The Tether Restored
Aurora POV
I looked up into the vast expanse of the sky.
There were no clouds to hide behind tonight; the heavens were a flawless canvas of deep indigo, with the silver light of the full moon and a million brilliant stars on full display.
Against that shimmering backdrop, six silhouettes blotted out the constellations.
Four of the silhouettes peeled off from the main formation.
Respecting the wolves packed into the clearing, the wyverns flared their wings to catch the updraft and sought the high ground.
Two of them touched down upon the highest battlements of the castle, their talons gouging deep into the stone as they folded their wings.
The other two claimed the colossal, moss-covered boulders at the very edge of the tree line.
They perched like magnificent gargoyles of war, their long, serpentine necks craning as they locked their glowing, slit-pupiled eyes on the vampires hidden in the trees.
The wind pressure in the center of the clearing briefly reached a hurricane pitch. I didn’t step back as the Matriarch dropped from the sky.
She landed with a thud that shook the altar to its foundations, dropping perfectly into the space right behind Kieran and me.
She wedged her bulk directly between us and the Pack Alphas.
The fury radiating off her body instantly banished the unnatural chill Valerius had brought with him.
She lowered her head right over my shoulder, a deep, rumbling purr vibrating in her chest.
A second, lighter thud sounded right at my side.
The youngster, barely the size of a heavy draft horse, scrambled onto the stone of the altar.
It nudged its snout under my hand, demanding a brief, affectionate touch.
Then, it whipped its head toward Valerius.
The young wyvern let out a sharp, metallic hiss, its jaw snapping shut mere inches from the vampire’s chest.
A warning puff of gray smoke and orange sparks billowed from its nostrils.
The Matriarch echoed the threat. Her affectionate purr shifted into a deafening, chest-rattling growl that drowned out the heavy breathing of the wolves.
She shifted her massive wings forward, casting Valerius in complete shadow, her eyes narrowing with lethal intent.
She bared rows of serrated teeth, snapping her jaws in a terrifying display of raw dominance, daring the leech to make a sudden movement.
Valerius was arrogant, and he loved a good psychological game, but he had most likely survived for centuries by knowing exactly when he was outmatched.
He was standing in the center of Valdora, surrounded by thousands of battle-hardened wolves, an Alpha King, a Luna Queen wielding the magic of the Argentis, and now half a dozen of Wyverns from the Forbidden Lands.
The blood drained completely from his stupid face as he took a slow, measured step backward, his hands raised in a placating, hyper-careful gesture.
“It appears,” Valerius said, his silken voice significantly tighter and higher than before, “that the rumors out of the Forbidden Lands grossly underestimated the company you keep, Queen Aurora.”
I stood tall, my hand resting gently on the young wyvern’s warm, vibrating scales. “I suggest you take your wedding gift and leave my territory, Lord Valerius. Before my friends decide they want a midnight snack.”
“I believe we have overstayed our welcome,” Valerius agreed smoothly. He recovered a fraction of his aristocratic poise, though he wisely didn’t take his eyes off the Matriarch’s dripping jaws. He flicked a sharp, two-fingered gesture to his elite guards. “Take the thralls. We are leaving.”
The vampires didn’t hesitate for a fraction of a second.
They hauled the bound thralls off the stone by the scruffs of their necks.
With synchronized, powerful leaps, the guards launched themselves into the starry night, their dark, leathery wings snapping open to catch the wind as they scrambled for the safety of the sky.
Valerius offered one final, stiff bow. It was completely devoid of his earlier mockery.
“King Kieran. Queen Aurora,” Valerius murmured. “May your reign be... eventful.”
With a powerful thrust of his legs, he shot upward, his massive bat wings unfolding before he disappeared into the night, fleeing as fast as the wind could carry him back toward the borders of Nocturne.
As the last trace of Valerius and his guards vanished into the starry sky, the tension in the clearing finally began to dissipate. I let out a long, shaky exhale, the adrenaline slowly receding from my veins.
Turning my attention away from the sky, I looked up at the massive, emerald-scaled wyvern sitting protectively right behind us.
“What are you doing here?” I asked softly, my voice still carrying a raspy edge from the confrontation. I gently stroked the warm, snout of the young wyvern currently vibrating happily against my hip. “Did you actually come all this way just to help us?”
‘We came because the little star has finally awakened.’
I gasped, stumbling back a half-step. The voice didn’t echo in the air of the clearing; it resonated directly inside my skull.
It felt very different from the pack link us werewolves had.
It was deep, ancient. Beside me, Kieran stiffened, his head turning toward the Matriarch. His eyes were wide with shock.
“Did you... did you just hear that?” I breathed, looking up at my mate.
“Yes,” Kieran replied, his voice rough with disbelief. “Loud and clear. In my mind.”
‘He hears me because your souls are now forged as one,’ the Matriarch’s voice echoed again, radiating a patient warmth. ‘When you completed the ritual at the altar tonight, his spirit fully connected with yours.’
I stared at her, my jaw completely slack. “You can speak telepathically? But... how? I’ve spent years in the Forbidden Lands with your flock. I’ve hunted with you. You never spoke a single word to me.”
