Aldric was taken away before dawn.
No speeches.
No last words.
No dramatic ending worthy of the damage he’d done.
Just chains.
Just silence.
Just a former king walking into exile with his head held high, as if he still believed history would vindicate him.
The pack would remember this moment as justice.
As survival.
As the necessary end of a dangerous era.
But Kael didn’t.
Kael stood at the edge of the camp long after everyone else had turned away, watching the path where his brother disappeared.
Two brothers.
One crown.
And two hundred years of consequences.
People liked to think Aldric’s fall began with cults and corruption.
With ambition taken too far.
With power poisoning, what little mercy he once had.
But Kael knew better.
It started long before Moonstone.
Long be
