Today was the day Lucian would learn what Roland had hidden.
The council chamber most wolves knew—the grand hall of treaties and public judgment—lay far above them. This place was buried deep in the mountains, narrow and quiet, meant for truths never meant to surface.
Talia felt it the moment her boots touched the stone.
Wrong.
The air was heavy, the kind that pressed against her ribs. Old magic lingered here, coiled and watchful. Kaela stirred uneasily inside her, hackles lifting.
This place remembers, her wolf warned. And it doesn’t forgive.
Talia straightened her spine and kept moving. Fear wasn’t new to her—but this wasn’t fear. It was recognition.
Lucian walked beside her, close enough that their arms brushed. He didn’t speak, but she felt his awareness wrapped around her like
