The Other Heir
1289 Words
The sanctuary was hidden beneath a frozen cliffside three territories north of Luciano’s estate.
No roads led there.
No official maps carried its name.
Even the wolves escorting them avoided speaking during the journey, like the mountain itself carried secrets people survived by fearing.
By the time they arrived, dawn had already started bleeding pale gray light across the cliffs.
Isabella was exhausted.
The wound at her side had stopped bleeding heavily, but every step still sent fire through her ribs. The mark beneath her neck pulsed unpredictably now, tightening whenever Luciano moved too far ahead.
And Luciano noticed every shift in her breathing, no matter how carefully she tried hiding it.
That was becoming another problem neither of them knew how to survive discussing.
Valentina led them through massive iron gates built directly into the mountain.
The sanctuary did not look royal.
It looked old enough to bury kingdoms.
Black stone walls rose around elevated walkways lined with armed wolves dressed entirely in dark uniforms. None greeted Luciano warmly when he entered.
Some lowered their eyes.
Others stared too long.
A few looked openly uneasy.
Isabella caught whispers as they passed.
“…that’s him?”
“…the Alpha who slaughtered the execution unit…”
“…Cassian will kill everyone here…”
Her stomach tightened.
Cassian.
Even hearing the name unsettled people.
One guard near the stairwell gripped his weapon harder after noticing Isabella.
“The last settlement burned in one night,” he muttered under his breath. “Bodies everywhere.”
Another answered quietly, “They said he smiled while doing it.”
Luciano heard them too.
His expression hardened immediately.
Valentina kept walking.
“Rumors spread faster than facts,” she said calmly.
But she never denied them.
That was worse.
Isabella stayed close beside Luciano as they moved deeper into the fortress halls.
Not because she trusted this place.
Because Luciano remained the only thing here that felt solid.
The realization unsettled her badly.
Valentina stopped outside a massive chamber lined with ancient carvings cut into black stone.
The same crescent symbol from the tunnel beneath Luciano’s estate stretched across the walls.
The same mark burning beneath Isabella’s skin.
“This room is protected from Council surveillance,” Valentina said. “For now.”
Luciano scanned the chamber carefully.
“You still haven’t explained enough.”
“And you still underestimate how quickly this situation is collapsing.”
His hand tightened around the weapon at his side.
“You brought us here. Start talking.”
Valentina faced Isabella instead.
“You deserve the truth before the Council reaches this mountain.”
Isabella folded her arms carefully despite the pain in her side.
“Then stop speaking in riddles.”
For a moment, Valentina studied her quietly.
Then finally spoke.
“The royal bloodline did not merely rule territories,” she said. “It ruled the bond system itself.”
The room stilled.
Luciano understood first.
Isabella saw it in the way his posture shifted.
“What does that mean?”
Valentina’s gaze lowered toward the mark on Isabella’s throat.
“It means your bloodline could influence bonds the same way Alphas influence wolves.”
Cold spread through Isabella’s chest.
“No.”
“It is why the Council destroyed your family.”
Luciano stepped slightly closer beside her.
Valentina noticed but continued anyway.
“The current Alpha structure only survived because the royal line disappeared. If the territories discover a surviving heir exists…”
“Everything changes,” Luciano finished.
“Yes.”
Isabella looked away sharply, trying to breathe through the pressure building inside her head.
The mark burned harder now.
Not pain exactly.
More like something waking up slowly beneath her skin.
“This is insane.”
“It is dangerous,” Valentina corrected. “Which is why the Council started killing heirs before they could mature.”
The word heirs hit differently this time.
Not just her.
Luciano’s voice lowered.
“You said another heir survived.”
Valentina nodded once.
The room felt colder afterward.
“There’s another person like me?” Isabella asked.
“Not exactly.”
That answer settled badly in her stomach.
Valentina crossed toward the stone table in the center of the chamber and spread several ancient records across its surface.
Bloodline charts.
Execution orders.
Burned documents stained dark with age and dried blood.
“The first purge failed,” she said. “Several children escaped the Council.”
Isabella stared at the papers numbly.
Children.
Hunted like animals.
Luciano picked up one document sharply.
“What is this?”
“The succession records.”
At the center of the page sat an ancient royal crest.
Beneath it...
Two names.
One partially destroyed by fire.
The second untouched.
Cassian De Luca.
The chamber seemed to tighten around them.
Valentina’s expression darkened slightly.
“He was taken before the purge collapsed.”
Luciano looked at her sharply.
“You’re telling me the Queen raised a surviving heir?”
“No,” Valentina replied. “I’m telling you nobody stopped what he became afterward.”
A bad feeling crawled slowly through Isabella’s stomach.
“What exactly is he?”
Valentina answered carefully.
“Someone who believes the bloodline can only survive through purity.”
Luciano went completely still.
Isabella frowned. “Purity?”
Valentina met her eyes directly.
“He believes there can only be one surviving heir.”
The meaning landed hard.
“He wants me dead.”
“Yes.”
The word echoed through the chamber like a verdict.
Luciano moved closer beside her immediately.
Valentina exhaled slowly after seeing it.
“This attachment is becoming dangerous.”
Luciano looked at her coldly.
“She is not a political inconvenience.”
“And Cassian will not care,” Valentina snapped back. “The moment he sees what she means to you, he’ll weaponize it.”
Luciano’s expression darkened further.
“You speak about him like he’s unstoppable.”
“I speak about him like I’ve seen what he leaves behind.”
That finally sharpened the tension between them properly.
Luciano stepped forward.
“You brought us here without warning us he was hunting this sanctuary.”
“And where exactly should I have taken you?” Valentina shot back. “The Council controls half the territories, and Cassian controls the fear underneath them.”
The room tightened again.
Isabella looked between them carefully.
This was no loyal royal alliance.
Valentina feared Cassian too.
That realization mattered.
Luciano’s voice lowered dangerously.
“Why hasn’t the Queen stopped him?”
Something flickered across Valentina’s face then.
Not weakness.
Something heavier.
“Because he is her son.”
The answer landed like an impact.
Isabella stared at her.
Luciano swore quietly under his breath.
Of course.
Of course this nightmare somehow reached even deeper.
The rival heir was royal.
And directly tied to the Queen herself.
Then suddenly...
The sanctuary alarms exploded through the fortress.
Every guard outside started shouting at once.
Luciano turned toward the doors immediately.
Weapon drawn.
Body already positioned between Isabella and the entrance.
Valentina’s face lost color for the first time.
“No…”
A guard burst violently into the chamber.
Breathing hard.
Terrified.
“My lady.”
The sanctuary doors shook somewhere above them.
Once.
Then again.
Heavy enough to vibrate through the floor itself.
The guard swallowed hard.
“He’s here.”
No one moved.
Then footsteps echoed slowly through the fortress halls above.
Like whoever approached already knew nobody inside could stop him.
The sound grew closer.
Every guard outside fell quiet.
Not disciplined quiet.
Fear.
Real fear.
Then the chamber doors opened.
And Isabella forgot how to breathe.
Because the man standing there looked exactly like someone she watched die five years ago.
- Writer
