Chapter 46 #2
Vaelora began to circle him, her voice laced with dark amusement.
“He was just a boy when I first caught his scent. It was faint and fragmented, but still threaded with that bloodline. I couldn’t place it then, but I knew something ancient stirred beneath the surface.
So I waited. Watched. Let him grow into the brilliance of his mind until he began to uncover the truth on his own.
I only had to offer the slightest nudge. ”
She stopped beside him, fingers brushing along his jaw with unsettling tenderness.
“That’s when I knew. All those years of suspicion had finally led me here.
To him. The next male heir of the Duskwood bloodline.
The soul fated to carry the light that could destroy me.
The prophecy forged at the Solwyn Tree by the witches of Hallowell and the Duskwoods—once the most powerful shifter bloodline in the south. And now, my greatest threat.”
Her smile deepened, cold and triumphant.
“So I didn’t kill him,” she whispered. “I made him love me.”
Cillian smiled faintly at Vaelora’s words, and it twisted something deep in Evelyne’s gut.
“A shifter bloodline?” Evelyne whispered under her breath.
Vaelora’s eyes shifted to her.
“Oh? He didn’t mention that part either?” she asked, feigning surprise as her brows lifted.
“That he could sense the dormant magic in you? Smell it in your blood—just as I did?” Her gaze slid to Kaldrek then, and she clicked her tongue.“Tsk. Honestly, Kaldrek. Did you truly think deceit would serve you well?”
Evelyne turned toward him where they knelt, and the guilt in his expression hollowed something in her. “Tell me,” she said, her voice barely holding together.
He met her eyes. “Evelyne—”
“Tell me.”
Kaldrek’s eyes shut tight, as though the words cut too deep. “You bear the blood of a wolf lineage,” he whispered.
Silence slammed into her like a blow. Her lips parted, but no sound came.
“What?” Alaric’s voice broke the stillness. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because I’m descended not just from wolves, but from witches. What Vaelora said… It’s true.” Kaldrek exhaled slowly and looked to Evelyne. “I sensed it once. Faintly. That day you… slapped me in your tent.” A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, then faded.
“I thought I imagined it. Maybe I didn’t want to believe it.
But as we grew closer—more connected—it became impossible to ignore.
The scent was there.” Kaldrek swallowed.
“That’s when I knew. You were one of us.
And I think… I think that’s why I was so drawn to you, Evelyne.
Because something inside me already recognized you, even if I was too much of a coward to face it. ”
He shook his head.
“I wanted to tell you. Gods, I did. But everything was happening so fast, and there was never the right moment, and I—” His voice faltered, cracking under the weight of the truth. “Fuck.” His head dropped, his shoulders tight with regret.
Evelyne’s breath came too fast, too shallow. The truth kept coming, each word a blade carving deeper. That day in the tent, when she’d recoiled in humiliation, thinking he had sniffed her like an animal, he’d known.
Another secret. Another betrayal. Something inside her began to fracture. Questions burned through her: about the prophecy, her lineage, and everything she thought she knew. But one question roared louder than the rest.
She looked at Vaelora. “You diverted the prophecy. You infected his mind with some type of dark parasitic demon, just to make him love you. Why?”
“As I told you, a prophecy cannot be destroyed. Had I killed him, another heir would have risen in time. But love?” Vaelora tilted her head. “Love is a leash stronger than death. So I made him mine. My equal. My lover.”
“But when he dies, won’t the prophecy pass to the next heir?” Alaric asked.
“Of course,” Vaelora murmured, gliding down the dais like a shadow made flesh.
“Which is why it’s so wonderfully convenient that my son placed Evelyne right into my hands.
” Her smile deepened. “Funny. I hadn’t considered it until my scouts reported she was still traveling with the wolves, even after I’d sent a very clear warning.
I’ll admit, for a moment, I feared she might spoil my fun.
But then I realized she could be the key to ending the prophecy entirely.
” Her black eyes glistened as she looked down at Evelyne.
“Because you, my dear, will be his sacrifice. Cillian’s final offering so that I may awaken the blood magic once more, seize greater power, and grant my beloved an eternal life… by my side.”
“You will not touch her, Vaelora,” Kaldrek growled.
