"We were never fated, I knew that. We were chosen. But still…" Talia whispered.
She couldn’t finish, not in front of all these strangers. She wasn’t ready yet.
Alina gently touched her shoulder and squeezed. The realization wasn't sad—it was gasoline poured on a smoldering fire. "He counterfeited the bond."
Lucian went terrifyingly still. "He manipulated a sacred law. He faked a soul claim to keep a pawn on the board."
"And to infiltrate us," the gray-haired Elder snapped. "Crown tools don't wander off alone. Someone gave Calder that pattern. Someone is helping him within the council."
Lucian stepped into the light, his face grim. "They are repeating history," he said, his voice heavy with a dark past. "The last time a Crown key was forged and smuggled across borders, the War of As
