Chapter 32: The Shadow Heir Rises
The howl lingered in the air long after its echo had faded.
It wasn’t just a sound—it was a tremor that passed through every bone, every drop of blood, every fragment of soul in the valley. Even the wind seemed to flinch.
Kairo stood still, his breath shallow, his heartbeat heavy against his ribs. The dawn light flickered uneasily across the ruins, as though the sun itself hesitated to rise.
He turned toward the mountains where the sound had come from. There was no mist, no shadow—just the quiet expanse of peaks crowned in snow. Yet something stirred there. Something vast and waiting.
Kaelen moved beside him, his expression grim. “That howl… it carried a mark,” he said, voice low. “The old blood. Ours.”
Kairo frowned. “It can’t be. No one carries tha