‘Because you were not yet fully awakened, little one,’ the Matriarch explained, her head lowering until her glowing, slit-pupiled eyes were level with mine.
‘There is much you need to know, but the history of the Argent Kingdom is not a tale for a crowded clearing. Will you fly with me? Let us speak in private.’
I looked at Kieran. He gave a firm nod, understanding the unspoken weight of the wyvern’s request. Turning to face the massive crowd of wolves and the Pack Alphas still lingering around the altar, my mate projected his powerful Alpha command.
“We are going to take to the skies and ensure Valerius and his leeches are completely gone,” Kieran announced, his voice carrying effortlessly over the clearing. “Return to the feast. Celebrate tonight’s victory and our new Luna. We will rejoin the festivities shortly.”
A cheer erupted from the wolves as Kieran boosted me up onto the Matriarch’s back before climbing up behind me, wrapping his arms securely around my waist.
With a powerful leap and downstroke of her massive wings, the Matriarch launched us into the starry expanse, the wind roaring in our ears as we left the clearing far behind.
Once we were high above the clouds, gliding smoothly under the silver light of the moon, the Matriarch’s voice resonated in my mind once more.
’I believe an introduction is in order. I am Aethra.
And you and I are bound by ancient law. The protection of the magic of the Argent Kingdom, now the wild mana of the Forbidden Lands, was entrusted to the Four Guardians.
Your bloodline, the Argent Royal Family, was one of the four, acting as the vital anchor that connected the other three.
The Emerald Wyverns are the Guardians of the Sky.
The Ironwood Treants watch the deep roots, and the Crystal Leviathans guard the waters.
You were probably too young when the war happened to be taught the old pacts.
It was a guarded secret to protect the kingdom’s magic; very few ever knew that your oldest brother was the one chosen and trained to take on the mantle as the Guardian after your mother.
But with their passing, the leylines have finally recognized your spark.
Now that you have awakened at least, the mantle has fallen to you, and that is why you now have the power to commune with me.’
I sat completely frozen against Kieran’s chest, the sheer magnitude of her words crashing over me.
The Four Guardians. The myths my mother used to whisper to me about the three ancient protectors of our realm hadn’t been fairy tales.
They were real. But she had always spoken of them as distant legends.
She had never once breathed a word about a fourth Guardian, let alone the that our own bloodline was the vital anchor linking them all together.
But as the realization set in, the initial awe was quickly swallowed by a sharp spike of betrayal.
“If you are one of the Guardians,” I spoke into the rushing wind, my voice trembling with a sudden surge of grief, “then where were you? Where were any of you eight years ago? My parents, my brothers... My entire kingdom burned to the ground. The Draconians and Vampires slaughtered my people.
Why didn’t you help us?”
Aethra let out a low, mournful croon that vibrated deep in her chest.
‘We did not abandon you by choice, little star,’ Aethra projected, the ancient grief heavy in her mental voice.
‘The alliance of Vampires and Draconians orchestrated a coordinated assault on the leylines that connected the Guardians. The Vampires unleashed a necrotic plague into the soil, forcing the Treants into a deep slumber to survive the rot… A sleep they have yet to wake from.
The Draconians poisoned the lakes, driving the Leviathans into the darkest, unreachable depths, where they have remained hidden ever since. And my flock...’
Aethra’s voice darkened with the memory of the slaughter.
‘The enemy specifically targeted our highest peaks with corrupted fire. We were trapped, forced to desperately defend our nesting grounds, our young and the unhatched eggs. Most of our males were killed in the onslaught, sacrificing themselves so the rest of us could protect the clutches.
The communication network of the Argent magic was shattered almost instantly. By the time the skies cleared, it was already too late. I believed the entire royal line had been eradicated. Because your family was the vital link that tied us guardians together,
the loss of your family didn’t just sever our bond to your bloodline…
It completely severed the connection between the Guardians themselves.
We were all left entirely isolated, plunged into silence and unable to reach one another.’
I swallowed hard. They hadn’t abandoned us. They had been fighting their own desperate war for survival, left completely isolated in the dark, just like Kieran and Valdora.
Kieran’s arms tightened reassuringly around my waist, his thumb stroking a soothing, grounding rhythm against my side.
‘For years, the Forbidden Lands mourned in silence,’ Aethra continued, her telepathic tone softening. ‘I did not even know a true Argentis still drew breath until the day you saved my daughter, Zylia.’
I looked over at the young wyvern, Zylia, who now flew close enough to offer a soft chirp, catching the moonlight on her scales.
‘When you used your restoration magic to mend her crushed wing,’ Aethra continued, ‘I recognized the unmistakable signature of the Argent Royal bloodline and your eyes. I knew a descendant of the crown had survived, but I could not communicate with you. Your mind and aura were heavily suppressed,
locked away behind your pain and survival instincts. It wasn’t until tonight, when you took your rightful place at the Altar and let your magic fully ignite, that the tether between the Guardians and Queen was restored.’
A brief silence followed. Then Aethra’s voice softened, the ancient power within it warming into something almost tender.
‘A light has finally returned to our home.’