9. Beneath Bloodridge
1810 Words
The wind did not stop screaming after the prisoner died.
It curled through the fortress like a warning.
Cold.
Restless.
Alive.
Aria stood frozen in the center of the courtyard while Bloodridge warriors dragged the prisoner’s body away. Snow swirled across the dark stone beneath her boots, catching in the folds of her black cloak. Every instinct inside her felt wrong—too sharp, too loud, too awake.
The world itself sounded different now.
She could hear distant footsteps three corridors away.
The nervous heartbeat of the young warrior standing near the gates.
The crackle of torchfire against damp stone.
Even the mountain beneath Bloodridge seemed to hum faintly beneath her feet.
Something ancient awakened.
The words echoed in her mind like a curse.
Darius noticed the moment her breathing changed.
“Aria.”
His voice grounded her instantly.
She looked at him.
Really looked at him.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark hair touched by the mountain wind. The sharp lines of his face shadowed by tension. Blood still stained the bandage beneath his black shirt where the arrow had pierced him hours earlier.
And despite everything—
He was watching her like she might disappear.
Not because of power.
Because of her.
That realization frightened her more than the voices in her head.
Mara approached carefully from the side, boots striking the frozen stone.
“The body’s already turning cold,” she said quietly. “Too fast.”
Darius’s gaze remained on Aria.
“Poison?”
“Maybe.” Mara frowned. “But I’ve never seen poison move like that.”
Neither had Aria.
The prisoner had not died naturally.
Something had killed him.
The memory made her stomach twist.
Silver eyes.
The Queen’s blood.
The key.
Questions clawed at her thoughts so violently she almost staggered beneath their weight.
Darius immediately stepped closer.
“You need rest.”
Aria laughed softly.
“There’s apparently an ancient cult hunting me and something alive under your mountain.”
“Yes,” Darius said calmly. “Which is exactly why you need rest.”
“You say impossible things like they’re weather reports.”
“That’s because panic rarely improves strategy.”
Mara snorted.
“He’s annoyingly good at that.”
For the first time since collapsing on the bridge, Aria almost smiled genuinely.
Almost.
Then the ground trembled.
Very slightly.
But enough.
Every wolf in the courtyard went still.
A low growl spread through the shifted wolves near the gates.
Torches flickered violently again.
Aria felt it instantly.
Not through her feet.
Through her blood.
Something beneath the fortress moved.
Watching.
Waiting.
Her hand flew to her chest sharply.
Darius noticed immediately.
“What is it?”
Aria swallowed hard.
“I can feel it.”
The courtyard became silent.
Mara’s expression darkened.
“Feel what?”
Aria looked toward the mountain behind Bloodridge fortress.
The massive black cliffs towered above the stronghold like ancient gods sleeping beneath snow and shadow.
And deep inside them—
Something called to her.
“It’s below us,” she whispered.
Darius’s jaw tightened.
The tremor stopped abruptly.
But the silence afterward felt worse.
One of the older warriors near the gates muttered a prayer beneath his breath.
Another made the sign of the crescent moon over his chest.
Fear spread through the courtyard quietly.
Dangerously.
Darius saw it too.
“Enough,” he ordered sharply.
His Alpha voice cut through the tension instantly.
Warriors straightened.
Wolves lowered their heads.
Control returned.
Barely.
Darius looked toward Mara.
“Double the guards.”
“They’re already doubled.”
“Triple them.”
Mara nodded once before moving quickly across the courtyard, barking orders at nearby warriors.
Aria watched her go before speaking quietly.
“They’re afraid of me now.”
Darius looked at her sharply.
“No.”
A bitter smile touched her lips.
“You don’t have to lie.”
“I don’t.”
The certainty in his voice unsettled her.
Darius stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“They’re afraid because they don’t understand what’s happening.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No,” he admitted. “But it makes it manageable.”
Aria looked away.
Snow drifted slowly through the courtyard now, softening the harsh black stone of Bloodridge. The fortress itself looked less like a home and more like a kingdom carved directly into the mountain. Towering walls. Iron gates. Ancient banners snapping in the wind.
Strong.
Unbreakable.
Yet tonight even Bloodridge felt hunted.
Darius suddenly touched her wrist gently.
The contact sent warmth racing through her skin.
“Come with me.”
Her pulse betrayed her immediately.
“Where?”
“There’s something you need to see.”
Bloodridge beneath the fortress was older than the world above it.
Aria realized that the moment the heavy iron doors opened.
Cold air rushed upward from the darkness below.
Not normal cold.
Ancient cold.
The kind that settled into bone.
Torches lined the narrow stone staircase descending deep into the mountain. Their flames flickered silver instead of gold.
Aria noticed instantly.
“So I’m not imagining things anymore.”
Darius glanced back at her while leading the way downward.
“No.”
His voice echoed softly through the tunnel.
The deeper they descended, the quieter the world became.
No wolves.
No wind.
No sounds except their footsteps against stone.
Aria pulled her cloak tighter around herself.
The walls here were strange—smooth in some places, jagged in others, as though parts of the tunnel had been carved while other parts had simply… existed.