Evelyne had never felt so utterly powerless, not for her own sake, but for Cillian. Her brother, who was once radiant in every way, was now tainted by shadow and bound to Vaelora by chains. “You’re a monster,” she hissed.
“Maybe, but at least I’m a powerful one.”
“Bitch,” Holden muttered under his breath.
Vaelora sighed with theatrical boredom.
“Charming. But if we’re done with the name-calling, can someone please explain why Obren Glaciermaw is still playing house with the Ironwolf pack? I thought we were past this little rebellion phase.”
The question hung in the air, but Obren quickly responded, his voice teasing. “How could I resist the chance to kneel before the most beautiful witch queen in the entire continent?”
“The wall you build to hide your true emotions is made of glass, Obren. And I can shatter it with ease.”
The confidence in his smirk flickered for a moment, and a muscle in his jaw twitched.
Her tone turned almost affectionate. “I bet you wonder where all your missing packmates went that night. Don’t you?” She let the silence stretch, savoring it. “If you swear allegiance to me, I might let you see them again. Though there weren’t many left to keep after my army finished feeding.”
Obren’s restraint snapped. His face flushed red with rage, and without hesitation, he spat at her feet. “You fucking demon.”
Vaelora laughed and turned away, her gown sweeping across the bloodstained floor. She raised a hand, curling her fingers lazily. “Cillian, my love, come.”
Evelyne’s brother obeyed, stepping forward with that same vacant stare, his blackened eyes fixed on Vaelora.
Panic rose in her chest like a scream she couldn’t release. What was Vaelora going to do to him? Was she going to force him to kill her—make the others watch as he murdered his sister, powerless to stop it? Please, gods, no—
Vaelora leaned in, and whispered one lethal word in Cillian’s ear.
“Kill.”
Evelyne’s stomach plummeted, her heartbeat thundering in her ears as she followed the line of Vaelora’s gesture.
Not at her.
Not at Obren.
Ty.
She had nearly forgotten he was there. He had been so quiet, so still, saying nothing as the chaos unfolded around him. He had watched from the sidelines, likely analyzing every moment, calculating the best move to protect his alpha and his friends.
Cillian’s brow furrowed, his breathing growing ragged, sharp teeth—Noskari teeth—elongating from his mouth. Black veins snaked along his neck and arms as he moved forward, step by step, closing in on Ty.
The room exploded in a storm of fury and anguish.
Kaldrek and Holden thrashed against their chains, snarling, teeth bared, rage cracking through the air, but Cillian didn’t look at them. His eyes never left Ty.
Ty, Nathan’s younger brother. Ty, who had never known cruelty. Ty, whose mate was still waiting for him in the tunnel, trusting he’d return.
He remained silent on his knees, his chin lifted with quiet defiance. He didn’t beg. He didn’t flinch. He just turned to Kaldrek and said, voice steady, “Tell Nathan to keep our mate safe. And tell Reyna… Tell her she was my everything.”
“NO!” Kaldrek wailed.
Evelyne lost control of her voice. “Cillian!” she screamed. “Cillian, stop! Please!”
The throne room blurred, sound warping and stretching, but she could only focus on her brother. The same brother who once braided her hair when she was sad, who had read beside her for hours in the library, who had always been gentle.
She pleaded, desperate for something to reach him.
Time stilled.
And Cillian lunged.
Ty didn’t flinch. There was no cry of pain, no gasp. Just the sickening sound of flesh tearing as Cillian’s arm plunged straight through his chest. But he didn’t stop there. With a horrifying, wet crack, he ripped upward, splitting Ty’s body clean in half.
Blood sprayed, flesh peeled, and in a heartbeat, Ty was nothing but ruin.
Evelyne wailed so loudly she thought her throat would shred to pieces. Kaldrek and Holden roared alongside her, their howls ripping through the air like those of wounded animals. Obren and Alaric stared, their faces frozen in pure horror.
Evelyne’s vision blurred with tears, her body trembling so violently she thought she might break apart, but then her eyes snapped to Alaric as she caught Cillian turning his way.
Oh gods, please. Not him.
Cillian stepped back to Vaelora’s side, obedient and unfeeling, his hands and chest drenched in blood. He didn’t even look down at what he had done.
And that was when Evelyne knew her brother was lost entirely.