POV : Alessia De Luca Volkov
Sleep never came.
I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling above my bed. Katarina’s words refused to leave me alone.
You have no idea what your blood can do to him.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard them again. Blood, always blood. The De Luca bloodline, the Volkov bloodline, the curse, the wolf, the strange silver flashes in my reflection, the impossible connection I had felt beneath the South Wing.
Nothing made sense anymore and I was tired of everyone treating me like the last person allowed to know the truth. The fortress remained unusually quiet, too quiet like the entire empire was holding its breath. Waiting, watching, judging.
Somewhere beyond my bedroom window, wolves howled. The sound rolled across the forest. Lonely, ancient, unsettl
