Chapter Twenty Nine!!
The voice at the door was soft, female, trembling with something that wasn’t quite fear–but close.
“I know who she is.
Elder Haron turned sharply I crossed the room in two strides, flinging the door open. And there she was Mira
The quiet maid with forgettable features and a penchant for vanishing into shadows. She clutched the hem of her apron, knuckles white. eyes wide.
“You’d better explain yourself,” I growled.
“I was there,” she whispered. “The night Lyra came to Ashridge. I saw it all.“}
The room stilled.
“Lyra?” I repeated, my voice like gravel. “Selene’s sister? She’s dead. Gone before Selene was ever brought here.
Mira shook her head. “No, Alpha. She was alive. She was lured here. By Callister. She came willingly, chasing a love she thought was real.” “What love?” Elder Haron asked gently.!!
Mira swallowed. “Callister
was wearing the e skin of a man. A wolf from Stormveil. Lyra followed him here, not knowing he wasn’t real.
Not knowing it was Callister in disguise.“8
Silence rang in the war room like a bell. My heart thundered.
“She used dark witchcraft Mira continued. “A glamour so powerful it fooled even Lyra’s wolf. The moment they crossed the threshold of the Keep, the man disappeared. Callister revealed herself. She stunned Lyra, dragged her into the sacred chamber below the Temple of Moons and locked her there.“!
I stepped back like I’d been struck.X
“That chamber is sealed, Haron murmured “Consecrated. No one goes in.“”
“That’s what she wanted.” Mira said. “To hide her. To use her. Callister isn’t a wolf. She’s a witch. A powerful one. Over four hundred years old. And she needed Lyra’s essence–the blood of someone royal and gifted–to anchor her glamour and steal the identity of the dead Eldhollow princess.”
“Dear gods,” Haron whispered.
I couldn’t breathe Stormveil. The second pack
“You said she wasn’t alone?” I asked.
Mira nodded. “She has a sister Liora. She went to Stormveil to do the same thing. To take it from the inside.”
“How do you know all this?” I demanded.}}
Flush.>
The memory surged behind her eyes.
“I was cleaning the hall when the guest wing was sealed. That night, I heard arguing. I snuck into the shadows behind the tapestries.”
“We need her alive,” Callister had hissed. “Her blood fuels the glamour. Once I take Ashridge, you take Stormveil. When both packs fall, we merge them—and then the rest of the territories will kneel,”
“She’s screaming again, a voice–Liora’s–had answered. “She thinks you’ll let her go.”
“She was stupid enough to fall in love with a face I borrowed. I almost pity her.“8
Mire blinked the memory away.
“I should’ve spoken sooner, she whispered. “But I was afraid. She killed the last maid who brought her the wrong wine.
The weight of it slammed into me like a blow This wasn’t just a lie. This was war. Subterfuge. Blood magic. Then–A shuffle behind us. A soft inhale Selene.
She stepped forward from the shadows outside the war room, her eyes burning with unshed tears, her shoulders trembling–but straight
“So if we open the chamber and get my sister’s body,” she said, voice clear, “Callister’s glamour will break? The truth will be revealed?”
I turned to her. “Yes. We think so. But-”
“We need a witch,” Haron said
“I know one,” I cut in.
I summoned Maelis–a forest witch under oath to my family. She arrived within the hour, cloaked in fog and feathers.
“It’s true,” Marlis confirmed after hearing the tale. “If the anchor is removed, the magic unravels. But you must act fast. Glamours this old tend to fight back“ï
We broke the chamber open that night. Maelis led the ritual, drawing sigils in blood–mixed ink, her chants dark and ancient. The moment the final seal cracked, cold air whooshed out like a scream. Inside, in a glass coffin bathed in lavender light, lay Lyra
Preserved Silent Unmoving.
Selene fell to her knees beside her “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, brushing her sister’s hair from her cheek.
Then it began. The moment Lyra’s body was lifted from the coffin, the glamour began to rot.
Callister at that moment seated at the High Table in the feasting hall–let out a shriek that split the air. Her skin bubbled Her beauty melted like wax over fire. Screams rose from every direction as her disguise fell away, revealing a hunched, sunken creature with eyes
black as ink and skin like cracked parchment |
A hag A monster She snarled, baring yellowed teeth, claws forming from her battle fingers–but Marlis was already there
The witch stepped into the circle of ash and spat a curse that blazed with light With a final scream, Callister crumpled, her form disintegrating into ash and bone
Silence. Then chaos. But through it, I moved Kneeling in front of Selene, heart pounding like war drums, I took her hands in mine
“My mate My true Luna. I failed you once I let them tear us apart. But now me Let us fix what they broke–together”
Selene looked down at me, her expression unreadable. Then–quiet.Firm }); “No.”
She pulled her hands from mine and turned away. And walked out!!
I beg you” My voice cracked. “Be my mate again. Rule with
11:01 AM
