Chapter 10
757 Words
The Blackwood Forest did not just hide rogues; it hid history.
Following the strange pull in my chest, I left the site of my first kill behind. Ryker had told me that the Shadow Walkers weren't just nomads; they had roots. Deep, dark roots that the Alpha Kings had tried to burn out of the earth. As I pushed through a thicket of thorns that seemed to part for me as if they recognized my blood, I saw it.
It was a stone archway, half-sunken into the side of a moss-covered cliff. It looked like a ruin, but as I stepped closer, the locket around my neck, the only thing I had left of my mother began to glow with a soft, violet pulse.
"You found it faster than I expected," Ryker’s voice came from the shadows. He was leaning against a nearby cedar, watching me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.
"What is this place?" I whispered.
"The Archive of the Eclipse," he said, stepping forward. "Your people didn't just use magic, Ivy. They recorded it. They knew the Alphas would eventually turn on them. This is where the secrets of the 'Royal Rejection' are kept, and how to survive the aftermath."
I placed my hand on the cold stone. The moment my skin touched the surface, the air hummed. A series of ancient runes flared to life, glowing with the same abyssal light that now lived in my eyes. The heavy stone door groaned and slid back, revealing a spiral staircase that descended into the throat of the mountain.
As we descended, the walls were lined with murals. I stopped, my breath catching in my throat. The paintings depicted the dawn of the Lycan race. It didn't show Alphas ruling alone. It showed them in pairs, a Wolf of Light and a Wolf of Shadow.
"The Balance," Ryker explained, his torchlight flickering against the stone. "The Alphas provided the strength and the sun. The Shadow Walkers provided the intuition and the night. Together, the pack was invincible. But Silas’s grandfather was a man of ego. He didn't want a partner; he wanted a servant. He convinced the world that the Shadows were a curse so he could be the sole King."
I looked at a mural of a woman who looked exactly like me. She was standing over a fallen Alpha, her hand outstretched, not to kill, but to heal.
"If the bond is meant to be a balance," I realized, "then when Silas rejected me, he didn't just hurt me. He broke the balance of his own power."
"Exactly," Ryker said. "That’s why he feels like he’s losing his mind back at the palace. Without you, his wolf is becoming unstable. He’s a King with no anchor."
At the bottom of the stairs was a vast chamber filled with crystal pillars. In the center, on a raised dais, sat a silver circlet, not a crown of gold and jewels like the ones Silas wore, but a crown of woven shadow-iron.
"The Queen’s Crown," Ryker whispered. "It doesn't signify a husband's rank. It signifies the strength of the bloodline. Touch it, Ivy."
I reached out, my fingers trembling. The moment I brushed the cold metal, a surge of memories flooded my mind. I saw the night of the m******e, not from the eyes of a child hiding in a closet, but from the eyes of my mother. She hadn't been a weak Omega. She had fought Silas’s father until the very end, using her magic to hide me from their senses.
I wasn't an accident. I was a survivor by design.
The pain of the rejection in my chest didn't vanish, but it transformed. It was no longer a wound; it was a battery. Every bit of grief I had carried for ten years turned into a cold, hard resolve.
"He’s coming for me," I said, my voice echoing in the chamber. "I can feel him in the bond. He’s obsessed."
"Let him come," Ryker replied, his eyes gleaming. "By the time he reaches these woods, you won't be the girl who cleaned his floors. You’ll be the woman who decides if he’s allowed to keep his crown."
I picked up the shadow-iron circlet. It felt light as a feather but heavy as a mountain. I didn't put it on. Not yet. I had to earn it. I had to grow strong enough to ensure that when I finally faced Silas Vane, I wouldn't just be his mate, I would be his judge.
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