Prologue
The kingdom had been celebrating.
Music echoed through the castle halls while witches gathered beneath enchanted lanterns and wolves moved freely through the gardens. Vampires stood beneath the moonlit balconies, watching the festivities from the shadows.
Amoura had been sleeping peacefully in her nursery until the screaming began.
Her mother burst through the door.
“Amoura.”
The little girl stirred.
Her mother crossed the room and lifted her from the crib, pressing her against her chest.
“Shh, my little love. Mama has you.”
Amoura whimpered, half-asleep.
Outside, the kingdom was burning.
Explosions shook the castle, and the windows trembled in their frames. Her father appeared in the doorway, blood staining his clothes.
“We have to leave. Now.”
Her mother looked at him.
“Who is attacking us?”
He didn’t answer because he already knew the truth.
They weren’t there for the kingdom.
They were there for her.
Amoura.
Her father stepped forward and placed a hand against his daughter’s head.
“Take her to the northern border.”
Her mother froze.
“The border?”
“The Snowflake Pack.”
“They won’t let us cross their territory.”
“They will if they know who she is.”
“And if they don’t?”
Her father’s expression hardened.
“Then they must never know.”
Another explosion rocked the castle.
They had seconds.
Her mother kissed Amoura’s forehead.
“Hold on to me, sweetheart.”
The three of them fled through a hidden passage beneath the castle. They ran beneath the kingdom while the sounds of battle grew louder above them.
Amoura cried quietly against her mother’s shoulder. She didn’t understand why everyone was frightened. She didn’t understand why her home was disappearing behind her.
She only knew that her father’s hand was holding hers.
Until it wasn’t.
At the mouth of the tunnel, her father stopped.
His wife stared at him.
“No.”
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“You have to go.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You are not leaving me.”
His eyes moved to Amoura.
“You are saving her.”
He kissed his daughter one final time, then pushed them through the passage.
The entrance sealed behind them.
Amoura never saw her father again.
────────
They travelled for hours through forests, across frozen rivers, and beyond the lands Amoura had ever known.
Eventually, her mother reached the territory of the Snowflake Pack.
She was exhausted, wounded, and barely able to stand, but she kept moving.
Then something changed.
A strange pressure filled the air.
Her mother’s eyes widened.
They had found them.
The attackers were close.
Too close.
She looked down at Amoura.
Her daughter was asleep, completely unaware that her entire world had already been destroyed.
Her mother kissed her forehead.
“I love you.”
Amoura stirred.
“Mama…”
Her mother swallowed the sob rising in her throat.
“I will always love you.”
She carried Amoura to the edge of the Snowflake Pack’s territory, a place marked by enormous silver trees and snow-covered stones.
The border.
She gently placed Amoura beneath one of the trees and wrapped her in the cloak she had been wearing.
Then she removed a small pendant from around her neck. It was shaped like a crescent moon and surrounded by three symbols: a wolf, a vampire, and a witch.
She placed it around Amoura’s neck.
“One day,” she whispered, “you’ll understand.”
Amoura’s tiny hand reached for her mother’s fingers.
“Stay.”
Her mother smiled through her tears.
“I wish I could.”
Then she stood and walked away.
Amoura watched her mother disappear between the trees.
She waited.
And waited.
But her mother never came back.
The little girl began to cry.
Her cries echoed through the snowy forest, and somewhere deep within the Snowflake Pack territory, a wolf heard them.
A low growl sounded in the darkness.
Then another.
Footsteps approached.
Amoura curled beneath the tree, trembling.
A shadow emerged from the snow.
Then another.
The wolves had found her.
One of them stepped forward and lowered its head.
The little girl stared back.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the wolf shifted.
A man stood where the beast had been.
He looked down at the abandoned child.
“What are you doing out here?”
Amoura didn’t answer.
She was too frightened.
The man noticed the pendant around her neck, and his expression changed.
He crouched beside her.
“Who left you here?”
Amoura’s lower lip trembled.
She pointed toward the forest.
“Mama.”
The man looked toward the trees.
There was no one there.
Only snow.
He turned back to the child.
Something about her felt wrong.
Not dangerous.
Not yet.
But powerful.
Far too powerful for a two-year-old.
He picked her up.
Amoura immediately buried her face against his chest.
The wolf looked down at her.
“You’re coming with us, little one.”
He didn’t know it then.
None of them did.
But the night the Snowflake Pack found Amoura was the night their entire world changed.
The abandoned child they had taken in was not an ordinary wolf.
She was not a vampire.
She was not a witch.
She was something the supernatural realm had never seen before.
And one day, every king, every alpha, every vampire lord, every witch, and every supernatural creature in existence would kneel before her.
For Amoura was destined to become the most powerful being the realm had ever known.
But first, she had to survive being a forgotten little girl at the border.
