Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Secrets Beneath the silence

Chapter 24 : Secrets Beneath the Silence.

Liora POV

The room is quiet, but my mind isn’t.

I sit at the edge of the bed, fingers curled around the pendant resting against my chest. The metal is warm from my skin, but the weight of it feels different tonight. Wrong.

Seraphina’s voice keeps replaying in my head.

"The last blood of that damned bloodline."

My fingers tighten.

Bloodline.

What bloodline?

The question has been circling my thoughts since dawn, refusing to settle. Seraphina didn’t sound curious when she said it. She sounded furious. Afraid, even.

And Seraphina does not fear easily.

If she’s been hunting someone... someone important enough to marry daughters from different packs just to lure them out...

Then whoever carries that blood must be dangerous.

Or valuable. Or both.

A soft knock pulls me from the spiral of my thoughts.

"My lady?"

The door opens slightly and Elara steps in, balancing a tray of tea and bread. She pauses the moment she sees me sitting there, still in the same place she left me earlier.

Her eyes narrow slightly, studying my face the way she always does when she thinks I’m hiding something.

"My lady... is something bothering you?" she asks carefully as she sets the tray down.

I shake my head automatically.

"No. It’s not."

Elara hums softly, unconvinced.

"I thought as much," she says after a moment.

Her lips twitch.

"That ceremony last night could not possibly be the reason."

I glance at her. She’s trying not to smile.

"Alpha did that to protect you," she continues, her voice lowering conspiratorially. "And I would say the two of you resolved your differences rather thoroughly afterward."

My stomach flips.

Heat rushes to my face before I can stop it.

Of course she knows.

Elara cleaned the room this morning.

She must have seen the blood on the sheets.

The memory flashes through my mind—Kael’s hands, his voice rough in my ear, the way the bond pulsed between us like something alive.

I push the thought away quickly.

Elara giggles quietly, her own cheeks pink.

"He was very impressive last night," she adds. "Standing in front of the entire council like that. I imagine Lady Isolade was absolutely furious."

"Terrified," she adds thoughtfully. "Or jealous."

I exhale slowly, forcing my thoughts back to the problem clawing at my mind.

"Elara," I say.

She straightens immediately.

"My lady?"

I lift the pendant slightly between my fingers.

"Why do you think Kael took this?"

Her gaze drops to the necklace resting against my skin.

"The Alpha returned it to you," she replies. "I saw it myself."

"That’s not what I asked."

She hesitates.

"You keep insisting it’s a replica," she says carefully.

"Because it is."

My thumb brushes the metal again.

"I can feel it."

Elara frowns.

"My lady..."

"Let’s assume I’m right," I interrupt quietly. "Why would he take the real one?"

She doesn’t answer immediately. The silence stretches.

"Where do you think he hid it?" I press.

Elara’s brows draw together. "My lady... aren’t you afraid?"

"Of what?"

"Of what might happen if you find it."

Her gaze returns to the pendant. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"That necklace was sealed with magic," she continues slowly. "The fact that it opened when you used your blood should already be impossible."

Her voice softens.

"Why are you still looking for it?"

Because Seraphina is hunting something.

Because Kael is hiding something.

Because nothing about this place makes sense anymore.

I swallow.

"For some strange reason," I admit quietly, "I feel like it holds the answer to my questions."

Elara watches me for a long moment.

"My lady..."

Her tone changes slightly. Careful. Testing.

"You left the room this morning even though Alpha told you not to."

I freeze.

"Did I?"

"Yes."

Her eyes are sharp now.

"Don’t pretend you don’t remember, I tried talking you out of it but you didn’t listen."

I hold her gaze.

"And?"

She studies me another second before shaking her head.

"Nothing."

I look down at the pendant again, my thoughts returning to Seraphina’s words.

The last blood of that damned bloodline.

"Elara," I say slowly.

"Yes, my lady?"

"If Seraphina is searching for someone..."

She waits.

"What kind of person would require marriages across multiple packs just to find them?"

Elara’s face pales slightly. "A very important one."

I nod.

"That’s what I thought."

Silence settles between us again.

Then I say the thing that has been forming in my mind since last night.

"I need to find them."

Elara blinks. "My lady... what?"

"The bloodline Seraphina is hunting."

I lift my head.

"I need to find them before she does."

Her eyes widen.

"That’s dangerous."

"Everything here is dangerous," I reply.

Then I add quietly,

"And if Seraphina finds them first..."

I think of the vial. Of Kael’s shaking hands.

Of the way his voice cracked when he demanded it.

"...neither of us survives."

---

The door opens just after nightfall.

I don’t look up immediately, but I feel him the moment he steps inside.

The bond stirs like a restless animal under my skin.

Kael pauses near the door, as if gauging the room before moving farther in. His presence fills the space in a way that still surprises me. Heavy. Commanding. Impossible to ignore.

"You’re awake," he says.

His voice is rougher than usual.

"I wasn’t aware I needed permission to sleep," I reply quietly.

A faint sound escapes him. Not quite a laugh.

I finally glance over.

He looks tired.

Not the kind of tired that comes from lack of sleep. Something deeper sits behind his eyes tonight. His shoulders are tight, his movements slower as he removes the black leather bracers from his wrists and sets them on the table.

For a moment, neither of us speaks.

My gaze drifts briefly to his hands.

No tremor.

But I remember what I saw earlier. The vial clutched in his fist like the only thing keeping him alive.

"You missed dinner," he says after a moment.

"I wasn’t hungry."

His eyes lift to mine. He studies me the way wolves study a shifting wind.

Trying to decide what changed.

"What did you do today?" he asks.

"Sat here."

"That’s all?"

I shrug slightly.

"Should I have done more?"

His jaw tightens.

Something flickers in his eyes—suspicion maybe, or simply exhaustion. Then he exhales slowly and runs a hand through his hair.

"Get some rest," he mutters. "Tomorrow will be... complicated."

I almost ask why.

Almost.

Instead I watch as he crosses the room and sits on the edge of the bed.

The mattress dips under his weight.

He removes his boots slowly, then the dark tunic stretched across his shoulders. The candlelight catches the faint scars crossing his chest and ribs, old battles written into his skin like a map of violence.

My gaze drifts to the center of his chest.

Where Seraphina said the curse lives.

Kael lies back against the pillows with a low breath, one arm falling across his eyes.

Within minutes his breathing deepens.

Sleep.

Or something close to it.

I stay where I am.

Watching.

The Alpha of the most powerful pack in the region lies a few feet away, vulnerable in a way no one else is allowed to see.

And yet I now know the truth. He’s not invincible.

He’s dying.

I look down at the pendant resting in my palm.

The metal glints faintly in the candlelight.

A replica.

The real one is somewhere in this fortress.

Hidden by the man currently sleeping in the same bed.

And somewhere beyond these walls, Seraphina is hunting the last blood of a forgotten lineage.

I stare into the darkness, my thoughts spinning too fast for sleep to ever catch them.

Because one question refuses to leave me.

If Seraphina has been searching this long...

If Kael has been hiding the pendant this carefully...

Then what happens when they finally find the bloodline?

My fingers tighten around the necklace.

The answer sits heavy in my chest.

And as I listen to the quiet rhythm of Kael’s breathing beside me, one terrifying thought settles into place.

If Seraphina has been searching this long...

Then the bloodline she’s hunting might already be inside this fortress.