low at first, almost a vibration under the wheels, then rising, layered, long howls.
Not wild. Not free.
The disciplined voices of a pack.
Aria's grip on the satchel strap tightened until the leather bit into her palm.
They were close.
The howls still lingered in her ears when the road bent sharply and the forest broke open into a clearing. Aria's pulse tripped faster. She hesitated, then pinched two fingers into the curtain and pulled it back just enough to see.
The view made her breath catch in her throat.
Lunar Crest Academy rose out of the mountain's crown like it had been carved there by the gods themselves. Towers jutted like sharpened fangs into the clouds, their black stone gleaming silver under the moon. Bridges ran between them, laced with lanterns that swayed in the wind and made the structures glow as though veins of fire pulsed through their bones.
At the highest peak, a flag whipped wild against the sky, stitched in silver thread with two wolves encircling a crescent moon. The seal of the council. The mark of power is older than her own bloodline.
Her chest tightened. It was magnificent, terrifying, and impossibly close.
Every story she'd ever overheard about this place flickered in her mind: heirs clashing in duels that split stone, secret rituals under the blood moon, crowns decided in blood instead of ballots. To most of the wolf-born, Lunar Crest was destiny. To her, it was a cage with golden locks.
The mountains pressed closer as if to remind her of what they'd taken. Blackridge had watched her clan burn and drank their blood when the Vale Alpha throne was torn away. Her family's screams had vanished into these same ridges, swallowed whole by indifferent stones.
Did the rocks remember? Did the towers laugh at her now, knowing a Vale had dared return disguised as a nothing?
Her vision blurred, though whether from cold or anger, she couldn't tell. She dragged the curtain closed again, hiding the academy from view before its weight crushed her chest completely.
The carriage jolted hard, one wheel hitting a rut deep enough to send her shoulder into the wall. The wood cracked, sharp and sudden, and she bit back a curse.
It felt like the mountain itself was shoving her back down the road.
"No turning back," she whispered to herself. The words sounded too loud, swallowed by the creak of wheels and the driver's muttered curses.
Her fingers shook as she straightened her hood. Every breath scraped her lungs raw, but she forced her spine tall against the lurch of the carriage.
If the mountains wanted to spit her out, they would have to break her first.
The horses slowed, hooves clattering against stone as the road leveled out. Ahead, two massive iron gates stretched across the path, set into a wall of black granite that gleamed with frost. Torches blazed along the battlements, their flames snatched sideways by the wind, casting wild shadows over the men who waited there.
Not men, wolves.
Even in their human forms, dominance rippled off them like heat. Broad shoulders wrapped in leather armor, claws half-extended, eyes shining unnatural gold or amber as they tracked the carriage's approach. A few had shifted partially, fangs sharp beneath curled lips, ears pointed and twitching toward every sound.
Aria's throat constricted. The air itself felt thicker, harder to swallow.
The driver muttered something she didn't catch, pulling the horses to a halt. The torches hissed, smoke curling into the night.
One of the guards stepped forward. He was taller than the rest, his presence cutting sharper than the cold. Stubble darkened his jaw, and his pupils were swallowed by glowing yellow as his nostrils flared. He stopped a hand's breadth from the carriage door.
"Open it," he ordered, voice rough, dangerous.
Aria froze.
The driver cleared his throat. "Passenger for the academy. Cleared for entry." His tone held a trace of deference, but his hands on the reins had gone white-knuckled.
The guard didn't glance at him. "Open it."
The latch scraped, and the carriage door creaked wide. Cold air slapped Aria's face, sharper than any blade.
Slowly, she lifted her chin, though her hood shadowed her eyes. Her boots met the dirt with a crunch that echoed louder than it should have. She forced herself not to sway under the weight of his stare.
The guard leaned closer, breathing her in. Once. Twice. His nose wrinkled as if he'd caught a scent just out of reach.
Every vein in Aria's body pulsed with panic. She imagined it spilling through her skin, imagined the word "Vale" glowing across her forehead for all to see.