“How old is this place?” she asked softly.
“No one knows.”
That answer should not have surprised her anymore.
Darius carried a torch in one hand while his other rested near the dagger at his belt automatically. Even wounded, every movement he made remained alert.
Protective.
The staircase finally opened into a massive underground chamber.
Aria stopped breathing for a moment.
Moonlight.
Actual moonlight somehow poured through cracks high above the cavern ceiling despite the mountain overhead. Silver light reflected across an underground lake so still it looked like black glass.
Ancient pillars circled the water.
And symbols covered every inch of the stone floor.
Aria’s heart pounded violently.
“I know this place.”
Darius looked at her immediately.
“You’ve been here?”
“No.”
Her voice barely came out.
“But I’ve seen it.”
In dreams.
The realization hit her like ice water.
The silver-eyed woman.
The whispers.
The throne of moonstone.
All of it connected here.
The underground chamber felt alive.
Watching her.
Darius studied her carefully.
“What do you remember?”
Aria stepped forward slowly.
The symbols beneath her feet glowed faintly silver the moment she touched them.
Darius swore quietly behind her.
“I remember…” She swallowed hard. “A woman standing near the water.”
The air shifted instantly.
Cold wind swept across the chamber despite being underground.
Aria froze.
Then she heard it.
A whisper.
Soft.
Female.
“Welcome home.”
Aria spun around sharply.
No one stood there.
Her breathing quickened.
“Did you hear that?”
Darius’s expression had gone deadly serious.
“Hear what?”
The chamber suddenly felt much larger.
Much darker.
Aria stepped closer to him instinctively.
“I’m not alone down here.”
Darius moved in front of her immediately.
Predator.
Protector.
His hand wrapped around the hilt of his dagger.
“Show yourself.”
Silence answered.
Then—
The underground lake rippled.
Once.
Twice.
Something moved beneath the black water.
Aria’s pulse exploded.
Darius pulled her behind him instantly.
The surface of the lake began glowing silver from underneath.
Not reflection.
Light.
Ancient symbols across the cavern walls started illuminating one by one like stars awakening in darkness.
Aria stared in horror.
And recognition.
Because she could suddenly read them.
Not with her eyes.
With her blood.
“She who carries the Queen’s blood,” Aria whispered without understanding how she knew the words, “shall open the path beneath the moon…”
Darius turned sharply toward her.
“What did you just say?”
Aria’s head throbbed violently.
More words flooded her mind.
Ancient language.
Ancient memories.
The chamber trembled.
The lake exploded upward.
Aria screamed as silver water rose into the air unnaturally, twisting like living glass before forming the shape of a woman.
Not fully human.
Not fully spirit.
Moonlight itself seemed woven into her body.
Long silver hair drifted weightlessly around a face both beautiful and terrifying.
And her eyes—
Silver.
The exact same silver.
Darius stepped in front of Aria again instantly.
The spirit woman looked at him once.
Then dismissed him entirely.
Her gaze settled on Aria.
Finally.
The woman smiled sadly.
“You look like her.”
Aria couldn’t breathe.
“Who are you?”
The spirit’s expression softened painfully.
“I was called Selene once.”
The name echoed strangely through the chamber.
Darius’s body went rigid beside her.
He knew the name.
Aria looked between them.
“You know her?”
Darius’s face had lost all color.
“Selene was the last Moon Queen.”
The chamber fell silent.
Aria stared at the glowing woman in shock.
Impossible.
The spirit looked at Darius calmly.
“Your father searched for answers until the end.”
Darius’s jaw tightened.
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
The lake shimmered violently beneath her floating form.
Aria’s thoughts spun uncontrollably.
“This can’t be real.”
Selene looked back at her gently.
“It is very real, child.”
Child.
Something about the word nearly broke her.
Aria stepped forward shakily.
“Why me?”
Pain crossed Selene’s face.
“Because your blood remembers.”
The chamber trembled again.
Far above them, somewhere inside the fortress, wolves began howling.
One after another.
Warning cries.
Darius’s expression sharpened instantly.
“We’re not alone.”
The spirit’s silver eyes darkened.
“No,” Selene whispered.
Then she looked directly at Aria.
“They found you faster than expected.”
Fear slid down Aria’s spine.
“Who?”
The answer came from behind them.
“The Order.”
A new voice echoed through the chamber.
Male.
Cold.
Darius spun instantly, dagger drawn.
At the top of the stone staircase stood three figures cloaked in black.
Silver symbols gleamed across their armor.
And standing at the center—
Kael.
Aria’s breath caught painfully.
He looked exhausted.
Snow covered his dark coat and silver hair. A cut marked his cheek. His blue eyes locked onto hers instantly with visible relief.
Then he saw Selene floating above the underground lake.
Every trace of color vanished from his face.
“Oh gods,” Kael whispered.
One of the cloaked figures beside him smiled.
“You see now, Alpha.”
The man lowered his hood slowly.
Silver eyes.
Aria’s blood turned cold.
The Order had arrived.
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