8. The Queen’s Blood
1020 Words
Mara left reluctantly after Darius dismissed her.
The heavy chamber doors shut behind her with a deep echo.
Now only firelight remained.
And truth.
Darius sat across from Aria this time rather than beside her.
Not looming over her.
Meeting her as an equal.
“My father was obsessed with the old bloodlines,” he began. “Most believed he was chasing myths. But he found fragments of records hidden across abandoned territories.”
Aria listened carefully.
“He believed the Moon-touched weren’t simply wolves with unusual abilities. They were guardians.”
“Guardians of what?”
Darius’s gaze darkened.
“Something powerful enough that ancient packs slaughtered each other to possess it.”
Aria’s heart pounded.
“That sounds insane.”
“It probably was.”
The fire snapped softly between them.
Darius continued.
“The Order of the Eclipse believed the Moon-touched should rule all wolves directly. Other packs feared them becoming tyrants. Eventually war began.”
Aria tried to imagine it.
Entire kingdoms of wolves turning on each other beneath silver skies.
Ancient power tearing continents apart.
“The bloodline vanished after that?”
“So history claims.”
Aria looked down at her hands again.
“But not completely.”
“No.”
Silence settled between them.
Then Aria asked the question haunting her most.
“Why me?”
Darius’s expression shifted slightly.
“Your mother.”
Aria froze.
“What about her?”
“She disappeared from pack records before you were born.”
Aria stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t.”
“My father told me she died.”
“He lied.”
The room tilted.
Aria’s chest tightened painfully.
“No…”
Darius’s voice softened.
“We believe she fled Silvermoon while pregnant.”
Aria’s thoughts spiraled violently.
“My mother was Moon-touched?”
“We don’t know.”
“But she knew.”
“Yes.”
Aria stood abruptly and paced toward the window.
The mountains outside stretched endlessly beneath pale dawn light. Wolves moved through the fortress courtyards below like shadows crossing snow-covered stone.
Everything looked normal.
And yet nothing was.
“My entire life,” she whispered, “people have been deciding my fate before I even knew who I was.”
Darius rose slowly behind her.
“Yes.”
Aria turned sharply.
“Aren’t you angry?”
The question surprised him.
“At what?”
“At them. At all of this.”
For the first time, genuine fury flashed openly across his face.
“I have spent most of my life angry.”
The honesty of it stole her breath.
Darius stepped closer.
“When I was younger, I thought power solved everything. Strength. Fear. Control.” His jaw tightened. “Then I watched powerful men destroy entire territories because they believed bloodlines mattered more than lives.”
Aria looked at him carefully.
“And now?”
“Now I think power without choice is just another cage.”
Something inside her softened painfully.
Darius was dangerous.
Terrifying even.
But he looked at her like she deserved freedom.
Not ownership.
And after Kael…
That mattered more than she wanted it to.
Their eyes held.
The air shifted.
Too aware.
Too close.
Aria suddenly realized how near he stood.
Close enough to feel his warmth.
Close enough to smell smoke and pine and storm rain on his skin.
Close enough that her wolf stirred restlessly.
Darius’s gaze dropped briefly to her lips.
Heat rushed through her instantly.
The tension between them became unbearable.
Then—
A sharp knock shattered the moment.
Both of them stepped back immediately.
Mara entered again without waiting.
Her expression was grim.
“You’re going to want to see this.”
The fortress courtyard was chaos.
Warriors crowded the stone grounds beneath the towering black gates. Torches burned despite daylight. Wolves snarled restlessly near the walls.
And at the center of it all—
A prisoner knelt in chains.
Blood covered the man’s face.
One of Kael’s scouts stood nearby holding a broken arrow.
“We caught him near the eastern cliffs,” Mara explained as Aria and Darius descended the fortress steps. “He was signaling someone in the mountains.”
The prisoner lifted his head slowly.
And smiled when he saw Aria.
Ice flooded her veins.
His eyes were silver.
Not wolf silver.
Moon silver.
The same unnatural color she had seen in her dream.
The crowd shifted uneasily.
Even hardened warriors looked disturbed.
The prisoner’s gaze locked onto Aria.
“There you are.”
Darius moved instantly in front of her.
Protective.
Lethal.
The chained man laughed weakly.
“The Moon finally woke.”
“Who are you?” Darius demanded.
The man ignored him completely.
His eyes remained fixed on Aria.
“You feel it now, don’t you?”
Aria’s pulse thundered.
“Answer him,” Darius growled.
The prisoner slowly tilted his head.
“She carries the Queen’s blood.”
Silence crashed across the courtyard.
Aria felt every warrior staring at her.
Queen?
Mara swore quietly.
Darius’s body went rigid.
The prisoner smiled wider despite the blood on his teeth.
“The Order will come for her.”
Darius stepped forward dangerously.
“They’ll die trying.”
The prisoner laughed again.
“You still don’t understand, Alpha.”
His silver eyes gleamed unnaturally.
“She isn’t the weapon.”
The wind suddenly howled across the courtyard.
Torches flickered violently.
Aria felt cold power surge beneath her skin again.
The prisoner’s smile widened.
“She’s the key.”
Then his body convulsed violently.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
Warriors rushed forward.
Too late.
The prisoner collapsed lifelessly onto the stone.
Dead.
Aria stared at the body in horror.
No wound.
No attack.
It was as if something inside him had simply… stopped.
Mara checked for a pulse before looking up grimly.
“Poison.”
Darius’s expression became murderous.
“He killed himself?”
“No,” Aria whispered.
Everyone looked at her.
She swallowed hard.
“He was silenced.”
The wind screamed again through the fortress.
And somewhere deep beneath Bloodridge mountain—
Something ancient awakened.
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