Don't flinch. Don't run. Don't be.
The guard's lips peeled back slightly, showing the edge of a fang.
Her breath caught.
The guard inhaled one last time, so close that the heat of his breath brushed her cheek. Aria's pulse pounded in her ears, loud enough she was certain he could hear it.
Then he grunted, the sound low and dismissive. "Weakling," he muttered, straightening. His glow-drenched eyes flicked away as though she weren't worth the effort.
The tension in her shoulders nearly snapped her bones in two. She swallowed against the dryness clawing her throat and forced herself to step back without stumbling.
The driver gave the faintest nod, flicking the reins. The horses shifted uneasily, hooves clattering as they pulled the carriage forward again.
Iron screamed against stone as the gates began to part. Chains rattled, torches hissed, and slowly, the academy revealed itself beyond the threshold.
Aria climbed back inside the carriage, heart still battering her ribs like a bird trapped in a cage. She didn't dare look at the guard again.
The wheels jolted over the threshold, and the world changed.
Inside the walls, the air felt heavier, laced with the faint metallic tang of blood and smoke. Black stone pathways stretched wide, flanked by towering statues of wolves caught mid-leap. Banners hung from spears driven into the courtyard ground, each embroidered with the sigils of ruling packs, bloodlines carved in silver and crimson thread.
Aria's skin prickled. Every mark felt like an accusation. You don't belong here.
Behind them, the gates groaned shut. The sound echoed like a sentence being passed.
The driver muttered, "You're in," his tone unreadable. Whether it was approval or warning, she couldn't tell.
The gates clanged as the locks slid into place. Final. Unyielding.
Aria gripped the strap of her satchel tighter, her breath shaking with the realization: she was inside Lunar Crest now. No more roads. No way back down the mountain.
Whatever waited for her in those towers, she would face it alone.
The carriage rolled forward, wheels clicking against flagstone. From somewhere deeper within the grounds, a wolf howled again, louder this time, closer, like the academy itself had sensed her arrival.
The carriage rattled deeper, swallowed by shadows taller than any castle wall Aria had ever seen. Lanterns swayed on iron chains overhead, casting long, restless beams across the courtyard.
Students moved in clusters along the stone paths, heirs already returned from their summer leave. Their laughter cut through the night, sharp and cruel, echoing off the towers. Boys with wolfish grins shoved each other, their shoulders broad with Alpha strength. Girls leaned close, their eyes glinting silver or amber in the torchlight, whispers curling like smoke from their lips.
Every single one of them was dangerous. Every single one carried blood powerful enough to command armies.
Aria pulled her hood lower, sinking into the shadows of the carriage window. If any of them looked too closely, if any of them sniffed too deep… she forced her nails into her palm, reminding herself to stay small. To be forgettable.
The horses slowed again, hooves striking sparks from the flagstones as the carriage rolled toward the main steps. The academy itself loomed above, a fortress of obsidian towers spiked with spires, their windows glowing faintly with candlelight. At the heart of it rose the Grand Hall, a dome roof etched with silver sigils that shimmered like a second moon.
Her chest tightened at the sight. Beautiful, yes. But beauty sharpened into menace here. Even the air seemed to press down heavier with each turn of the wheel, as if the stone itself was alive and testing her strength.
The carriage stopped. The driver swung down, muttered to the horses, and then glanced at her through the door. "End of the road," he said. His tone gave nothing away, but his eyes lingered an instant too long, as if he wondered whether she'd walk willingly into the wolves' den or bolt back into the mountains.
Aria swallowed hard and gripped her satchel. Her boots hit the flagstone again, this time inside the academy walls. She looked up, the towers blotting out the stars above, the banners of Alpha bloodlines snapping in the wind.
A howl ripped through the night, this one so close it made the stones under her feet vibrate. Another answered, and another, until the courtyard echoed with their chorus.
It wasn't a celebration. It wasn't welcome.
It was a warning.
And for the first time, Aria realized the trial had already begun.