Chapter 41
The Journey Begins
No one slept that night.
The letter from my mother lay on the table in the council chamber, carefully protected beneath a sheet of glass. Every few minutes my eyes drifted back to it, as though I feared the words would disappear if I looked away for too long.
My father was alive.
For twenty-three years I had believed I was an orphan.
Now, everything I thought I knew had changed.
Kael stood beside the map spread across the table.
Draven stood opposite him.
Between them, Elder Rowan and Elara marked ancient roads that had long vanished from modern maps.
Elara traced a narrow line with her finger.
"The Last King's prison lies beyond the Frostfang Mountains."
Captain Darius frowned.
"No pack has crossed those mountains in generations."
"There is a re
