Chapter 4 – The Blood He Carries
959 Words
The silence in the chamber was thick and suffocating.
Selina stared at the guard, trying to make sense of what she’d just heard.
A brother?
Her father never mentioned having another child. And yet… the name, the crest… it all pointed to one horrifying truth:
Her past was filled with shadows she hadn’t even begun to uncover.
“Where is he?” she asked, voice sharp.
The guard hesitated. “We’ve locked him in the interrogation wing. He refused to shift or answer questions. Just kept repeating your name.”
Ronan stepped forward. “I’ll go with you—”
“No,” Selina snapped. “If he really has my father’s crest, I want to face him alone.”
“You’re in no shape to interrogate anyone,” Ronan argued. “Let me—”
“I said no.” Her voice cracked like a whip. “I’ve been lied to enough. I need to hear this for myself.”
The woman with silver braids—the Sanctuary Elder—gave her a small nod. “We’ll stand watch from the outer corridor. But be careful, Selina. If he is the Betrayer’s Blood, he may already know how to manipulate you.”
Selina didn’t flinch.
She was done being someone’s pawn.
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The interrogation room was a cold, circular chamber carved into stone, dimly lit by wall sconces. The man sat alone in the center, wrists bound in enchanted silver cuffs, his head bowed.
He looked up when she entered.
Selina gasped.
He had her father’s eyes.
“Selina,” he said softly, like he’d known her forever. “You look just like Mother.”
She stiffened. “Don’t call her that.”
His lips curled. “So, he didn’t tell you.”
“No. He didn’t. And that speaks volumes, doesn’t it?”
He exhaled slowly. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to protect you—from Kael, from the prophecy, from what’s coming.”
“Then start talking.”
He nodded once. “My name is Daemon. I was born before you, years before your mother gave up the throne. My mother wasn’t Seraphine… she was her twin. Selene.”
Selina’s jaw dropped. “Seraphine had a twin?”
Daemon’s gaze was steady. “They were both born under the same moon but chose different paths. Seraphine followed the Light. Selene… didn’t.”
Selina’s heart raced.
“You’re telling me you’re… her child?”
“Yes. That makes us cousins by blood. But your father? He raised me, too. Before he fled with your mother, he took me in. Trained me. Loved me. I carry his crest because I am his son.”
Selina’s knees nearly buckled. She reached for the wall for support. “Why would he keep you hidden?”
“Because the elders feared what I might become. They called me the Shadowborn. Said I carried the darkness of my mother in my veins. The Betrayer’s Blood.”
Selina froze.
The prophecy. The warning. It all matched.
“I didn’t choose this,” Daemon said, voice cracking for the first time. “I didn’t ask for this curse.”
She looked him in the eye. “Then why come now?”
“Because Kael is hunting you. He wants to absorb your power during the Blood Moon. If he finds you first, you won’t survive.”
“And what do you want?”
His eyes shimmered with pain. “To help you awaken. To teach you how to wield what’s inside you. Because I’ve seen what happens if you don’t…”
He trailed off.
Selina stepped closer. “Tell me.”
Daemon’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The Moonborn loses control. The wolf fractures. You either die… or you turn into something worse.”
Something stirred inside Selina—deep, primal, feral.
Her wolf growled.
She swallowed hard. “Why should I trust you?”
He leaned forward, and even with silver burning into his wrists, he radiated calm.
“Because I know what it’s like to be hunted by your own kind. Because I lost everything trying to protect the bloodline. And because, like it or not… I’m the only one who understands the power waking inside you.”
Before she could respond, a violent tremor shook the walls.
Torches flickered. Dust rained down from the ceiling.
The chamber door flew open as the silver-haired Elder stormed in. “We’re under attack. Kael’s men have breached the lower gate.”
Ronan appeared behind her, face grim. “They found us.”
Selina’s pulse spiked.
Not now. Not yet.
“We need to move,” the Elder said. “Selina, come with me.”
Selina looked at Daemon.
His voice was calm. “Let me fight beside you. You need me.”
Ronan stepped forward. “He could be lying. Manipulating you.”
“Or he could be telling the truth,” Selina snapped. “And right now, we don’t have the luxury of doubt.”
The Elder looked between them. Then, reluctantly, nodded. “Release him. But one wrong move—”
“I know,” Daemon said, standing slowly. “You’ll put me down.”
Selina stepped beside him. She felt it now—an odd tether, not like the bond she’d had with Kael, but something ancient. Like twin stars orbiting the same moon.
Not mates. Not quite family.
Something else.
The prophecy echoed in her mind:
“The Betrayer’s Blood walks again.”
And yet…
She didn’t sense betrayal.
Only fire.
Only fate.
Kael’s forces breach the Sanctuary. Selina must decide whether to trust Daemon—whose blood may fulfill the prophecy’s doom—or face the enemy alone with power she still doesn’t understand.
- Writer
